Darkman 4K Review (Scream Factory)

Darkman is a 1990 superhero film co-written and directed by Sam Raimi (The Quick and the Dead, Evil Dead franchise, Spider-Man trilogy, The Gift, A Simple Plan, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, For Love of the Game, Crimewave, and Drag Me to Hell). It was co-written by Ivan Raimi (Ash vs Evil Dead, Army of Darkness, Spider-Man 3, and Easy Wheels), Chuck Pfarrer (Navy Seals, Barb Wire, The Jackal, and Hard Target), Daniel Goldin (Out on a Limb), and Joshua Goldin (Wonderful World). It was produced by Robert Tapert (Evil Dead franchise, Don’t Breathe franchise, The Grudge, Poltergeist, Timecop, and Hard Target). Bruce Campbell was the original choice for the lead. It’s based on short story that pays homage to the classic Universal Monsters. The Coen brothers did some uncredited work on the script. Liam Neeson’s first starring role in an action film. The budget was $14,000,000 and it grossed $48,878,502 worldwide at the box office. Two direct to video sequels were made, Darkman II: The Return of Durant and Darkman III: Die Darkman Die. Scientist Peyton Westlake (played by: Liam Neeson from the Taken franchise, Schindler’s List, The A-Team, Star Wars franchise, Cold Pursuit, The Haunting, Gangs of New York, and the Batman franchise) is developing a synthetic skin to help burn victims. He hasn’t completely solved it yet because it always disintegrates after 99 minutes. His attorney girlfriend Julie Hastings (played by: Frances McDormand from Fargo, Burn After Reading, Almost Famous, Blood Simple, Primal Fear, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and The Man Who Wasn’t There) discovers a incriminating document that proves developer Louis Strack Jr. (played by: Colin Friels from Dark City, BlackJack franchise, and Water Rats) has been bribing powerful people in the community. She confronts Strack about it. Crime boss Robert G. Durant (played by: Larry Drake from Darkman II, Dr. Giggles, L.A. Law, Dark Asylum, Paranoia, Inferno, Dark Night of the Scarecrow, Tales from the Crypt, Batman Beyond, and American Pie 2) tries to get the document from Westlake but he refuses. Durant and and his henchmen which includes Rick (played by: Ted Raimi from Skinner, Shocker, Candyman, and Spider-Man franchise), Skip (played by: Danny Hicks from Evil Dead 2, Intruder, and Maniac Cop), Rudy (played by: Rafael H. Robledo from American Me, Toy Soldiers, and A Low Down Dirty Shame), Smiley (played by: Dan Bell from Wayne’s World franchise and Gacy), and Pauly (played by: Nicholas Worth from Don’t Answer the Phone, Blood Dolls, Barb Wire, and Action Jackson) leave him for dead. He is brought to the hospital as a John Doe, they work to save the unknown man. Later on, he wakes up from a coma and escapes. Believed dead by Julie, she starts dating Strack. Westlake rebuilds his lab and he uses creative work with skin to disguise himself as the criminals that ruined his life. He tracks them down one by one as he gets his revenge. He reaches out to Julie but he can only stay around so long before the skin is gone. Durant is looking to hunt down this mysterious stranger that’s causing him all these problems. Will Westlake stop the ruthless Durant? or Will Durant finish what he started before???? Director Sam Raimi couldn’t get the rights to Batman or The Shadow so he created his own superhero. He was mainly known for horror at the time but he proves here that he could do anything. He went on to make the original Spider-Man trilogy and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in the same sub-genre years later. Believe it or not, this was action legend Liam Neeson’s very first starring role in the genre. Liam Neeson was fantastic lead as The Darkman. It was something different for him at that time early in his career. This created so many opportunities for him later on. I love how Darkman can change his identity at any time. That’s a very creative skill for something like this back in the day. I feel like it influenced Mission Impossible and several others. Lots of fx work here so he’s not really recognizable for a decent amount of this. I still always wonder what it would have been like if they actually let Bruce Campbell be the star here. Frances McDormand is a great love interest for Dr. Peyton Westlake. She brings humanity and compassion to the Darkman character. They have excellent chemistry. Larry Drake shines as the nasty villain in this, Robert G. Durant was one of his best characters in his entire career. Durant is vicious and he’s not afraid to get his own hands dirty. Darkman has a solid supporting cast that includes Ted Raimi, Danny Hicks, Nicholas Worth, Colin Friels, Professor Toru Tanaka (The Running Man), Arsenio ‘Sonny’ Trinidad (The Shadow), and Julius Harris (Live and Let Die). It has cameos from director John Landis and horror icon Bruce Campbell. Darkman is loaded with action. For 1990, it has some amazing special