The summer after 'Batman,' director Sam Raimi made his major-studio debut with a modestly budgeted, original superhero movie. We wouldn't see its kind again.
I once played an all-movie edition of Team Trivia at a local watering hole. The halftime entry was "Name four of the [then] five movies where Liam Neeson played the title character." The Emcee that evening went out of his way to say that "one team wrote down 'Darkman,' which is correct." That's still high among my accomplishments of playing team trivia back in the day...
That's a great quiz question... [REDACTED IN CASE OTHERS WANT TO PLAY ALONG]. (I probably wouldn't've thought to put Darkman as my answer in the moment though.) You could get cute and say he's the suspect in SUSPECT (his character is the one on trial), next of kin in NEXT OF KIN, and taken in TAKEN 2.
Oh man, I love this film - maybe my favourite Raimi (and they virtually all rule). The economy and efficiency in the storytelling is just so refreshing when viewed in an era where comic book films routinely push the three hour mark; that pull-back where the gravediggers are talking about what happened to Westlake and what was found of him imparts as much information in two lines as many filmmakers would need a whole scene to explain.
It is high time for me to watch this again. I was one of those moviegoers who caught it on its opening weekend, and it was unlike anything I’d seen at that point. I haven’t seen it since, which is a moral failing in this day and age. But even so, to me Liam Neeson will always be Darkman.
OK, so not directly in response to this piece (which i found very interesting btw, thanks). I now have an itch for a retrospective on Witches. It occupies a place in my subconscious, nestling there when i saw it as a 10yr not quite able to understand why it spooked me. I don't remember it clearly but it seemed to have some unsettling imagery/concepts, like the wheelers in Return to Oz or the kids being turned into donkeys in Pinnochio, that stuck with me. i feel as if these kinds of subtly disturbing beats never make it into kids movies. just like off-beat, novel superhero no longer do.
Definitely remember being super hyped seeing the trailer for DARKMAN in front of, uh, GHOST DAD when I was 8. I'm almost certain I saw DARKMAN in the theater but might not have been till VHS. Saw it again at some point in the last decade and it's held up remarkably well, and all the practical effects looks so much better than the green screen drivel that most of the MCU exists in now.
As apropos of "hard R commercial media" from the 80s/90s my first introductions to Darkman were:
-the DTV sequels where Arnold Vosloo replaced Neeson but still fought Larry Drake and Jeff Fahey.
-the children's video game for Nintendo.
-and the random Marvel Comics "adaptation of the film and another 6-issue limited series that hinted that he fought crime now because superheroes wouldn't come to Chicago.
My grandfather, bless his nature, took me to see Meteor Man and then let me rent Darkman sight unseen from the video store on the way home figuring it was the same type of thing.
I just happened to rewatch this last night for the first time in at least twenty five years. What a treat - and what a cast. Frances McDormand (cast against type) was a long-time friend of Raimi but the supporting goons include Nicholas Worth, Julius Harris gets one memorable line (referenced in the review), even legendary professional wrestler Professor Tanaka turns up. Those amazing rage montages put together by editor Bob Murawski are reprised in Raimi’s first Spider-Man. Too bad that final shot isn’t followed up in the DTV sequels, The Mummy is ok but we should have had Bruce Campbell.
I remember seeing this one in theaters and no really knowing what to make of it (pretty sure it was my first Raimi). Definitely need to check it out again. On a related topic, I couldn't agree more with Scott that Spiderman 2 remains THE definitive comic book movie.
I once played an all-movie edition of Team Trivia at a local watering hole. The halftime entry was "Name four of the [then] five movies where Liam Neeson played the title character." The Emcee that evening went out of his way to say that "one team wrote down 'Darkman,' which is correct." That's still high among my accomplishments of playing team trivia back in the day...
That's a great quiz question... [REDACTED IN CASE OTHERS WANT TO PLAY ALONG]. (I probably wouldn't've thought to put Darkman as my answer in the moment though.) You could get cute and say he's the suspect in SUSPECT (his character is the one on trial), next of kin in NEXT OF KIN, and taken in TAKEN 2.
Oh man, I love this film - maybe my favourite Raimi (and they virtually all rule). The economy and efficiency in the storytelling is just so refreshing when viewed in an era where comic book films routinely push the three hour mark; that pull-back where the gravediggers are talking about what happened to Westlake and what was found of him imparts as much information in two lines as many filmmakers would need a whole scene to explain.
It is high time for me to watch this again. I was one of those moviegoers who caught it on its opening weekend, and it was unlike anything I’d seen at that point. I haven’t seen it since, which is a moral failing in this day and age. But even so, to me Liam Neeson will always be Darkman.
OK, so not directly in response to this piece (which i found very interesting btw, thanks). I now have an itch for a retrospective on Witches. It occupies a place in my subconscious, nestling there when i saw it as a 10yr not quite able to understand why it spooked me. I don't remember it clearly but it seemed to have some unsettling imagery/concepts, like the wheelers in Return to Oz or the kids being turned into donkeys in Pinnochio, that stuck with me. i feel as if these kinds of subtly disturbing beats never make it into kids movies. just like off-beat, novel superhero no longer do.
Definitely remember being super hyped seeing the trailer for DARKMAN in front of, uh, GHOST DAD when I was 8. I'm almost certain I saw DARKMAN in the theater but might not have been till VHS. Saw it again at some point in the last decade and it's held up remarkably well, and all the practical effects looks so much better than the green screen drivel that most of the MCU exists in now.
As apropos of "hard R commercial media" from the 80s/90s my first introductions to Darkman were:
-the DTV sequels where Arnold Vosloo replaced Neeson but still fought Larry Drake and Jeff Fahey.
-the children's video game for Nintendo.
-and the random Marvel Comics "adaptation of the film and another 6-issue limited series that hinted that he fought crime now because superheroes wouldn't come to Chicago.
My grandfather, bless his nature, took me to see Meteor Man and then let me rent Darkman sight unseen from the video store on the way home figuring it was the same type of thing.
I just happened to rewatch this last night for the first time in at least twenty five years. What a treat - and what a cast. Frances McDormand (cast against type) was a long-time friend of Raimi but the supporting goons include Nicholas Worth, Julius Harris gets one memorable line (referenced in the review), even legendary professional wrestler Professor Tanaka turns up. Those amazing rage montages put together by editor Bob Murawski are reprised in Raimi’s first Spider-Man. Too bad that final shot isn’t followed up in the DTV sequels, The Mummy is ok but we should have had Bruce Campbell.
I remember seeing this one in theaters and no really knowing what to make of it (pretty sure it was my first Raimi). Definitely need to check it out again. On a related topic, I couldn't agree more with Scott that Spiderman 2 remains THE definitive comic book movie.
teenage staple for me -- watched this a lot as a rental in early 1991 and on cable but haven't thought of it much since. great movie, backed hard.