Review of Dollman (1991) by Bryan G — 22 Nov 2009

On his home planet of Arturus, Brick Bardo (Tim Thomerson) is one of the toughest cops around. Playing by no one's rules but his own, he employs a take no prisoners way of taking down bad guys. This of course doesn't sit well with his superiors, nor the crime bosses that plague the streets with crime. After chasing down his archenemy Sprug (Frank Collison) in his interstellar space ship, Bardo crash lands on our planet. The problem is that while Bardo was a regular sized man on his planet, he is only about 13 inches here on Earth.

With being disappointed with the past couple of Full Moon movies I've given a chance, I wasn't expecting much out of Dollman. To my surprise this film was a lot better than its silly premise seemed like it would be. Most of the film's strength was with its great lead character Brick Bardo, and the great performance by Tim Thomerson. Thomerson, who is one of my favorite actors to have worked with Full Moon, once again slips perfectly into his role (like he did in the Trancers series) and really brings Brick Bardo to life.

Sure, Bardo could be considered a knock-off of Dirty Harry. But really, what film of Full Moon's couldn't be deemed a slight rip-off of some other film? I liked the arrogant way Bardo spoke and how he had almost no respect for anyone, even the people he is saving. At the start of the film he is trying to rescue a bunch of people being held hostage in a laundromat, all while insulting most of these hostages for being overweight. And he had one hell of a gun, which could explode someone on his planet, but was reduced to causing huge wounds on Earth's much larger humans.

The film could have used some slightly better villains. Sprug doesn't go to much use in the movie, and he and Bardo's rivalry doesn't pan out much. I did like Jackie Earle Haley as Braxton Red, a gang member who Thomerson wants to bring down because of his criminal ways and the mistreatment he gives to a woman who befriends Bardo. Haley was fine in his performance, but the screenplay doesn't flesh him out more than a standard goon for Bardo to go up against.

Dollman is nicely paced, decently filmed and has another great score like so many other Full Moon movies do. The film is also easily one of my favorite films from this studio, which is a major plus. The film has a slight sci-fi vibe to it, and I typically dislike the science fiction themed films that Full Moon releases. But this one mixes its sci-fi aspects with its action elements in a way that made for one of the best experiences I've had from this studio.