Why so much hype?

Did you people see the same film I saw?

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Bradford May takes over directing duties from Sam Raimi in this sequel, which also sees Arnold Vosloo take over the role of Peyton Westlake/Darkman, who is still trying to perfect his synthetic skin formula, in order to rebuild his life, but that plan is disrupted by the return of Durant, the evil gangster responsible for ruining his life. Durant did not die in the helicopter explosion, but instead survived in a coma, and after he awakens, seeks to rebuild his power by kidnapping an insane genius who can build him a powerful laser weapon.Arnold Vosloo isn't a bad replacement for Liam Neeson(who is still missed) but sequel is pretty standard stuff, with the unlikely survival of Durant stretching things; though Larry Drake is still good, film isn't, though there would be one more, filmed at the same time.

I remember back in 1996, when I saw this one, being pretty disappointed. Because this movie lacks the grandeur of the original. It felt like a lesser movie, and in a way it is of course. But re-watching it, learned me to re-appreciate it, and I now even like it more than back then. It is a darn decent sequel, if you ask me. What it lacks are some heavy-weight emotional aspects of the Darkman (provided in the first one because of his love-interest), therefor the revenge-theme is bit thinner here. It also, clearly lacks a budget of the same size as the first one, making it look a little less impressive. Other than that, the movie delivers as far as most of its predecessor's characteristics go. I must add, however, if you were to take the Darkman himself out of this movie, you'd just end up with a pretty mediocre, run-of-the-mill action movie, truly worthy of the direct-to-video status. But, fortunately, he's still in it, and Darkman only still is the sole reason we watch these movies, now don't we? This time (and this might be a disappointment to many), Dr. Peyton Westlake is played by Arnold Vosloo. At the time of my first time viewing, I didn't like this very much. Now, I can only conclude Vosloo does a more than decent job stepping in Neeson's footsteps. A nice touch in the script, was having Peyton set up his laboratory on a new location, underground this time. The writers did a very good thing by bringing back Larry Drake as Durant (he's just so mean! :) and having him team up with a mad scientist/weapons inventor. Good thing too, in the plot, was having Darkman, at one point team up with a fellow scientist (Dr. Brinkman) to try and perfect his liquid skin techniques. When, later in the movie, he finds Dr. Brinkman murdered and his dreams smashed to pieces, all the agony of similar things happening to him once come back... and it's Darkman's Revenge Time again! Sadly, this movie is lacking an enjoyable climax in the end. The ending itself doesn't necessarily hint at a sequel, but it leaves the door open saying: this might turn into an on-going series.

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.

This is a good sequel and better then the original in my humble opinion. While it may not be as flashy or visually spectacular as the 1st, i found it more entertaining and i preferred Arnold Vosolo over Liam Neeson, i just dig him more now Liam was awesome as Darkman, i just liked Vosolo's performance better. Larry Drake is awesome as the main villain once again, and, this was much more violent then the original. For a Direct to video film, this movie is top notch in a lot of aspects, i enjoyed Darkman but enjoyed this one a bit more, due to better pacing, and better performances (in my opinion). It's also a bit more interesting, and not so grim, plus Vosolo was kinda more mysterious and creepier then Neeson as well. The Direction is very good. Braford May does a very good job here, while not as flashy or as stylish as Sam Rami, he still has a few little camera tricks of his own, with slick camera angles, some cool POV shots of Darkman, and overall keeping the film at a very good pace!, very good job. There is a bit of gore. We get some bloody car crash victims,a few bloody gunshot wounds,nasty facial makeup,someone's teeth are knocked out with a golf club,harsh bloody beating a bloody gunshot wound to the head, and some bloody corpses. The Acting is very good. Arnold Vosolo is awesome here as Darkman, he is very convincing likable, had some cool one liners, and was a lot of fun to watch!, i really dig this guy. Larry Drake is also awesome here as the main villain, he is very menacing, very convincing, and was also a lot of fun to watch. Kim Delaney is hot and was decent as the reporter. Renee O'Connor is good with what she had to do, and was decent looking. Lawrence Dane is good as the quirky doctor. Jesse Collins is good and wished he didn't go so soon. Overall i highly recommend this sequel! ***1/2 out of 5(barely)