Benutzerrezensionen

Brick Bardo (Tim Thomerson), a tough cop from the planet Arturus, pursues his evil nemesis Sprug (Frank Collison), a living disembodied head on a flying machine, across the far reaches of space to Earth (the South Bronx, to be precise) where he discovers that, by Earth standards, he is the size of a doll.

But as the saying goes, size doesn't matter, and after Sprug teams up with the local gang who have been terrorising the neighbourhood, Bardo becomes a miniature Dirty Harry crossed with Paul Kersey from Death Wish III, blowing away the scum and punks with his powerful side-arm.

Dollman is so cheap that it lifts special effects shots from the cheesy 70s/80s TV series 'Buck Rogers in the 25th Century', but producer Charles Band and director Albert Pyun are no strangers to movie-making on a shoestring and still manage to provide a reasonably diverting time despite the obvious budgetary limitations.

Early scenes feature some neat full-body explosions, Bardo's gun being capable of blowing people completely apart; Thomerson puts in a fun performance, delivering his Eastwood influenced one-liners in a suitably gruff manner; and there are some truly daft moments that are just too ridiculous not to enjoy (Bardo's dive through a window and onto a moving car is hilarious!).

Tim Thomerson stars as Brick Bardo (No relation to the same Brick Bardo who beat up tons of people in Bloodmatch)an alien cop (Not unlike the cop from Trancers) who follows one of his adversaries to earth only to stumble onto earth where he is only a foot tall, it's here he joins forces with a ghetto woman to protect her from gang violence. Jackie Earle Haley (Before his Oscar nod) is the gang-leader who is Thomerson's main enemy. Believe it or not, Jackie Earle Haley could always act and his Oscar is no fluke, as he delivers a not too shabby performance and Thomerson of course as usual is enjoyable to watch (Of course) this is a perfectly watchable B.movie, with a good sense of humor, some good action sequences and for once Pyun's disjointed and over the top directing is appropriate. So all in all this is one of Pyun's better efforts and a distinctive B.movie.

* *1/2 out of 4-(Pretty good)

You will have a campy good time watching Dollman. It's about a guy from another planet who comes to earth, but due to earth's gravity, he is about the size of a GI Joe Doll. He is chasing down a criminal (or just the head) from his home world and the criminal is also small. What makes this a classic B film is that over acting of the main character. The lines are cheesy, the plot is stupid, the concept is ridiculous and it all works gloriously together in one insanely stupid and laughable film. This is the type of film you get together with buddies and do your own version of Mystery Science Theater 3000 commentaries. So I give the film a 5 in my book.

I love this kind of movie.

It's one of those things you either love or hate, and a lot of the venom getting tossed at it isn't needed. It's just a movie folks.

Innocent fun.

It's about this alien cop who winds up crashed on earth only to find out he's the size of a ken doll, here.

Lucky he's got his "Ruger," the most powerful handgun in the universe (don't ask). This little thing blasts holes in his foes as if it was a .357 magnum (and, as i recall, it literally blew people apart on his home planet).

It's not Citizen Kane, but it's clever and tongue in cheek. I can actually see a silver age comic book like this.

The effects are cheesy and the story is ridiculous but this is an entertaining flick nontheless. Tim Thomerson is great as the 13 inch Brick Bardo. (Love that name!) Brick crash lands in the South Bronx after chasing some criminal (actually just a head attached to some sort of board) into an energy field outside his home planet of Arturus. Brick arrives just in time to save a young woman from some hoods who take to calling each other homeboy. These tough punks with mullets to spare, are terrorizing the neighborhood. Leave it to Brick to clean up the mess with the help of his handgun("the most powerful weapon man has ever seen").

The film is filled with some hilarious material. The scene in which Brick jumps through a third floor window and catches onto a moving car below is classic. Needless to say if you go into this film with the right attitude you'll have a good time. Tim Thomerson should get more and better work.

Pretty much bottom of the barrel stuff from Full Moon Entertainment, a company not especially renowned for making good films. The low budget is apparent here. The film also sounds a lot better than it actually is. To be honest, that 'acclaimed' TV series from the '60s, LAND OF THE GIANTS, was a hell of a lot more fun than this. The film should have concentrated on Bardo facing perils, a lot more perils than the mouse he faces in one short scene.

It could have been a wacky variation on THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN but unfortunately it's just boring; after the plot is set up nothing happens for about an hour, apart from people shooting each other occasionally and even that's not exciting. However there are a few choice bits of unintentional comedy on offer: this is the only film in which the stunt double is an action man! The humour - and there's a lot of it - consistently falls flat.

The acting is non-existent, apart from Tim Thomerson who remains bland but is not particularly bad. Obviously his experience (he's been in a lot of films like this, god help him) has helped shape him. To keep you interested (this is the plus side) there are some special effects which are interesting, such as the exploding people when Bardo shoots them with his powerful gun. There's a lot to laugh at but unfortunately not a lot to keep you interested. Watch only if you're desperate.

