Ever watch the EVIL DEAD trilogy and wonder what a Sam Raimi movie might be like if it didn't star Bruce Campbell? Or perhaps you're wondering what other action based movies that Liam Neeson has done besides STAR WARS EPISODE ONE: THE PHANTOM MENACE? Maybe you just want to see a flick with Larry Drake, the retarded guy from "L.A. Law", or whatever the Hell the name of that lawyer show is. Then again, you could be a fan of BATMAN and PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and want to see what an amalgamation of the two might be like! Well, if ANY of these fit you, then you must see the answer to all these questions and more: DARKMAN. Directed by the King of the Deadites, Sam Raimi, this movie gives us the anti-hero sense of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, but at the same time gives us the heroism and darkness of BATMAN! Oh, and if you were wondering abut Bruce Campbell, yes, me makes a cameo. Our story opens up with an impressive start, as up-and-coming gangster Robert G. Durant (Drake) and his boys gun down some rival wiseguys with the help of a wooden leg/machine gun! Afterwards, Durant indulges in his hobby of lobbing off his enemy's finger with a cigar cutter to add to his collection! This is a hobby that might interest me... think I'll go price cigar cutters when I'm done here. If you haven't already guessed, Durant is our villain. Well, you can't have a villain without a hero, right? So, let's go meet said hero. Elsewhere, away from the opening carnage, Dr. Payton Westlake (this is the hero, played by Neeson) tries in vain to perfect an experiment in which a special "liquid skin" would be used to give burn victims and the horribly scarred a chance at a "normal" life... Yeah, I bet wearing a Halloween mask for the rest of your life would feel REAL normal... Unfortunatly for the good doctor, he can't seem to stabalize the formula well enough so the skin can make it past it's 99 minute time limit, at which point it turns back into goo. Meanwhile, his lawyer girlfriend girlfriend Julie is doing some work of her own, uncovering a plot by a corporation to apparently buy out much of the city in an attempt to raise it from it's decay and modernize it. Not such a bad idea, except that it involves a LOT of bribes and wrong-doings, of which all are illegal. As for Payton, he discovers that the fake flesh is able to stay stable, provided it's in a dark area. This leads to Payton's new obsession with darkness. However, Durant (didn't think we'd forget him after that opening performance did ya?!) comes to Payton's place, looking for documents uncovered by Julie that could mean serious trouble for Robert and his benefactors! When Payton's not as helpful as Durant and goons think he should be, they rough him up good, frying his hand (with EVIL DEAD-esque stop action FX) and dunking him into a vat of his liquid skin, before blowing the warehouse lab into oblivion with Payt still inside! All this occuring just as Julie shows up to accept Payt's wedding proposal... see what happens when you say, "I need to think about it" ladies? Thinking there's no way that someone could've survived such carnage, Payt is presumed dead, even though his body was never found (bacuaes it was thrown into the nearby harbor and washed up sometime later). But, we, the viewers, discover a different story, as Payt's mangled form winds up in a hospital, chalked up as just another self destructing hobo who went too far. So, since he's pretty much a waste anyway, the hospital decides it best to do some radical experimentation in Payt's comatose body, testing out a new proceedure in which all of his nerve endings are severed. Now, he has no sense of touch, he's over emotional on all levels, and adrenaline will run through his body unchecked, providing him super strength! So, hospitals can operate on any John Doe they get their hands on, without a permission slip? Hmmm, think I'll look into that "get your medical degree through the mail" program after I go cigar slicer shopping. Anyway, revenge on his mind and rage in his blood, Payt breaks free from the confinement of the hospital and sets out on his mission of retribution! First, he returnd to his warehouse to see how much of his materials he can salvage, which is supprisingly a LOT, considering the magnitude of the explosion! Now, his quest to perfect the liquid skin becomes a personal neccessity, as he hopes to go back to his normal life by using the fake flesh to cover up his mangled and scarred features. At the same time though, it's natural that he requires a measure of revenge on Durant and his boys, say, their lives? First of Durant's good time gang to go is Ted Raimi (yep, Sam's brother, who gets at least one cameo in almost every Raimi movie), who Darkman (Payton) grills for answers before holding him up