Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Darkman’

Written by Scott Edwards

Being in the right place at the right time, some people have all of the luck and are able to meet with all sorts of interesting people.  It is hard to know what you will do when the time presents itself and while it is often better to keep your cool and just go with the flow, sometimes excitement just gets the better of you.  But never forget that you can find yourself at the wrong place at the wrong time as well and these are instances where it is better just to get out as soon as possible. Not knowing what will happen can be one of the scariest things out there and you will never know until its hits you, but most of the time you don’t need to be hit.

Peyton Westlake is on the verge of unlocking synthetic skin grafts for burn victims, but he continues to run into a snag. After ninety-nine minutes, the cells break down and turn the skin into a bubbling liquid, but he will not let this get him down. His girlfriend Julie has high hopes for his project and will not take no for an answer when it comes to his work.  With Julie being his drive, Peyton will keep with his work until he is able to correct the formula and make life easier for so many people in need.

Julie is a lawyer that is working on a big case and she has found a document that could break it wide open. When presenting her findings to Louis Strack, she is threatened with force to regain the memo, but she has no idea how far the business man will go.  Before arriving at Peyton’s place, she watches as his laboratory explodes and the only evidence of her beloved boyfriend is his ear in the wreckage. Believing that Peyton is gone forever, Julie is forced to move on with her life and continues with her job and has taken a new suitor, since young Strack is a ladies man with all of the connections that anyone could ever need.

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​But Peyton is not dead, in fact he is very much alive and is being operated on in the hospital.  With the injuries that he suffered in the explosion, his nerves have been cut so he will not suffer in pain for the rest of his life, but without any feeling of pain comes a tradeoff. Losing control of one’s emotions is a dangerous side effect of this operation, but there could be a benefit for his as well since now his adrenaline will flow unchecked by his mind. 
 
Escaping from the hospital and hunting down the men that did this to him, Peyton wants more than revenge, he wants his life back. Being able to recover some of his gear from the laboratory, he sets up shop in an abandoned plant. Being able to replicate the faces of anyone he has a photo of, Peyton is ready to hit them where it really hurts, but he starts to lose focus when he sees Julie morning her loss. Will Peyton be able to keep his mind on what is most important to him, or will he stop and listen to his heart, regardless, he only has ninety-nine minutes at a time to make something happen.

Just a good old-fashioned story of revenge, with a vengeance. This is one of my favorite anti-superhero movies growing up since your main character does not want to be seen after what happened to him. With a grotesque burned body, he knows that nobody can accept him for what he has become, but he finds out that he could be wrong. But having the perfect disguise making machine at his disposal, Peyton can become anyone that he wants for a short time and knows how the make the most of it. Looking back, I just liked this movie for the action, but it offers a little bit more than that when it comes to accepting what has happened to you and how to deal with it going forward. Not allowing it to change who Westlake really is seems to be the best moral to the story, but I must admit that I like the action just as much as I ever did. Happy Viewing.

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