Sam Raimi directs Liam Neeson, Frances McDormand and Larry Drake in this superhero movie where a disfigured scientist kills the gangsters who left him for dead.

The first Raimi I rented. An early lead role for Neeson that feels more akin with his current career. Part of the initial big comic book movie boom after Tim Burton’s Batman… even though it isn’t actually based on a pre-existing funny book. This feels very akin with Dick Tracy, Robocop, The Crow and Judge Dredd. Hyper-violence gilded by baroque set dressing, effects and storytelling. The visual overkill of this is overwhelmingly camp, lovingly parodic of Universal horror. Rubbery style over substance was the garish fashion of the day. It is a film that sits better in your memory than when you actually watch it. Everything about it seems slighter, flimsier, misjudged in the moment but all it strengths stick in the brain afterwards. A giddy, colourful freak out with a genuinely extravagant helicopter stunt sequence near the end. Nobody’s finest hour apart from maybe the marketing department!

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Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/