Dollman (1991) was a cheesy science fiction/action film that didn't try to pretend it was anything but. Tim Thomerson stars as Dollman, a diminutive alien who's travels through space and time to capture a galactic fugitive. The low budgets of this film shows through when the film maker uses a lot of bad trick photography and repeated use of film stock in several places to pad out the film's running time. Does Dollman get his man? How will he adjust to Earth's strange people and planetary environment? To find out you'll need to track down a copy of DOLLMAN.

Recommended for cheesy film fans.

Another trashy Grade Z quickie from the prolific Albert Pyun. Tim Thomerson´s 13 inch Clint Eastwood-like cop from outer space chases an ugly flying head(!) to Earth and gets involved in a gang war in South Bronx! Mercifully short, but deadeningly dull, with the cheesiest effects since Attack of the 50Ft Woman. They should have fired the continuity guy, too: Note how Thomerson´s sunglasses disappears and reappears in every second shot. Laughably bad, but that´s why we watch these movies, ain´t it? Sequel ´Dollman Vs. Demonic Toys´ is reportedly even worse, if that´s possible.

0 (of ****)

Only a director like Albert Pyun could handle material like this. The director of many B sci-fi/martial Arts projects (the "Nemesis" series, "Cyborg"), a teen video game adventure, and a post-apocalyptic musical, Mr. Pyun loves to combine genre tropes into stimulating, unique experiences. Pyun asked what many B-filmmakers did in the Tarrantino administration: why bother with new material when it has all been done so well before?

The 90s direct-to-video market thrived simultaneously with this era of genre hybrids; those movies that recycled old genre tropes, archetypes, and approaches into new material. In "Dollman" Pyun makes a tasty salad out of various conventions from "Dirty Harry", "Honey I shrunk the Kids", "Suburban Commando", "Time Cop", various gang films, and the action and sci-fi conventionality of its era.

Tim Thomerson plays recurring Pyun character Brick Bardo who, in this incarnation, is a futuristic bad-cop who is inter-dimensionally displaced via space ship into the Bronx with his his WMD-packing floating head nemesis Armbruiser. During their trip, the two are shrunken into action figure proportions. After Bardo's spaceship is abducted by a young boy, he must struggle against various domestic terrors (the family dog, a cockroach) while Armbruiser shops his WMD to a dangerous local gang headed by the dangerous Braxton Red (Jackie Earle Hayley in a hammy, vicious performance).

Fortunately "Dollman" delivers in every way you want it to. The shrunken person tropes are satisfying and realized; the action scenes are intense; and its science fiction backbone is always present. Pyun juggles these elements well and has fun with the formulas at play.

Although it suffers from Pyun's tendency toward awkward pacing, "Dollman" is one of his strongest and most controlled films.

When, upon watching this movie and hearing some of the negative feedback, I'm reminded of that adage that "one man's trash is another man's treasure". "Dollman" may indeed be silly, cheesy, low budget nonsense but it IS fun on that level, damn it. Maybe not as much fun as it could and should have been (It would have been more amusing if everybody else besides star Tim Thomerson hadn't taken themselves quite so seriously.).

The high concept story is a time honoured one, having to do with the idea of seeing a tiny individual interact with giant surroundings. That individual is Dirty Harry type cop Brick Bardo (Thomerson, in fine form), who's from a distant planet rather similar to Earth. After chasing his nemesis Sprug (Frank Collison), a living severed head whose other body parts have been eliminated by Brick, to Earth, Brick realizes that by normal Earth standards he only stands 13 inches tall. Brick befriends a hot young South Bronx resident named Debi (Kamala Lopez) and her son, while Sprug aligns himself with local gang members led by Braxton (Jackie Earle Haley). Sprug has with him a deadly bomb, but Brick's own lethal gun is absolutely nothing to be laughed at.

The director is Albert Pyun, the man behind so many other low budget genre flicks, and the supporting cast features some of his regulars like Vince Klyn (the villain of "Cyborg"), Michael Halsey, and Nicholas Guest. Other actors you'll undoubtedly recognize are Frank Doubleday (a heavy in the John Carpenter favourites "Assault on Precinct 13" and "Escape from New York"), Luis Contreras ("After Midnight"), Eugene Robert Glazer (TV's 'La Femme Nikita'), and Judd Omen ("Pee-Wee's Big Adventure"). Great, grim 'n' ugly urban decay production design, decent pacing (it's NOT deadly slow), amusing music by Anthony Riparetti, entertaining gore, and ENJOYABLY unconvincing visual effects add to the diverting package that is this little B flick. Even at just over 82 minutes, however, one can see some padding, especially in the end credits.

