Next up is Durant. Now, this is partially performance, partially writing, and partially character causing the problem. Durant wakes up in a way too over-the-top fashion, sitting bolt upright as his eyes pop open. Then there is the fact that the helicopter crash merely caused a coma; there were no physical effects of the horrific crash. I just found the character to feel considerably different than in the first movie. He was more in your face and cartoonish. Yes, he should be cartoonish, but this almost belongs in another film.

Now, a big problem is with the writing. There does not seem to be much heart infused into it. There is a love interest, but the chemistry is non-existent and there is no mention of his first love, Julia Hastings. The foes take way too long to find out about each other, as they go about their individual stories before colliding more than halfway through the film. When they do finally cross paths, the interaction fails to spark the way it should. It doesn't help that some of the dialogue is pretty bad and is delivered with a certain lack of conviction.

Did they get anything right?

Sure, there is still a nice comic book vibe to it. This is definitely one step removed from the funny pages, in a good way. The make-up effects are still quite good. The film's biggest crime is failing to live up to the excellent original.

Audio/Video. This film is part of the Darkman: The Franchise Collection set released by Universal. This is also the first time the film has been released anamorphically, and it looks okay. It does not seem to have gone through any extensive remastering, which it could use. The disk is a bit to the dark and some detail is lost.

Extras. The original trailer, full-frame no less, and that's it.

Bottom line. This is not a bad movie, it is not a good movie, it just is. This is the sort of movie you watch right after the original to make fun of, only to realize you like parts of it. Not enough not to continue making fun of, but enough not to be overly mean. As part of the trilogy set, it is worth it.

Mildly Recommended.