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The only catch is that the substance dissolves after a time in sunlight. (At this point, I want you to keep in the back of your mind the fact that movie scientists never invent anything that isn’t also ironic). Westlake has been recently engaged (irony alert) to Julie Hastings (McDormand), who makes good use of her competent sounding name as a corporate lawyer. Julie has just uncovered damning evidence on her boss and a local drug kingpin named Durant (Larry Drake, whose deliciously diabolical performance deserves much more screen time). The men retaliate but instead of going after her, they go after her fiancé.

Now go ahead; admit it. You can already see where this is going. Durant and his goons attack Peyton, badly burning him to the point where the world believes he’s dead. But a revolutionary treatment saves his life and keeps him from feeling the pain of his burns. It also gives him incredible strength, along with a slight case of ‘roid rage. Too bad, because Peyton leaves the hospital to find his lab destroyed, his girlfriend dating again, and if I remember correctly his pickup breaks down and his dog also dies - not to mention the fact his terrible burns mean an office job is off the table. So Peyton’s goal becomes to win back Julie and get brutal payback on the people who ruined him.

Using the patented Fake Skin tech we mentioned earlier, Peyton is able to mimic the appearance of other people, making it easy to get close to his victims – at first. But naturally he finds revenge distasteful and longs to be back with his girl, which is impossible now that everything has changed. But by the time his conscience catches up with him, so do his enemies, who take the decision out of his hands. It’s all out war, winner take all. Darkman is a drama, it’s a horror movie, and it’s even got a little comedy. It just isn’t very interesting.

The problem for me is here is that while Darkman’s individual origin story is very inventive, the plot itself is just a standard issue revenge flick, no better than a below average episode of a below average cop show. Neeson and McDormand are far better known today than they were in 1990 so their presence here is fortunate, but only occasionally helpful. Neeson’s dramatic chops are tough to question but this material required someone who could pull off an action role with a wink and a nod (like Michael Douglas, who would never have put on all that burn makeup). Although Neeson has always had the brawn to pull off an action flick, most would agree that humor is probably not his strong suit. Then again, had Bruce Campbell (or Bruce Willis, who would never have put on all that burn makeup) played the lead this would have been a very different movie – and one that I would have liked more. Frances McDormand is a fine actress who happens to excel at comedy, but her inherently maternal appeal doesn’t quite fit the "superhero girlfriend" mold. Like Neeson, her dramatic abilities aren’t challenged by this material, which makes her unsuitability for it all the more apparent.

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