Darkman

"In the darkest hour theres a light that shines on every human being...but one!"- The ad for Darkman said this when the movie had its theatrical release in the late 80's/ early 90's.

THE STORY: Okay, I admit it! I like this movie! I know its listed in my worst movie experiences, but thats because a lot of my friends hated it...but I think theres a place in the realm of cheesey movies that is special for movies like Darkman...there have certainly been worst superhero movies...like ANY BATMAN MOVIE AFTER THE FIRST ONE or Captain America or even the Fantastic Four movie that has never been released.

The story is simple...Doctor Peyton Westlake is trying to create synthetic skin for horribly disfigured burn patients. His liquid skin only lasts for 99 minutes in the light then melts away, but he's still working on it. His girlfriend, Julie Hastings is a lawyer that comes across some documents that involve her employer, Mister Louis Strack with infamous crime boss Robert G. Durant. Strack knows Julie spends a lot of time at Westlake's lab and sends Durant and some goons there after the incriminating evidence. They kill Westlake's assistant, and blow up the lab, horribly burning him. (They think he was killed in the explosion...his body was flung far away.) Westlake is found as a derelict and doctors at a burn unit perform a new technique on him to save his life. Westlake's nerve endings have been cut so he can feel no pain from his injuries...this however makes him susceptible to incredible rage and gives him augmented strength. (I didn't write this movie...thats what they said!) Westlake escapes from the hospital and rebuilds his lab in an abandoned factory. He uses his liquid skin to disguise his burned features and take revenge on the men who disfigured him as Darkman. Durant's men aren't the brightest guys...Darkman impersonates them and turns Durant's organization inside out. Eventually Darkman uncovers Strack's involvement and destroys him. Although Julie knows that he is alive and disfigured our hero runs away from her to fight crime as Darkman.

There are only two types of people thats have seen this flick. Those that hate it and those that kind of like it. I kind of like it. Its no classic, but it wasn't all that bad. Yeah, it was cheesey, but I like cheese. Hell, it had parts in it that defied all logig but so did ID4 and I know people that that think that was one of the best sci-fi movies ever made. (I didn't say intelligent people.) Darkman is one of those movies that you have to be a fan of. Kind of like The Toxic Avenger only with a gritty edge. Star Trek fans will notice that the mob guy Eddie Black is played by Jesse Laurence Ferguson, who played Lutan, ruler of Ligon III in a first season and kind of racist episode of Star Trek : The Next Generation. I'm not sure but one of Durant's thugs looks like the guy who plays Gowron, the Klingon leader on TNG and Deep Space Nine. (Big buggy eyes) Also Durant is played by Larry Drake, also known as the retarded guy from LA Law and the title character in the flick "Dr. Giggles".

best lines: "TAKE THE F***ING ELEPHANT!" - My dear friend Iron Annie loved that line. it was the only thing in the movie she liked so I put it here in Best Lines first. Westlake says this to Julie when he wins a carnival prize for her but begins to lose his Darkman-temper.

"I don't even know how I got dressed!"-Paulie, one of Durant's thugs pleads for his life after Darkman frames him.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?:

1.) Durant and his cronies waste a WHOLE BUNCHA guys in the beginning of this film. Man, we oughtta enlist these dudes and send them to Iraq or something. Four or five guys kill about fifty? Wooo.

2.) Durant is awful confident for a professional criminal. He could have just shot Westlake, but nooooo. He's got to leave him in the lab when he sets it up to explode...with oxygen tanks and a lighter....Thats pretty chancey. Theres a good chance Westlake may have escaped or lived (which he did) and identified Durant! There was a better chance of that then Westlake becoming a disfigured maniac vgilante actually! But since he did become a disfigured maniac vigilante I'll shut the hell up.

3.) Doesn't Westlake have any friends or family? No one is at his burial but Julie! He's a brilliant scientist! he must have had students or a friend or someone else that cared about him! He wasn't a prick or anything!

4.) Durant and his men have a shootout when they almost catch Darkman in chinatown. once again No Police show up. In the movie universe cops never show up!

5.) Okay, so Darkman can change his appearance with his liquid skin? How does he change height and weight?

4.) Durant shoots a police copter down and fires at pedestrians while trying to shake Darkman off of his helicopter. I have a hard time believing the cops wouldn't be all ver the place with this happening.

NUDITY AND SEX: none

HUH?: Durant throws Paulie out of a window. How does he get away with these blatant murders?

How did Darkman get all the high tech equipment to build his secret lab? It can't of all been junk he just found or rebuilt. I won't even ask how does he know how to build all of this stuff! Westlake must be "MacGyver" spelled backwards!

How did Darkman get above Strack on the high tower in their final battle?

BULL[unwrite]! Julie's arms would have snapped out of the sockets when she gets caught on something falling off of the steel tower during the final battle!

Is Strack nuts? He's taunting Darkman! He believes Westlake won't kill him because he doesn't want to lower himself? Is he a retard!? Hello, McFly....Strack, you blew this man up, horribly disfigured him, stole his girlfriend and ruined any chance he had of a normal life and you think he WON'T kill you? I wish all of my enemies were so stupid.

The Tally: Okay, this flick is no big deal, but I like it. Darkman is a cool superhero because he at least reacts like a real person. While Batman or Superman would have let Strack live Darkman kills him on purpose. Black Scorpion is the only other hero I've seen do that so far.