Skip to content
Dom Robinson reviews
The Return of DurantDistributed by
- Cert:
- Cat.no: 053 754 2
- Running time: 89 minutes
- Year: 1994
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2, 4 (UK PAL)
- Chapters: 18
- Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby ProLogic)
- Languages: 5 languages available
- Subtitles: 9 languages available
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £17.99
- Extras : Scene index, Trailers for Darkman 1-3
Director:
- Bradford May
(Darkman 2: The Return of Durant, Darkman 3: Die Darkman Die, Lethal Lolita)
Producer:
- David Roessell
Screenplay:
- Steven McKay
Music:
- Randy Miller
Cast:
- Darkman/Peyton Westlake: Arnold Vosloo
Robert G. Durant: Larry Drake
Jill Randall: Kim Delaney
Laurie Brinkman: Renee O’Connor
Darkman 2: The Return of Durantis the first of two sequels to the Liam Neeson original, directed by Sam Raimi,but instead we now have Bradford May at the helm, director of Lethal Lolita,one of two films about the Amy Fisher scandal and Arnold Vosloo as the main character.He’s better known asThe Mummy‘s, er…, mummy.Both Darkman sequels also went straight to video in the U.K., so it’s nice to havethe first one presented in anamorphic widescreen.
As the subtitle would suggest, even after blowing up Durant (Larry Drake) in ahelicopter ‘accident’ at the end of the first film, he’s back for more. Death clearlyisn’t the career set-back it used to be.
Since he’s been away, the arms trade has gone out of their reach with prices going belowcost. So, the answer is to make their own weaponry and something that’s a bit special too- high-tech laser-sighted doobries powered by mini-nuclear generators, each capable ofproducing 450 Gigawatts of power. Considering it took just 1.2 Gigawatts to send Marty McFly’back to the future’, this new gun is a SPICY meat-ball!
Vosloo proves himself easily adaptable to B-movie action nonsense – as proved inHard Target – and Ipresume Neeson, being the close-to-A-list celebrity that he is, had better things to do.As a result, this film even had to go to the point of recreating scenes from the firstfilm with Vosloo’s face in place.
Darkman, in his Peyton Westlake human form, gets to know a Dr. David Brinkman who has managedto break the 99-minute barrier in polymer skin substitutes, i.e. Darkman will be able towear his liquid skin face for longer. Brinkman has managed a 3-hour limit, but togetheras partners they could look for a permanently stable variety.
Potential love interests come to light in the form of Jill Randall (Kim Delaney) -a television journalist enlisted by Darkman to help prove to the world that Durant isstill alive – and Brinkman’s sister Laurie (Renee O’Connor, better knownas Gabrielle inXena: Warrior Princess).
The 3 Darkman DVDs.The picture is framed at the original 1.85:1 widescreen ratio and is anamorphic.It’s mostly excellent with just a few artifacts and sparklies to mar the presentationon occasion – certainly nothing to really worry about.The average bitrate is a very high 8.21Mb/s.
The sound is very good too. The film wasn’t made in Dolby Digital 5.1 so all the SFXare standard ProLogic, but they sound superb, particularly when the new style of tommyguns let rip.
Extras : Chapters :
There are 18 chapters, which is fine for this just-under-90-minute film.
Languages & Subtitles :Dialogue comes in five flavours: English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.Subtitles are in nine: English for the hard of hearing, French, German, Dutch, Spanish,Italian, Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. And there’s more :Three 4:3 Trailers, for each of the three Darkman films, plus a DVD-ROM weblink toUniversal’s website:Universal Studios.com(There, I’ve saved you the trouble) Menu :Silent and static with all the usual options and a shot of the cover. The only whiffof Dolby Digital 5.1 this disc gets is in the opening Universal logo.
Overall, this is a very entertaining film and worthy of the 90-minutes you’ll spend watchingit, but it’s firmly stuck in straight-to-video terrority and as such I’d advise a rental,but only a purchase if you really want to watch it over and over again.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.