Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

Darkman was a movie that probably didn't need a sequel or it did. Perhaps one notorious example of a bad sequel is actually Darkman II: Return of Durant or is it? I think it had potential but as a direct to home video sequel -- it just is typically is. Remember when Disney didn't give sequels in the movies and sent them straight at home? I find it the same way that The Return of Jafar just lacks the charm of the budget Aladdin film or Lion King II: Simba's Pride may be good it just can't beat The Lion King in any shape or form. The same can be true for this movie where Durant returns as the main antagonist. Remember how Durant was the secondary antagonist for the first film? He was a sadistic mob boss hired by Louis Strack Jr. to get the Bellasarious memorandum. He's the very reason why Peyton Westlake went from a mild-mannered scientist into the ever vengefully crazy Darkman. He's one sadistic MOFO you don't want to mess with this guy. Although he appea...

Darkman himself is not your typical superhero. I remembered being berated and asked which superhero wanted revenge as their motive. They say none but think about it that Conan the Barbarian wanted revenge on Thulsa Doom in the hit 1982 film. Darkman himself wants revenge on Robert G. Durant (his personal rival) and the latter's employer Louis Strack Jr. for ruining his life's work. What I thought about Darkman is how he deviates away from typical heroism since he's in an R18 movie. Conan grew up in a life of slavery. Darkman's normal life was taken away from him causing him to go from mild-mannered Peyton Westlake into his dark alter-ego known as the Darkman. Strack and Durant are both bullies one can relate in real life. Strack thinks that he can get away with everything he does because he's not just rich but he's really super-rich. Durant forms dirty alliances with rich people (such as Strack) and uses thug force brutality to get what he wants. Many of Dur...

Nobody can deny that Transformers and its sequel series Beast Wars (which takes place 300 years after the original ended but they got stranded on pre-historic Earth) are both successes. But for every successful franchise -- there's the tendency for a black sheep or flak to appear. Do you remember how the highly successful Kamen Rider Black got succeeded by the failure that's Kamen Rider Black RX? Beast Wars was succeeded by Beast Machines which really didn't last after 26 episodes. Beast Wars had 52 episodes which proved it was a success. Beast Machines tried to ride on the success of Hasbro's Beast Wars but only resulted in how Black RX ended -- a failure! I may not be a fan of Transformers Season 3 but at least Season 3 had some development you can enjoy. I know I've hated (to a certain extent) how Galvatron went all the way from a scary, cunning leader from the movie to a greater idiot than Starscream ever was. However, Galvatron's insanity made him more i...