Product Details

• Actors: Larry Drake, Arnold Vosloo, Kim Delaney, Renée O'Connor, Lawrence Dane
• Directors: Bradford May
• Writers: Lawrence Hertzog, Robert Eisele, Steven McKay
• Producers: Bernadette Joyce, David Eick, David Roessell, Robert G. Tapert
• Format: Anamorphic, NTSC
• Language: German (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Swedish, Danish, Dutch
• Region: Region 2 (Read more about DVD formats.)
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Run Time: 93 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004WZZW
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #574,172 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Darkman II: The Return of Durant" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Sam Raimi created Darkman with a potential franchise in mind, and his original movie had enough flair to suggest a sequel was warranted. Unfortunately (or perhaps wisely--for Raimi), he handed over the straight-to-video sequel duties to rookie director Bradford May, and nobody bothered to come up with much of a screenplay. As a result, Darkman II plays like a bad pilot for a proposed Darkman TV series, with Arnold Vosloo (best known as a villain in Jean-Claude Van Damme's Hard Target) doing his best to replace Liam Neeson in the title role. Sporting a dastardly scar and delivering lackluster punch lines as he kills his many enemies, Larry Drake returns from the first film as the villainous Durant, who wreaks havoc in his attempt to finance and manufacture the world's most destructive automatic weapons. As he supports the synthetic skin experiments of a like-minded scientist, the scarred hero known as Darkman thwarts Durant's ruthless plot, but the case proves costly for the intrepid crime reporter (Kim Delaney, pre-NYPD Blue) who allies herself with Darkman's efforts. Basically, this by-the-numbers plot serves as a tissue-thin vehicle for lots of explosions and gratuitous violence, and it's all about as inspired as a bad syndicated action show. Of interest only to those who were dazzled by the original Darkman, and even then it's a disappointment. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Sadly,, March 28, 2005

By 

Tyche "The REAL Tyche" (Simi Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Darkman 2 - The Return of Durant (DVD)

The lack of Liam neeson and raimi's directing is what ruined this movie for me. While Mr. Vasloo is superb in his taking on the burden of the Liam created character and mr. Drake always has appeal, the movie as a whole needed a much better script. It was too predicatble, too phoney.
On the bonus side, they did manage to keep the hapahazard and crazy comments Darkman makes during chases and fight scenes in tact, so that was a plus.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Durant Might Be Back But Nobody Else Is, July 18, 2010

By 

Richard Ross - See all my reviews

This review is from: Darkman 2 - The Return of Durant (DVD)

It's been about 10 years since I saw Sam Raimi's original 'Darkman' but I decided to give this direct-to-video sequel a try for a number of reasons. First off it stars one of my favorite villains, Arnold Vosloo ('Hard Target' which was also produced by Raimi and Robert Tapert), second it also features the super sexy Kim Delaney ('NYPD Blue') and finally it was only a $1 brand new. As a movie it's pretty terrible due to its over-the-top and cartoonish nature. But as a comic book movie it's very entertaining. It tries very hard (and occasionally succeeds) to recapture the style and spirit of the original.


Now that Peyton Westlake (Vosloo) has defeated his mortal enemy Durant (Larry Drake) he can focus all his energy into his life's work - creating a synthetic mask that will cover his horribly disfigured face. The only problem is that in all of his experiments he can never get the mask to last longer than 99 minutes. Peyton joins forces with a fellow scientist who's also working to create a synthetic mask. His experiments have been more successful since his mask can last for nearly 3 hours. Before these two can perfect the mask, the scientist is murdered by Durant who wants to inherit the scientist's giant warehouse and conduct his own experiments. (Even though Durant was killed in a helicopter explosion in the first film, he somehow managed to survive with only minor scars and debilitating migraines to show for it.) In an effort to corner the arms market, Durant has also joined forces with a scientist, only this one is working on an atomic laser gun which Durant plans to sell to rival dealers in the hopes that they'll wipe each other out with the new super-weapon. With both Westlake and Durant scrambling to complete their experiments it's only a matter of time before their paths cross and they realize the other one is still alive. After this inevitably happens, there's only one person Peyton can trust - an ambitious reporter named Rachel (Delaney).


Like I said the film is totally campy and over-the-top but in a good way. These are precisely the elements you look for in a good comic book movie. With the exception of some subpar special effects the film looks good. There's lots of dark alleyways, spooky thunder and lightning and loud explosions to jolt the senses. The action scenes, as low key as they are, rely on archive footage from the first film a bit too heavily. One of that film's best gags, Peyton creating a Durant mask to infiltrate his inner circle, is repeated here twice but with Durant's henchmen this time. The script makes up for any inconsistencies by supplying an endless amount of great one liners, most of them delivered by Drake. If there is such a thing as a best performance it would probably be him. He seems to genuinely be enjoying the chance to recreate the elegant and eccentric title character. Vosloo, in a rare leading role, does an okay job as Westlake. He doesn't fare as well as Darkman though constantly screaming "Durant!" at the top of his lungs and smashing his fists on whatever hard surface is in front of him for added dramatic effect. Delaney is given the least to do out of anyone. But she's super beautiful to look at. That seems to be the theme of the film - no matter how dumb things get or over-the-top they are, there's always something visually interesting to look at.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Return of Durant, March 12, 2000

By 

Atheen M. Wilson "Atheen" (Mpls, MN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Darkman 2 - The Return of Durant (DVD)

I bought this title because Arnold Vosloo was a leading member of the cast, and I've come to appreciate his characterizations. I'd not seen the original Darkman, so I had no preconceived notions of what the series was like, I therefore enjoyed it more than a connoisseur of the genera might have. I did seen Darkman III first, however, and enjoyed it more; perhaps because I enjoyed Jeff Fahey as a bad-guy more than I did Larry Drake. They do say that the quality of the villain makes the film. I also thought Mr. Vosloo's Darkman was more brittle in II than in III. Perhaps the quality of the bad guy effected his performance too, or maybe he was just getting used to his character and the series and was only beginning to develop his own particular point of view on both. I tend to agree with the reviewers who felt that the series would make a better subject for TV than for Cinema.