DOLLMAN (1991) **

Dollman is yet another team-up between leading man Tim Thomerson and producer Charles Band.  Fans hoping for another Trancers will be disappointed because it’s not very good.  However, thanks to Thomerson’s game performance, it certainly has its moments.

While chasing a bad guy through outer space, interplanetary cop Brick Bardo (Thomerson) crashes his spaceship into Earth’s atmosphere.  The sudden change in pressure causes Brick to shrink down to 1/6 his size.  Trapped on Earth, he winds up being a protector to a single mom (Kamala Lopez) who is marked for death by a gang of thugs led by Red (Jackie Earle Haley). 

Dollman is a futuristic sci-fi movie directed by Albert Pyun, so you know it’s going to look muddy and ugly.  As is the case with most of his films, Pyun’s vision far exceeds his budget, which leads to some really chintzy moments.  The sparing effects are often cheap (even by Charles Band’s low standards) and are mostly good for groans instead of laughs. 

The best stuff takes place on Brick Bardo’s home planet.  The opening scene in which Thomerson does a mean Dirty Harry impression while threatening a gunman who has taken a bunch of fat ladies hostage in a laundromat is a lot of fun.  We also get a few exploding bodies, and a weird bad guy who’s nothing more than a severed head with wings.  Unfortunately, the film sorta runs out of steam once Bardo comes to Earth. 

Thomerson gives a fun performance, although you can almost see he wishes he had a bigger budget and better dialogue to work with.  The whole movie is like that though, as there are more missed opportunities than good ideas.  Take for example the scene where Dollman is crawling through a sewer pipe and comes face to face with a rat.  Instead of getting into a fight with it (which would be cool), he merely shoos it away with his gun.  In fact, they’re never even in the same shot together.  (That would’ve been way too expensive.) 

Thomerson fans will enjoy it.  People who will watch anything Band puts out will too.  Ultimately, Dollman comes up… short.

AKA:  MicroCop.