through a sewer lid entrance from below, putting his head smack dab in the middle of rush hour, and making a meeting between Ted's ever dorky face and a tractor-trailer! For the rest of the gang, Darky uses some voice training and plenty of his homemade plasti-skin masks to fuck with their heads and cause chaos amongst the troupe! What can I say, ya gotta love the scenes where Darky plays "evil twin"! Reminiscent of Raimi's doppelganger direction in the EVIL DEAD trilogy when Ash would find himself face-to-fist with his own evil twins! As for the whole "I want to live a normal life again" stuff, Payt manages to reconstruct most of his face from a photo, allowing him to create a Payton mask, which he dons when he goes out to try and get back together with Julie. It comes as a shock at first, but like the Grinch, PAyt's a fast talker and comes up with a semi-believable lie that satisfies Julie for the time being. This all falls apart though, when, at a carnival, Payt loses his temper over a matter regarding a stuffed pink elephant, causing him to spaz out, just as his face begins to bubble up once more. He basically bolts, knowing now that he has no chance of living the life with Julie he had wanted to. So, what do you do when a relationship fails? Take swift and blood soaked vindication on those who ruined it for you! Durant and his boys are in for some serious pain now! Julie follows Payt back to the dilapidated remains of the lab, where she uncovers the truth of Payt's secret life as of late, then soundly leaves, letting Payt deal with his problem in his own way. As for her, she unveils the horrible truth of the identity of Durant's benefactor (as mentioned above, feel free to scroll up and recount, I'll wait.........): he's really Julie's boss, the coniving Louis Strack, who also attempted to get into Julie's "good graces" while Payt was off playing guinea pig! That rat bastard! Julie's reply to the bad guy's advances? "If you're not going to kill me, I have things to do". But, with Julie's revelation that Payt still ives, Strack decides that it's time Durant and his remaining friends took out the good doctor PERMANENTLY! They try like Hell to blow him up a second time, but some more creative face work gives Darky an advantage long enough for him to catch a ride on Durant's helicopter through downtown. After thinning out rush hour traffic a little bit, Darky finally gets his revenge on Durant, tying down the helicopter to a Mac truck and smashing it head on into a low overpass! Now, for Strack... Darky confronts the well-to-do bad guy in the skeletal construction frame of one of his industry's future office buildings, Julie being held as bait, and Darky falling for it from the get go. Strack, wielding a hot rivet gun, offers Payt employment and the two "debate" over it, which consists of the two of them chasing each other around the 30 story "high steel", each trying to knock the other off. But, despite Strack's "riveting" arguements, Darky wins out, dropping the smooth talking dickhead off the side of the building and saving Julie. But, he still leaves Julie, besause he's not only changed on the outside, but inside as well, and he sneaks off into the daylight (boy, from late night into mid morning within the span of one elevator ride... Raimi, I hope that was intentional for your sake) wearing the face of none other than Raimi's money-maker: Bruce Campbell! This was followed by two Direct-to-Video sequels, both of which sould see daylight here soon enough, if not by the time you read this review, whomever you are and whenever you read this. DARKMAN is one of the best "comicbook" movies I've ever had the privilege to view, up there with such other comic inspired movies as THE MATRIX and comic-based flicks BATMAN and X-MEN! It's a perfect example that Sam Raimi has talent outside of the EVIL DEAD field, even though his twisted ense of humor is still made apparent! This is also an excellent show by Larry Drake, who continues the tradition of madness and evil he began with DR. GIGGLES! Plus, we get to see one of the many faces of Liam Neeson, though this face is nowhere near as suave as that of Oscar Schindler, or as hairy as that of Qui-Gon Jinn, but as Darkman he is reduced to becoming a "dancing freak" who hops around with a metal funnel on his head ala the Tin Man! My Godz, I can't stop laughing! Okay, enough laughing, just go out, purchase this movie, rent it if you can't afford to buy it, steal it if you can't afford to rent it, but just get it and enjoy it! Sam Raimi can work with a big budget! Trust me, after the new SPIDER-MAN movie comes out, this movie'll be fan boy platinum!

Sequels: DARKMAN II: THE RETURN OF DURANT; DARKMAN III: DIE DARKMAN, DIE!

If You Liked This Flick, Check Out: BATMAN or THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA