DARKMAN III: DIE DARKMAN DIE (1996)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological*

Bradford May directs Darkman in his last feature, but this time the hero gets to go out with a much better script than he got from installment two. Michael Colleary and Mike Werb, who also worked on the script for the 2001 LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER, arguably give the hero his best outing in terms of both a better villain and a superior dramatic situation.

However much time has passed since DARKMAN II, the gangs in the unnamed city have come to fear the disfigured crusader (again Arnold Vosloo) who preys upon their kind. But one crime-boss, Peter Rooker (Jeff Fahey), sees a chance for profit. Having been informed that Darkman possesses freakish super-strength, Rooker wants to create more super-strong men to serve as his enforcers so that he can dominate the crime-world. Rooker is so obsessed with this aim that he pays no attention to his wife Angela and his kindergarten-age daughter, both of whom are innocent of Rooker's true nature.

A woman who calls herself Doctor Bridget Thorne finds her way to Darkman's hideout. She tells him that she was the ER surgeon who severed his nerve endings to save him the pain of his burns, and when Darkman is less than impressed with this accomplishment, she offers to help him perfect the perfect, non-degradable artificial skin the hero desires. The temptation wins Darkman over.

But it's a mistake, for Bridget originally "saved" Darkman with the hope of experimenting on him, and now she has the chance. Further, Rooker is her backer and she is his mistress, which fills in the blanks as to why a crime-boss thought that power-duplication could be in his wheelhouse. Darkman is deeply betrayed, given that he hasn't trusted anyone in a long time, but though Bridget does manage to make new super-henchmen, the hero escapes her clutches.

Darkman decides to take down Rooker in his usual manner, using the subterfuge of disguise to infiltrate the mastermind's world. However, when he masquerades as Rooker and enters his home to seek out missing data, Darkman is forced to sympathize with the plight of Angela and her little girl. This moral nature keeps Darkman from being a simple monster like his "Phantom of the Opera" model, and adds more dramatic heft to the hero's struggle against the villain. In the end, after some above-average fight-scenes, the crusader has a lively battle with Rooker, now dosed up on strength-serum, and the battle ends with a grotesque fate for the villain. A coda establishes that although Angela does reach out to Darkman, seeking to know his nature, he's aware that his deformity repels her, and he ends his saga by returning to his lonely vigil.