Darkman

Darkman (1990)

Runtime: 96 minutes

Directed by: Sam Raimi

Starring: Liam Neeson, Frances McDormand, Colin Friels, Larry Drake, Nelson Mashita

From: Universal

Would you believe my late mother was a fan of this movie? Despite my seeing her viewing this picture on at least a few occasions, I never watched this until now, let alone ask her when I had the chance to why she was a fan. It is a surprise considering the director. Mom passed away on July 25, 2020, as I’ve mentioned a number of times by now. While I can’t believe it’s been 5 years already, I made it through yesterday alright. Not thinking about her lasting so long in hospice, slowly withering away… those are memories to push out of my mind.

Instead, it’s better for me to wonder what she thought of the bizarre visual flourishes that happened on a few occasions, or what she thought of the guy whose head got squashed by a semi-truck! Many people by now likely know the plot of Liam Neeson as a scientist attempting to create synthetic skin, which comes in handy after he’s horribly burned by Larry Drake and his goons. I didn’t know it was all about competition for riverfront development and a memo revealing bribes to the zoning commission. I know she was a fan of the romance between Neeson and Frances McDormand, without a doubt. She was a big fan of the Beauty and the Beast TV show w/ Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton.

The story just strain credulity at times, to say the very least. Be that as it may, I was still rather entertained by this darkly comedic tale, by the means that the titular Darkman used synthetic skin not just to appear as himself but as his foes to cause trouble for them; he does a spectacular job of trolling… the entertaining action scenes, the talented cast and the exhilarating score from Danny Elfman. The effects were of their time-and are also charming. I enjoyed the tragic tale that took inspiration from various sources, including comic books & 30’s Universal horror; Claude Rains as The Invisible Man was blatant. There are also a few cameos, one obvious but the others not so much.

The Shadow is another property Raimi was inspired by—for years he wanted to adapt that property but wasn’t allowed to. Thankfully, both this and The Shadow are 90’s movies that should have been teenage favorites of mine that at least were seen by me in my middle-age years. In the future, I’ll finally get around to some other films that my dear old mother raved about or saw a decent amount of times. This includes the one John Carpenter picture I saw her view… no, not The Thing or In the Mouth of Madness! Of course it was Starman; many women likely were fans of the sci-fi romance.