User:LancedSoul/sandbox/Darkman

Darkman is a 1990 American superhero horror film directed and co-written by Sam Raimi. It is based on a short story Raimi wrote that paid homage to Universal's horror films of the 1930s. The film stars Liam Neeson as Peyton Westlake, a scientist who is brutally attacked, disfigured, and left for dead by a ruthless mobster, Robert Durant (Larry Drake), after his girlfriend, an attorney (Frances McDormand), runs afoul of a corrupt developer (Colin Friels). After a treatment to cure him of his burn injuries fails, Westlake develops super-human abilities, which also have the unintended side-effect of rendering him mentally unstable and borderline psychotic. Consumed with vengeance, he decides to hunt down the men responsible for his disfigurement.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) It pays homage to the pulp magazine superheroes extremely well.
 * 2) The story is good.
 * 3) The atmosphere is suspenseful.
 * 4) Durant is a good villain that creates a good opposition for the hero.
 * 5) The film has great mix of both cartoony humor and wonderfully over the top action.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Some of the dialogue comes off as out-of-place.

Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 84% based on reviews from 61 critics. The site's consensus states: "Gruesome and deliciously broad, Sam Raimi's Darkman bears the haunted soulfulness of gothic tragedy while packing the stylistic verve of onomatopoeia springing off a comic strip page." On Metacritic the film has a score of 65 based on reviews from 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.