65
Metascore
15 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88Boston GlobeJay CarrBoston GlobeJay CarrThe film works because Raimi's motor-rhythmed pop sensibility was ready to take off in this movie, and does, in a series of wonderfully hyperkinetic comic-strip lurches. [24 Aug. 1990, p.34]
- 75Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanDarkman is a thrillingly demented pop spectacular: a grade-B movie made by a grade-A lunatic.
- 75Chicago TribuneGene SiskelChicago TribuneGene SiskelWhat no plot summary of Darkman can provide is how much director Raimi ("The Evil Dead") brings to the party. In addition to giving us a conflicted hero - more disturbed than Batman - Raimi fills every action sequence and even routine plot scenes with fresh images that reflect his Darkman's rage. [24 Aug. 1990]
- 75San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSan Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleDarkman is big, stupid and wonderful -- an absurd, grand-scale adventure and a vicious comedy rolled into one nasty, unpleasant, hard-to-resist mess. [24 Aug. 1990, p.E1]
- 70Washington PostRita KempleyWashington PostRita KempleyDarkman, as unnerving as a gargoyle, is a classic nightmare, elegant and sumptuous, everything "Batman" should have been. But we're numbed after a while, as we are by the grotesquerie of the nightly news. Then again, maybe that's Raimi's intention. His work is beautiful in its scary way, and never only skin deep.
- 70Los Angeles TimesMichael WilmingtonLos Angeles TimesMichael WilmingtonWhat many American movies do well these days -- action, violence, hell-for-leather street spectacle -- Darkman does better. That may be praise enough. [24 Aug. 1990, p.F10]
- 60Orlando SentinelOrlando SentinelIt's a fairly effective melodrama with an inventive visual design, swift pacing and convincing performances by Liam Neeson (as Westlake/Darkman), Frances McDormand (as Westlake's girlfriend) and Larry Drake (as the heavy). [24 Aug. 1990, p.4]
- 50The New York TimesCaryn JamesThe New York TimesCaryn JamesDarkman 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.
- 50The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jay ScottThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jay ScottThere are lively, compelling scenes, particularly in the first hour - Raimi has an indubitable talent for camp mayhem - but the picture escalates into absurdity and the last half hour, essentially a chase sequence, is marred by suprisingly cheesy special effects. [24 Aug. 1990]
- 40EmpireIan NathanEmpireIan NathanCertainly not Raimi at his best, but some knowing genre nods and an array of great effects make up much of the deficit.