Blu-ray review: ‘Darkman’ (1990)

Twenty years ago, director Sam Raimi showed why he was the right choice to bring a certain web slinger to the big screen.

The 1990 film “Darkman” flashed some of the tricks Raimi would use in his 2002 smash “Spider-Man” – genre-ready thrills, a sense of unexpurgated fun, a tragic romance and other elements a first rate comic book movie demand.

With apologies to “The Dark Knight,” of course.

“Darkman” didn’t start as a comic book series. Instead, the film sparked a series of sequels and comic-style spin-offs.

The film itself isn’t a classic – it’s too self-consciously silly at times and Darkman’s powers are hardly awe inspiring. But it’s a pulp story told well with an unlikely actor behind the bandages.

Liam Neeson stars as Peyton, a scientist whose work in the field of artificial skin is about to come in handy.

His longtime squeeze Julie (Frances McDorman) gets her hands on a memo that could incriminate her real estate boss (Colin Friels). A group of thugs led by Robert Durant (Larry Drake) storm Peyton’s lab in search of said memo, kill his assistant and leave him for dead.

But Peyton survives, and when doctors sever his nerve endings to save him from his ravaged body, he takes on powers of … Darkman!

Those powers include occasional fits of rage, the ability to jump higher than the average scientist and looking rather sharp in a long, flowing overcoat.

Now, Darkman wants revenge against the thugs who nearly killed him while trying to re-start his relationship with Julie. And that artificial skin comes in handy when it’s time to infiltrate Durant’s gang.

“Darkman” never rises to greatness on any level that counts. Neeson’s performance blends his natural stoicism with a mania that teeters on camp. The action sequences crackle, but they aren’t unique enough to imprint in our minds.

And Drake’s Durant character is dutifully wicked, but there’s little remarkable about his brand of evil save his penchant for collecting fingers.

Little of that matters when Raimi starts stirring these middling elements together. He’s having a blast, no doubt, but he’s operating under a more disciplined approach than he used in the “Evil Dead” films. And it serves him quite well.

“Darkman” begs for a bevy of Blu-ray extras, but we only get a crisp version of the theatrical release, nothing more.

You’ll have to make do with the film itself, an enjoyable lark that hinted at Raimi’s comic aspirations.