fx from Tony Gardner. Raimi isn’t afraid to push boundaries so it was one of more brutal comic book features from back in the day. No one was really doing Rated R superhero movies since these films are generally marketed to a younger crowd in the 90’s. I still think it’s very underrated, it’s very fun and beyond entertaining. The replay value is very strong with this one, I always look forward to revisiting it. RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Scream Factory! This 2160p (1.85:1) transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is a 4K restoration from the original negative that was approved by director Sam Raimi and director of photography Bill Pope. It’s a massive improvement compared to the previous blu ray and it really pops on the screen now. It has a few different audio options which includes English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 on the UHD. The audio has been impressive for this one especially the soundtrack. All of the dialogue is crisp, the chaos has a nice boost to it, and the music is elevated here. It has English SDH subtitles. It has a brand new and exclusive “Audio Commentary” with filmmaker Josh Ruben moderated by Justin Beahm and Jeff Roland. You can tell that he’s a huge fan of this one. He’s very passionate about it. He goes over his experience seeing it. It’s release history and connections to Tim Burton’s Batman. He dives deep into the visual style from both director and the DP. He keeps the track entertaining and flowing. It has an archive “Audio Commentary” # 2 with director of photography Bill Pope hosted by Red Shirt’s Michael Felsher. He gets very technical and detailed here. He takes you through the process of shooting this. He says that he originally didn’t want to do this project. He shares his experiences working with the cast and Sam Raimi. Those are the only extras on the UHD, the rest of them are located on the blu ray. The additional 37 minutes of unreleased “Deleted Scenes” are brand new and exclusive to home video with this release. It has lots more character development and moments here. I would love Raimi to go back and include some of these in an extended cut someday. “Dissecting Darkman” is a little over 7 minute interview with lead actor Liam Neeson. He chats about being excited about getting a lead role in a Sam Raimi feature. He brings up other actors that went for the same gig such as Gary Oldman and Bill Paxton. He goes over the influence of Universal Monsters. He talks about the cast. It has an almost 11 minute “Interview” with lead actress Frances McDormand. She was roommates with director Sam Raimi in the 80’s. She shares her experience working with him. She chats about Liam Neeson. “The Name Is Durant” is an almost 16 minute interview with villain Larry Drake. He says his appearance got him certain roles and movies over the years. He talks about being able to play two different versions of his character in this. “Henchman Tales” is an almost 13 minute interview with actors Dan Bell and Danny Hicks. They chat about how they got their parts. They go over their characters. They talk about the production. “Dark Design” is an almost 17 interview with production designer Randy Sur and art director Philip Dagort. They chat about the look of Darkman. They talk about Sam Raimi’s visual style for it. “The Face of Revenge” is a little over 13 minute interview with special fx artist Tony Gardner. He goes into great detail about his work on dark superhero movie including the look and creation of the main character. It has all kinds of additional archival bonus material in standard definition from back in the day. It has the almost 9 minute “Vintage Behind the Scenes” featuring a variety of interviews with the cast and crew. It has all kinds of behind the scenes footage. It has around 84 minutes split into 4 different “Vintage Interviews” with Liam Neeson, Frances McDormand, Colin Friels, and Sam Raimi. Lots of these are extended chats from the original Making of that’s also on this disc. They chat about their characters. They bring up stuff that got deleted from the final cut. They talk about the script and working together on this project. Frances goes over how she met Raimi and her friendship with him before doing Darkman. They all share their experiences during the production. Filmmaker Sam Raimi chats about how he came up with the original idea for the Darkman story and character. It has around 24 minutes of “Image Galleries” that includes production, posters, artwork, behind the scenes, and storyboards. 12 different “TV Spots” that’s a little over 4 minutes. It has a “Trailer”. This collector’s edition set is loaded with hours of special features. You damn near get to learn whatever you want to know about Darkman and it’s history here. It has a slipcover and a blu ray. This is worth upgrading or adding to your collection ASAP! It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!!