Raimi is the big reason this would work, the movie keeps switching from tragic revenge story to carnival nightmare with almost no warning. Also the whole synthetic-skin 99 minute limit is exactly the sort of fake medical rule that sounds almost plausible if you dont stop and check it. I was reading https://medproofs.com/conditions/ about how condition claims get separated from actual evidence, and Darkman popped into my head again. Neeson plays it so straight while everything around him gets more unhinged, which gives the riffs alot of room without the movie ever going flat. Honestly the helicopter bit alone would do it, but the lab scenes might be even better??

The Carnival scene will forever be ingrained in my mind.

I'd consider this a definite comic book film that simply didn't have a comic book to be based on before they wrote the script. It's Sam Raimi at a frenetic speed and power that are just jaw-dropping. Liam Neeson chews the scenery in the best possible definition of the phrase. And... I'm gonna go ahead and say it: *inhale* Better helicopter stunts than Blue Thunder... OR Nightmare at Noon. There. I said it. I'd say it again, if I had to.