My Review of "Blankman"

I remember watching Blankman back in 1994 when it first came out. I loved it but then again I was a kid back then. As a child I hadn't seem too many movies so this was an absolute eyeopener for me. Superhero movies weren't as big as they are today but they were on the rise. The Michael Keaton Batman was the biggest superhero back in those days. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were all the rage and fantastic show called In Living Color was killing it on TV.

At this time, I would have to say the most popular Wayans brother was Damon Wayans. He was starting to do movies outside of In Living Color and his star power was shooting to the roof. Blankman wasn't only his creation, he wrote and starred in the movie as well.

The movie is about two brothers that grow up in a ghetto while being raised by their grandmother. One of the brothers name is Darryl (played by Damon Wayans), he is what they would consider today as autistic. He's got a brilliant mind but he has terrible social skills. The other brother Kevin (played by David Alan Grier) lives a pretty regular life but has ambition to move on up.

Their grandmother (played by Lynne Thigpen) cares a lot for their community so she volunteers to get Marvin Harris (played by Christopher Lawford) elected mayor because she believes he'll clean up the city. A series of crazy events happen because of their local mob boss, played by Jon Polito. Eventually grandma gets murdered and Darryl decides that he needs to do something about the crime in the city.

Darryl creates a crime fighter outfit for himself when he accidentally discovers a liquid that will make clothing impenetrable to bullets or fire. He soon goes on a vigilante tirade without much support of his brother Kevin. There's actually quite a lot that happens in this movie that I didn't realize.

From there the movie picks up and there's a love interest in Robin Givens' character Kimberly Jonz. It's easy to follow along but there are a few things that happen that don't quite make sense now that I saw it as an adult.

As a kid, I wouldn't even question a lot of the situations in the movie. I just went with it not thinking much of it. As an adult, I have to say there's a few holes in the plot that don't quite make sense.

The premise is still funny however it is quite offensive to today's standards in political correctness. I'm not quite sure if this movie would be half as successful today as it would be back in the day. That's not to say that it did incredibly well in the box office back in the day either. I just remember as a kid this movie was awesome.

I still had some sense of nostalgia and there are certain things in this movie that kind of make more sense to me now that I'm older as opposed to when I was a kid. Unfortunately I didn't quite enjoy the movie as much as I remembered it. There are some really annoying things about the movie that I can't handle now that I'm an adult. I really don't think this movie could be suggested to people today not knowing the context of how it was in the 90's.

Sure there are a few homages in the movie especially to the old Batman TV show. There are also a few fun elements to the movie namely the charisma and charm of the actors.

If you do check this movie out. I would suggest shutting down your mind and watch it as if you were a kid. Each of the actors in the movie are definitely hamming it up for the camera. They're all having fun and you can tell from watching the movie.

Overall, I would say that this movie is for people that were there when this movie first came out. It is great for nostalgia. For those that did not grow up in this era, I wouldn't imagine this movie being as fun of a ride for you. With my nostalgia intact I would give this movie a 7 out of 10. For those of you that haven't seen it before and just getting into it I would say it would be a 5 out of 10 for you guys. P.S. This movie has a slamming soundtrack!