Darna (1991)

Memorable, crazy movie

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

One thing I find difficult with these movies is to review them with a certain amount of objectivity. As a rule I really like superhero/action movies and I normally have a certain amount of grace towards them even if they are considered bad by the general population. For me as long as the actor\actress in the lead role brings to the real a certain amount of gravitas or believability I can tend to look over glaring plot holes or bad dialogue.There have been only a handful of actors who you could actually say fitted the role to a tee.....Christopher Reeve (Superman), Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman), Christian Bale (Batman), Helen Slater (Supergirl), Robert Downey Jr (Ironman), Tobey MacGuire (Spiderman).With the Darna series there have been many actresses over the years that have fitted into the red boots and costume. Almost all people would say that Vilma Santos was the quintessential Darna. However, looking at the movies made in the 90's both Nanette Medved and Anjanette Abeyari both did a very good job of the role.Sure the stories weren't going to win an academy award but both girls in their respective movies tried to give Darna a certain amount of respect.In this outing...an origin story of some description...Nanette gets to don the red boots and tights in which she looks very good. As a movie the production values were actually quite good. The setup of Edu Manzano as the villain of the piece was very well done at the beginning and you actually believe that he is very dangerous. Nanette receiving the stone and transforming was also excellently done.I won't go into many details of the story but suffice to say it wasn't spectacular but it wasn't bad. If anything it was a little more serious than the sequel with Anjanette and didn't have any of the camp quality. The action set pieces were well done for Fillipino standards and Nanette actually looks like she could crack a few heads. I think she even did a few of her own stunts.Overall, the Nanette, Darna turns out to be OK. A little serious for me but still resonating with what Darna is about.