Darkman II: The Return of Durant (1995) (V)

Director:

Bradford May

Writers (WGA):

Robert Eisele (story) and
Lawrence Hertzog (story) ...

Release Date:

11 July 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Vengeance strikes hardest in the dark.

Plot:

Darkman and Durant return and they hate each other as much as ever. This time, Durant has plans to take...

Plot Keywords:

Roman Numeral In Title | Part Of Trilogy | Direct To Video Sequel To Theatrical Movie | Sequel | Villain Played By Lead Actor

Cast

Larry Drake	...	Robert G. Durant
Arnold Vosloo	...	Darkman / Peyton Westlake
Kim Delaney	...	Jill Randall
Renée O'Connor	...	Laurie Brinkman
Lawrence Dane	...	Dr. Alfred Hathaway
Jesse Collins	...	Dr. David Brinkman
David Ferry	...	Eddie
Rod Wilson	...	Ivan Druganov
Jack Langedijk	...	Rollo Latham
Sten Eirik	...	Whitey
Steve Mousseau	...	Roy
James Millington	...	Mr. Perkins
Phillip Jarrett	...	Dan
Kevin Rushton	...	Skinhead
Graham Rowat	...	Producer Bob (as Graham Rowatt)

MPAA:

Rated R for language and brutal violence.

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:15 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 (video premiere) | Germany:18 | Portugal:M/12 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Renaissance Pictures

Quotes:

Darkman: [playing with remote controlled rat, making it scare his cat] Be careful - he bites!

Movie Connections:

References The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Surprisingly watchable sequel

This first sequel to Sam Raimi's Darkman is directed by Bradford May, who worked also as a cinematographer in this film. The story begins where the first film left and there are the same characters again, but Liam Neeson is replaced by Arnold Vosloo as the Darkman/Dr. Westlake. The story is okay and not too stupid considered this is a fantasy film. The actors do fine job and no one acts stupidly. The main point in this film is to deliver action and thrills, and that it does with talent, and especially the cinematography, by the director, is very great and looks almost as fantastic as Raimi's use of camera. The scenes are often exciting, stylish and interesting, and there are only couple of usual cliches and faults which make this film pretty mediocre and worth watching for real fanatics only.

But after all, this could've been MUCH worse and so I am very pleasantly surprised that May could make the film this effective and watchable. Just remember those horrible sequels like Species 2! Darkman 2 is definitely not a masterpiece or important piece of sci-fi cinema, but it works fine as a sequel and as a proof that talented directors appear also from these direct-to-video films. Hopefully May has a fine future as a film maker.

5/10 but don't watch if you prefer mainstream movies or movies that have nothing fantastic or unreal in them. This is science fiction and people who don't understand it, only waste their time by trying to watch these.