It is the story of a group of thugs who are leading a dangerous attack against Dr. Peyton Wilder, both mentally and physically injured. Emergency procedures allow the survival of the doctor, but there is a strong and dangerous scientist who is going back to take revenge on those people who put him on a dangerous path.
Raimi's flair for jazzy visual effects and extravagant action sequences, combined with direction that's full of punch and energy, makes this the best pop roller-coaster ride around.
Darkman still remains one of Sam Raimi's most ambitious projects to date and it's hard to do anything but admire the kind of lofty ambitions Raimi tosses at the screen with his self-created superhero crime thriller/dark comedy mash-up.
Darkman sustains mild interest throughout, but it never takes off, partly because a real-estate scam, gangland shootouts, city corruption and a love story clutter up the sad story of Westlake's strange mutation.
The Dissolve
February 20, 2014
Darkman is funny, but it's no joke; it's the work of a man who underlines the conventions of adventure stories and horror because he enjoys them, and knows that even when rendered tongue-in-cheek, they're timeless.