Hey all! We travel further into Before They Were Stars week
and let us focus on a fellow who started as he called it a bit actor in some
impressive films such as Excalibur, Krull and The Bounty. So I thought we would reflect on his first
lead role. So get your popcorn and
soda, enjoy your comfy chair. This is
Darkman.
Spoilers operate from
the shadows…
Director Sam Raimi
(The
Evil Dead, Evil Dead II, The Quick and the Dead, For Love of the Game, The Gift
and Spider-Man) gathers a team of writers such as: Chuck Pfarrer (The Jackal, Red Planet and Virus), Ivan Raimi (Easy Wheels, Army of Darkness,
Spy Game and Spiderman 3) Daniel
Goldin (Out on a Limb and Stephen King’s Dead Zone) and Joshua Goldin (Out on a Limb, Wonderful World
and Outlaw Country) collaborate to create a good, decent man and break
him slowly. With the haunting
composure of Danny Elfman (Batman,
Beetlejuice, The Flash, Batman Returns, Army of Darkness, Batman: The Animated
Series, Tales from the Crypt and Mars Attacks) a gang war is spreading
over the territories and land is being snatched up left and right no matter
what the cost. To what end you may
ask? We then shoot over to Doctor
Peyton Westlake’s (Liam Neeson of Excalibur, Rob Roy, Schindler’s List, Gangs of New York,
Love Actually, Batman Begins and Taken) laboratory as he and his
assistant Yakitito (Nelson Mashita of Rising Sun, Independence Day, Drive and NYPD Blue)
are attempting to create an artificial skin that would replace skin graphs and
deep tissue burns, the catch is they cannot seem to get it to last beyond 100
minutes of exposure to light.
So close
to this discovery that would benefit humanity he discusses the experiment with lawyer
girlfriend Julie Hastings (Frances McDormand of Raising Arizona,
Mississippi Burning, Hidden Agenda, Fargo, Primal Fear, Wonder Boys and Almost
Famous) whose pesky need for the truth may have uncovered some unsavory
acts in zoning laws for the newest construction by Louis Strack (Colin
Friels of Water Rats, Dark City,The Book of Revelation, BlackJack: Dead Memory,
BlackJack: At the Gates and BlackJack:Ghosts) would appear to not only Strack
Industries is accountable for bribes but in league with a nefarious criminal
Robert G Durant (Larry Drake of L.A. Law, Dr. Giggles, Prey, Darkman II: The Return of
Durant and The Beast) on this lucrative land grab scheme to net
millions.
Durant and his boys hit Westlake’s lab, pummeling and
disfiguring him as well as killing Yakitito blowing up Westlake’s lab sending
him in a fireball out to sea. He awakes
in the hospital but the explosion has altered him. 40% of his body is covered in burns and to
cease him from having pain the doctor( Jenny Agutter of Logan’s Run, The Man in the
Iron Mask, Equus, Dominique, An American Werewolf in London and MI-5)
does a procedure to block the nerve endings are greatly damaged in the fact he
can hardly feel anything. With this in
mind, he feels as though he is going through sensory deprivation and is easily
angered causing a huge surge of adrenaline within him giving him uncharted
amounts of strength. Little point of
observation, I swear one of the visiting doctors looks like John Landis (director
of Animal House, An American Werewolf in London, The Blues Brothers and Coming
to America).
Afraid, ruined and
broken, Westlake attempts to continue his research if not to be reunited with
Julie but to take revenge on Durant and his cronies. With
all his equipment and synthetic skin at his abandoned factory (must
be New York, the heroes and villains always find an abandoned factory)
the ready he plots and schemes how to best destroy the men that took his
life.
You get the feel of a hybrid of a 1940’s radio show based on
the villains’ dialogue but the seamy underbelly of a 1980’s graphic novel all
jumbled together. With influences like the Looney Tunes, Three
Stooges and Marvel Comics is it any wonder this film is as insane as it is well
constructed. We get old favorite POV
views as well as; Gunsight POV, Ram-o Cam and Shaky Cam as well. Raimi of course keeps to his favorites to work with and we do get an appearance of Bruce Campbell, his brother Ted Raimi and Dan Hicks; you just gotta keep them eyes peeled. Over the top villains, a tormented hero and of
course, the dame with the gams it’s a fun and bizarre ride.
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