Darkman Trilogy

[gorepolice]

Darkman - 1990


"Peyton Westlake is a scientist who has discovered a way to produce synthetic skin. This could revolutionise skin grafting, except for one minor glitch; the synthetic skin degrades after 100 minutes of exposure to light. When gangsters attack Peyton, he is horrifically burnt, and assumed dead. In his quest for revenge, Peyton, aka the Darkman, is able to take on the appearance of anyone (using the synthetic skin,) but he's only got 100 minutes per disguise."

An awesome movie directed by Sam Raimi and starring a then unknown Liam Neeson as the title character. It's kinda cheesy and many dismiss it as a Batman ripoff, but it's got really good action, a cool premise, and Larry Drake as an awesome villain named Durant.

Darkman 2: The Return of Durant - 1995



"Darkman, who has, since the first film, devoted his life to perfecting his synthetic skin and fighting crime, is horrified to learn that his old foe, Robert G. Durant, is alive. Durant wastes no time taking control of his old business. He releases an insane weapons developer from a mental institution, and uses him to create a deadly laser weapon. Now, with the help of his disguises and inhuman strength, Darkman must forever rid the world of Durant."

This time Raimi is only the executive producer, but this one is still good. Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy) plays Darkman/Westlake in this one, and does a damn fine job. Larry Drake reprises his role as Durant and is excellent once again. Not as good as the first due to the use of stock footage, but a good straight to video sequel.

Darkman 3: Die Darkman Die - 1996


"Darkman, needing money to continue his experiments on synthetic skin, steals a crate of cash from drug lord Peter Rooker, attracting the gangster's attention. Rooker is determined to find the source of Darkman's super strength, and uses his beautiful but evil doctor to lure Darkman into a trap. Thinking that the doctor will restore feeling to his tortured body, he discovers too late that they have taken a sample of his adrenaline, which they will market as a super steroid. As Darkman plans his revenge on Rooker's gang, he slowly begins to care about Rooker's neglected wife and daughter. He must now find a way to help them, and destroy Rooker before he uses the adrenaline to plunge the city into chaos. "

Again, this one uses quite a bit of stock footage, but it's still a fun flick. Really cool premise, and Jeff Fahey (Machete) is flipping awesome as the villain.

If you've never seen these, I highly recommend them. A very good and underrated series in my opinion.

[endo]

I have never seen them, but I did have the Darkman game for the Nintendo back in the day, lol. I'll have to at least check out the first one.
I have friends that have seen it and have only heard good about it.

[gorepolice]

The first one is easily the best. Some of the effects are obviously dated due to age, but it's still got good make-up and story.