kargaan First of all in this review I would like you to meditate on the title for just a second(Darkman 2: The Return of Durant). If you have seen the first Darkman you would know that Durant dies in a fiery helicopter crash. But in this sequel somehow he survives with only a few barely noticeable scars. I was expecting at least third-degree burns but I let that go and focused on the movie as if the explosion never happened. Arnold Vosloo is the new Darkman and he does a fairly poor job at portraying him. Liam Neeson seemed to be a more powerful Darkman with extreme emotions. Arnold Vosloo seemed shallow and lacked the presence of Liam. Considering it's the second movie, I was expecting more action out of Darkman but there's virtually no action from Darkman till the end of the movie and Darkman has nothing very good to say through the entire movie. The plot was also dull and generic which really made me wanna yawn. Darkman 2: The Return of Durant is just a sorry cash-in sequel and a disgrace to the franchise.

Samiam3 I know that many viewers will disagree with me, but I think Darkman II is a slight improvement from the first. Darkman may have been a more original story, but this film offers more energy and quirky fun. Rather than being kind of Abstract like Raimi was, this story at it's core falls back to an archetypal principle of super heroism, Person vs. Person conflict, good verses evil. The movie which results is not a great one but it's a neat watch.In the first movie, Dr. Westlake defeated his enemy; Crime lord, Robert G. Durant...or did he? Leaving his past behind him, Peyton went off to face the world alone, and that is how the first movie ended. Living in his new hideout deep in the bowels of the subway system, Dr. Westlake continues his research to figure out a way to permanently repair his face. His current formula can only only last him 97 minutes. One day he reads a newspaper article about a rogue scientist who is doing some similar studies. After meeting with him they decide to become partners. This other guy has an office in a vacant building which used to belong to his father, therefore it has sentimental value for him. This old factory has not gone unnoticed by Durant, who has recently woken up from the coma that Westlake put him in. Durant is ready to go back into the weapons dealing business, and he wants to base his operation in this vacant factory. He has his goons bump off the young scientist, spoiling Peyton's hope for a partnership. And that makes him mad. He must fight Durant once more.Replacing Liam Neeson in Westlake's shoes is Arnold Vosloo, (who many will recognize from The Mummy). He is not a skilled actor, but he manages okay here. It is Durant who has the bigger screen presence. He is played with a certain quirkiness to go with his two- dimensional villainous persona.Although hardy an example of good-filmaking, it should not be so quickly dismissed just because it is a strait to video release. If you were not satisfied with what you saw in Darkman, you might find a little more in this one.

Boba_Fett1138 The first movie "Darkman", directed by Sam Raimi, was also already made in a B-movie kind of style but in the fun and comic book type of B-movie. The kind of style all Sam Raimi movies till some extend have in them. But this movie is just made in a bad B-movie kind of way, with some horrible dialog, lacking editing and simple camera compositions. It actually shows how uniquely talented Sam Raimi is, with his hard to copy style.And how is Durant still alive in this one? I remember that the helicopter crash from the first "Darkman" movie in which Durant died was one of the most fatal looking once out of movie history. It exploded like a balloon, with an enormous blast. No way that it's credible that anyone walked away from that one. But yet somehow had the bright idea for this sequel to let Durant return. And come on, he wasn't even the 'main' villain in the first "Darkman" movie but yet they show him in this movie as one of the biggest crime bosses in the country. But of course the Durant character is Larry Drake's greatest role and he is one of the bes movie villains out of recent movie history. So it didn't mind seeing Larry Drake reprise his role from the first movie, although I would had of course preferred a more creative solution to let his character return.The story as a whole was a disappointing aspect of the movie. I was shocked at how simple and without ambition it was. It somehow even features a group of Neo-Nazi's and a crazy professor. The most thrilling aspects in the movie are the recycled sequences from the first movie, in which Westlake takes over the identity of the henchman of Durant. What I did liked about the movie was that it showed more as a crime fighter with morals this time. It was not just a revenge movie this time.The movie and its characters are still all portrayed in an over-the-top comic book kind of way but it this time doesn't really work out as good as in the first movie, which is I think also partly due to the obvious lower budget of the movie.With this movie Arnold Vosloo shows he's a good actor, although his South African accent is too notable in the movie. It's good for most of his roles but just not suitable for Dr. Peyton Westlake. He is fine as Darkman though and he obviously carefully looked at how Liam Neeson played the character previously. Also Larry Drake shines again although he also was struggling with delivering some of the badly written dialog. Not even he could make it sound good and believable. Most of the other new characters are all mostly just disappointing ones, not to mention the horrible actors that portray them all.A disappointing movie that could had worked but just doesn't ever does so, which can for most part be blamed on the script.4/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

sveknu Although this is a straight-to-video movie that didn't go to theaters like the first film in the series did, I still think that this one is superior to the original. This is typical for some movie series. The first film is a rather slow introduction to the concept, and when the second movie is released, everyone knows the deal already. That means that it's possible to get straight into the action without any further delay. The "Alien"-movies is an example of this, and the same goes for the "Darkman"-movies. Anyway, the totally sadistic Durant is back in this one. Looks like he survived the first movie after all (don't ask me how he managed that). With Durant back, the plot is (apart from the introduction of how Darkman became Darkman in the first movie) pretty equal to the first movie. But as i mentioned, I think this one is more fun. Liam Neeson is out of the series, and now Arnold Vooslo is Darkman. That's no problem to me, I think he did at rather good job.