Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Dr. Peyton Westlake is on the verge of realizing a major breakthrough in synthetic skin when his laboratory is destroyed by gangsters. Having been burned beyond recognition and forever altered by an experimental medical procedure, Westlake becomes known as Darkman, assuming alternate identities in his quest for revenge and a new life with a former love.
Sam Raimi's Darkman is a gloriously eccentric superhero origin story predating the modern comic-book boom, distinguished by its operatic melodrama, expressionist visual flair, and Raimi's kinetic camera work rooted in Evil Dead energy. Liam Neeson delivers a committed, emotionally raw performance, and the film's blend of tragic disfigurement horror, noir revenge thriller, and campy superhero action gives it a genuinely singular tone. However, the plot is fairly conventional revenge scaffolding and the third-act resolution feels rushed and emotionally unsatisfying, undercutting the tragic arc the film had been building. Cinematography earns a solid above-average mark for Raimi's inventive compositions and expressionist lighting but doesn't reach the heights of his best visual work.