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.
A fiendishly stylish journey that links the classics of transfiguration to the terrors of our times.
– Rita Kempley,
Washington Post,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
Raimi's live-action comic book aims to deliver scares spiked with laughs. That it does.
– Peter Travers,
Rolling Stone,
12 May 2001
rotten:
Darkman sustains mild interest throughout, but it never takes off, partly because a real-estate scam, gangland shootouts, city corruption and a love story clutter up the sad story of Westlake's strange mutation.
– Caryn James,
New York Times,
20 May 2003
fresh:
Raimi's flair for jazzy visual effects and extravagant action sequences, combined with direction that's full of punch and energy, makes this the best pop roller-coaster ride around.
– Jonathan Rosenbaum,
Chicago Reader,
4 Jun 2007
fresh:
Raimi isn't effective with his actors, and the dialogue lacks smart menace, but his canny visual sense carries many a scene.