Review of Darkman (1990)
Seen in 2016.
Interesting simply as a bold attempt to create an original superhero IP in what was, at the time, a marginal genre. Sam Raimi gets in a few moments of genuinely dark themes: self-alienation after disfigurement, dangerous isolation from natural inhibitions in Darkman’s painless state, the madness brought on by tragedy, and the refusal to go back and seek happiness. The originality of the character, in a production independent of DC and Marvel’s constant bullshit, helps a lot. So does Raimi’s attention to mood and special effects. It falls mainly on slight tonal dissonance against its apparent model, Burton’s Batman (1989). The violence, in particular, is played too lightly. This is demonstrated in the opening scene, which is only tangentially connected to the narrative.
References here: Cronos (1993).