Netflix'ns: Dollman

Netflix'ns is a series of review shorts of films discovered on Netflix, be it DVD or streaming. For better or worse, I sat through these films and have lived to tell the tale. These are not so much reviews as just comments on the film watched. This is also a work in progress.



The same year Tim Thomerson returned to the roll of Jack Deth in Trancers 2 (six years after the original), he also stepped into the role of Brick Bardo in another Full Moon Pictures production, Dollman. If nothing else it proved that Thomerson likes cool, tough guy movie names. It is not everyday you can play a guy named Deth and another named Brick. I wonder if we could ever get a crossover/mash-up where he could play Brick Deth?

In any case, this is one of those Full Moon pictures that doesn't rely on puppets or dolls of some sort. It is a science fiction/action film helmed by Albert Pyun on the heels of such fare as The Sword and the Sorcerer, Cyborg, and Captain America. It is an effective little movie that doesn't have much of anything to say but does put some stylishly cheap imagery on the screen and give us more access to Tim Thomerson as Jack Deth in a different gimmick. Seriously, the characters are virtually identical.

Brick is a rogue cop from Arcturus. While chasing a bad guy, who is just a head (literally), they are sucked through some sort of energy ribbon and crash on Earth. Here, he finds he is only about a foot tall, considerably shorter than anyone else, not to mention a territory war with local drug dealers. Teaming with a local woman, he defends the block against the gang (led by Jackie Earle Haley!) and fends off curious kids and adults who are curious about the little man.

The movie has an end but it really isn't the end of the story. These cheap films are very often left open to a sequel in case it turns a profit. Can you blame them?

In any case, Dollman is a bunch of fun. The cheap special effects actually work pretty well. Thomerson does a great job delivering the one liners and posing as the tough guy. If you like low budget science fiction, this is one that is definitely worth checking out. It is at least as fun as Trancers. I realize that may not mean much to many of you, but if you know that film and don't know this one, go check it out.