Darkman

"They destroyed everything he had, everything he was. Now, crime has a new enemy and justice has a new face."

1990 1h 35m EN

😐

6.4

MID

🍅

80%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

6.4

IMDB

★6.4TMDB · 1,593🍅80%Rotten Tomatoes●65Metacritic★6.4IMDB · 72,622

ActionScience FictionThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Dr. Peyton Westlake is on the verge of realizing a major breakthrough in synthetic skin when his laboratory is destroyed by gangsters. Having been burned beyond recognition and forever altered by an experimental medical procedure, Westlake becomes known as Darkman, assuming alternate identities in his quest for revenge and a new life with a former love.

“They destroyed everything he had, everything he was. Now, crime has a new enemy and justice has a new face.”

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Cast

Liam Neeson
Peyton Westlake / Darkman
Frances McDormand
Julie Hastings
Colin Friels
Louis Strack Jr.
Larry Drake
Robert G. Durant
Nelson Mashita
Yakitito
Jessie Lawrence Ferguson
Eddie Black
Rafael H. Robledo
Rudy Guzman
Dan Hicks
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Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Sam Raimi
Writers: Chuck Pfarrer, Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.5× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

36 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Darkman Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CAST

Did you know

201+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Sam Raimi, shot by Bill Pope. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Danny Elfman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Bud S. Smith shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Liam Neeson and Frances McDormand and Colin Friels carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Sam Raimi directs. Bill Pope behind the camera. Danny Elfman scores. Bud S. Smith cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 3.5× over at the box office.
236 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Part of the "Darkman Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4201+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
5Directed by Sam Raimi, shot by Bill Pope. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Danny Elfman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Bud S. Smith shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Liam Neeson and Frances McDormand and Colin Friels carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "They destroyed everything he had, everything he was. Now, crime has a new enemy and justice has a new face.".
10IMDB entry: tt0099365 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 14 themes, including "mask", "corruption", "experiment", "gangster".

The technical file

Cinematography: Bill Pope
Original score: Danny Elfman
Editing: Bud S. Smith
Production design: Randy Ser
Costume design: Grania Preston
Makeup / hair: Susan Exton-Stranks
VFX supervisor: Robert Skotak
Sound: Dan Wallin
Stunt coordinator: Christopher Doyle
Runtime: 95 min · 1h 35m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $14,000,000
Box office: $48,878,502
Return: 349% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Darkman (1990)
Rotten Tomatoes: 80% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 65/100
IMDB rating: 6.4/10 · 72,622 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

3 wins & 8 nominations total

Part of

Darkman Collection

Darkman is a 1990 American superhero 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 failed treatment to cure him of his burn injuries, 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. The film's financial success spawned two direct-to-video sequels, Darkman II: The Return of Durant (1995) and Darkman III: Die Darkman Die (1996), as well as comic books, video games, and action figures.

Also by

Sam Raimi

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2014-06-14
★ 7/10
Enter Darkman. Sam Raimi’s trial run for the Spider-Man franchise is a whole bunch of fun. Liam Neeson plays Dr. Peyton Westlake, a super scientist who after a major run-in with the villainous Robert G. Durant (Larry Drake), reinvents himself as Darkman, a super-anti-hero who sets about ridding L.A. of its mobsters. It’s a comic book film that isn’t based on a comic book, Raimi inventing his own tortured protagonist whilst homaging similar beings of eras past. All the silliness of such fare is here of course, overblown violence and colourful characters are frequent, but there’s good thought gone into the revenge theme, while the action sequences are often excellent. The pace hardly sags, as Raimi’s creations move about a Los Angeles that is equally decaying or affluent, and in Neeson the story has a lead actor with swagger, pathos and emotional force in abundance. 7/10
d54.pod2022-08-30
★ 10/10
Full Review: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6ODe6zr5oNHl6lkcjoOcPB?si=0aad71ce959743a3 I recently rewatched Darkman and there is just so much to like about this movie. In comparison to today's superhero overdose, Darkman just sticks to the basics and tells an incredible emotional and captivating story which is real. No over the top CGI, no storylines forced in by studio producers, not really any characters used just as a device, no cut scenes of blatant Easter Eggs and no political agenda in sight. Comedy is used appropriately and not to undercut the tone of particular scenes and characters. I really miss these kind of movies in today's superhero landscape. I do like the MCU and how they bought these comic book characters to screen, but after watching Darkman (after about 15 years or so) the MCU are doing so much wrong. I loved you could just watch this movie and not have to worry about what is means to the overarching story or where this story and character fit into the larger universe. It also did such a great job of focusing purely on one character and the journey through the pain he has to go through. I love this movie, it's one of those movies which will always stick in my memory. It's a real testament to great film making and knowing what works.
GenerationofSwine2023-01-12
★ 10/10
This is interesting... this is one of those B-Movie gems that is packed full of pro-talent before they really became pro-talent. And that is right down to the Cohens who did uncredited script polishing. This is worth the watch, even if you are one of those people that hates B-movies... wrongly hates. And, it's a comic book movie, it is over the top, it is campy, it packs serious action into a short little plot that still manages to be compelling. The MCU could take lessons on story crafting from this.