Darkman III: Die Darkman Die

This starts out the only way they knew how to open an entry in this series... introducing the villain and building up how tough and ruthless he is(this time, a new guy, thankfully... I love Durant, but a third outing would have been pushing it). Rooker is the name, and he deals drugs(because that's what 90's bad guys do), and... er... he's a fanatic about physical strength(albeit he isn't a muscled beast)... even though he uses no less than two guns(well, only once), even firing one immediately after talking about how you can't make a point with such. Huh. Well, for all the personality he doesn't have, Jeff Fahey, common to B-movies, certainly gives a nice, over-the-top performance(as does someone else, I won't name them here... but maniacal laughter is had, and it is good). Darkman... still hasn't taken up vigilantism(beyond taking revenge), he continues to try to improve his liquid skin(seemingly having forgotten the breakthrough of the second one... yeah, there's no continuity between these), and this time, struggles with caring about regular people again, after all he's lost(not a bad arc, if there is no real thematic in this one). Once the two meet, a hefty battle ensues, which is exactly what we want to see(why didn't we get that in II? Right, because that one's padded like crazy), and the first one only had half the movie to get into that, since it was also the origin story. Still not an actually good movie, this is much more entertaining than the one before it. It emulates the fast pace of the '90 one(still lacking the visuals), with plenty of twists and turns(most of which make reasonable sense, though, sadly, several don't make a lasting impact), keeping it moving nearly constantly throughout the 83 minute running time(sans credits). There is a ton of action(some of those scenes being completely gratuitous!), that tend to be quite cool. This is tense, and genuinely makes you care. Roxann Dawson, of Voyager, really helps as the not-taking-it-anymore wife of aforementioned mobster. Her acting is the most sincere, and she has to deal with a lot of exposition(...which, I guess, makes her perfect for Star Trek). Vosloo remains a fine choice for the titular anti-hero. FX are decent. There is some bloody, gory(finally!) violence and a little moderate to strong language in this. I recommend this to fans of the Raimi take on it who are willing to settle. Not one you'll remember for long; however, it is quite enjoyable during the viewing. 5/10

Within the first 17 minutes of director Bradford May's "Darkman III: Die Darkman Die", we have already been subjected to a silly recap and accompanying voice-over on the first two films, hilarious over-acting, about three minutes of footage simply ripped from the second film and re-edited slightly to seem like new footage, and a lengthy advertisement the scarred and tormented title character watches about Universal Theme Parks- Universal being the company that distributed this film. Yes, "Darkman III: Die Darkman Die" is quite the handful when it comes to cheap cash-ins on the success of a previous film.

This time around, the disfigured anti-hero Peyton Westlake (aka, "Darkman"; portrayed by "Mummy" actor Arnold Vosloo) locks horns with evil crime-lord and lousy husband Peter Rooker (played in a brilliantly over-the-top performance by Jeff Fahey), and over the course of the 87 minute film grows to develop an affection for Rooker's wife and daughter, once again learning to care for another person.

Blah. Blah. Blah.

This film is basically just a silly way for the studio to make some more money off of Sam Raimi's original film, which I consider to be a great action-suspense film.

Oh yeah, and there are also a number of silly sub-plots, including a villainess who supposedly was one of the original doctors to save Darkman following his scarring, and her seducing our hero into thinking she is an ally before revealing her nefarious plot to help Rooker create more super-human powered thugs like Darkman. Apparently, she can't just do the same procedure on the thugs that she performed on Darkman. Why? I can't really explain it, because the movie certainly doesn't.

There's also an assassination sub-plot involving a District Attourney who is threatening to bring down Rooker's organization, and some other very silly things going on.

But it doesn't really add up. This film feels like two or three episodes of a television show edited together more than an actual film. The direction alternates between pretty good and downright sloppy (a scene where Darkman rides his train-like vehicle and dodges a rocket-launcher is just plain silly), and the editing is a mixed-bag. The film just moves too quickly for anyone to really care what's going on. And without spoiling it, the final 15 minutes of this movie, and indeed, the entire series is just kinda... I dunno... Another 15 minutes of mixed-bag footage.

In fact, commenting on the editing, one of my favorite things in this film is watching for footage re-used from the previous films, and then looking for footage within this film that is repeated multiple times. Yes, it's that cheap. It's one thing to do a re-cap at the beginning of the film, and maybe repeat a shot or two, but in the sheer volume they do it (minutes of footage repeated from previous films), it's just sloppy and amateurish.

Also, I have to say that Darkman's psychedelic montage freak-outs are a bit overdone in this film. They are so stylized and overdone that they do work, but only in light doses and in proper context, as Raimi did in the original film. Here, there are at least four or five, and they feel very abrupt and out-of-place.

That being said, the film is not without some good points. A few action scenes are well-done. The cliché story of Darkman yearning for a real life works suitably for a direct-to-DVD feature. Some of the acting is nice, particularly from Rooker's wife, portrayed by the beautiful Roxann Dawson. Also, while no Danny Elfman, composer Randy Miller composes some nice music that builds off of Elfman's original themes.

But overall, the film is too quick, cheap and silly to be taken seriously. Arnold Vosloo seems alternatively bored and exuberant from scene to scene, and Fahey, while a joy to watch as an over-the-top villain, just doesn't quite fit in with the series.

Like "Darkman II", I would recommend this to fans of the original, who will surely get a laugh. Otherwise, you need not apply. A four out of ten.

Despite what people say, I found DARKMAN III to be a better sequel than DARKMAN II. It had a quicker pace and more action that helped move the standard story along. Jeff Fahey is fun to watch as always, and Arnold Vosloo again does a good job portraying a sympathetic hero. The use of footage from the previous film in some scenes is a little distracting, but otherwise it's pretty good, and the scenes in which (a disguised) Darkman interact with the villain's child are nice. Obviously not up to par with Sam Raimi's original, but better than the previous sequel. I doubt we'll see them, but I wouldn't mind some more sequels.

The second sequel to Darkman is action packed but lacks the greatness of its prequel, Darkman.The action scenes are good and the acting by the returning Darkman played by Arnold Vosloo are good.This sequel is a good film but I prefer the original Darkman first.

This movie in fact is probably every bit as good as the second sequel.One of my complaints about this movie is the change in the character of Peyton Westlake/Darkman. In the first movie he was a tortured man battling strong demons within himself, whereas in this movie he seems to be fully developed into a wise-cracking comic book type character. We only get a small hint of Darkman's emotional state throughout the entire film and that's about it.

I think this movie's was made as an action movie rather than anything else. The action sequences aren't bad either.

Also Jeff Fahey's character, Rooker is good but feels somewhat shallow, as if more of the character needed to be developed before we could believe he was truly evil. Arnold Vosloo is an interesting choice to play Darkman and brings his own style to the character. Add to this the plight of Darkman falling in love again and having to painfully remember that he can never share his feelings with another person and you have the makings of a good movie.

Maybe they should have spent more time on the characters than the action. Maybe this would have made the movie better. But nevertheless it is still quite an entertaining movie and works well if you don't stop to think about it. 6/10