Overall, it's a hoot, and recommended for Thomerson fans.

Seven out of 10.

I stumbled upon the 1991 movie "Dollman" here in 2022, and I had never even heard about it. But seeing that it was Charles Band that was one of the writers, then the whole concept of the movie made sense, given his numerous movies with the killer dolls.

Of course I opted to watch director Albery Pyun's 1991 movie "Dollman", though I must admit that I wasn't really harboring much of any expectations for the movie, given the somewhat ludicrous synopsis.

Writers Charles Band, Chris Roghair, Ed Naha and David Pabian managed to put together an adequate enough storyline and script here. Needless to say that you're not in for a grand cinematic movie experience with this kind of movie. But it was watchable for what it turned out to be.

There are some familiar talents on the cast list, with the likes of Tim Thomerson, Jackie Earle Haley and Frank Collison. So there is something for those that grew up watching movies during the late 1980s and 1990s.

Visually then "Dollman" was okay. I mean, the effects in the movie weren't top of the line, but for a movie such as this, then the special effects were actually quite alright.

While this movie was watchable, it is hardly a movie that I would recommend you rush out to get a copy of to watch. Nor is it a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time.

My rating of "Dollman" lands on a four out of ten stars.

Despite some gruesome and bloody scenes, this movie keeps your interest due to Thomerson's tongue-in-cheek humor and his almost Eastwood-like presence. This is a strange and unique science fiction that keeps you giggling just enough to keep you watching.

Dollman is not the greatest movie, but it is also not the worst. It's cheesy, it has one-liners, and it's low-budget. The movie has obvious problems, but it has a certain quality that makes it watchable. Most of it's problems stem from bad acting to cheap effects. I found the movie with a pack of others, including The Gingerdead Man( Made by Full Moon, who made Dollman).The movie definitely stood out from the others, being the best of the other movies( which isn't saying much). Some sites consider the movie to be horror. I wouldn't consider the movie horror, it's more sci-fi/action. Best to watch this movie with a few friends. It can be a good, one time cheese-filled experience.

Dollman is currently available for free on Tubi and follows the story of a space law enforcement agent who crash-lands on Earth, only to discover that he's just 13 inches tall. He encounters a family in desperate need of help in a city overrun by gangs that terrorize the neighborhood. Despite his size, can this tiny spaceman help solve the family's problems and find his way off Earth?

Directed by Albert Pyun (Cyborg and The Sword and the Sorcerer), the film stars Tim Thomerson (Near Dark), Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen), Kamala Lopez (Deep Cover), Frank Doubleday (Escape from New York), and Frank Collison (O Brother, Where Art Thou?).

The storyline reminded me a bit of Hobo with a Shotgun. The action scenes and violence are well executed, and even though it was made in 1991, it carries a strong '80s vibe. The acting is better than you might expect for a film like this, with Tim Thomerson, Jackie Earle Haley, and Kamala Lopez delivering solid performances. Overall, Dollman is a fun science fiction gem that isn't outstanding but brings a great sense of nostalgia. I'd recommend giving it a shot. I'd rate it a solid 6.5/10.

Imagine if the lady fell in love with Dollman and they ended up having sex. You know what? Nevermind. I just suddenly thought of tampons. Though a mozzarella with a mentally deficient story, Dollman is a fun movie with a silly conception, some good bloody action and a neat urban look. And bad acting is always a plus. And it's short too. Just like this review. Bye.

The reason I originally watched this film was Tim Thomerson, who plays the lead role of Brick Bardo. I'd originally caught him in Trancers and, liking the kind of movies he appeared in, decided to give this a go. I'd already seen other Full Moon films so knew what to expect.

However, I was happily surprised. this film has better production values than the others I'd seen, this could be down to director Albert Pyun. Even the main cast members were strong. Thomerson, at this time, seamed to be stereotyped as the hard-nosed, no-bullcrap, type of hero and this isn't any exception. Though, it's James Earle Haley as Braxton Red and Nicholas Guest as his sidekick, Skyresh that add meat to the stories bones. These guys are street criminals and they pull off rough, ready, and hard very well. Picking Frank Collison to play Bardo's arch-enemy Sprug was masterful. Even though he's just a head on a flying plate, he's a head you won't forget quickly. Then the glue of the whole story, the character who binds it all together is Kamala Lopez as Debi Alejandro. A single mother, who works hard and fights harder to keep her family safe and well. She's the one who finds Bardo and helps him on his mission.

The special effects also put a smile on my face. Granted, most of the time the Dollman effect is just a question of perspective and camera angle techniques it actually works very well. It's Bardo's gun and the effect its ammo has on their victim that had the most money spent on it. These bullets literally blow the perp to smithereens - good gruesome fun. My favourite scene is the smoking sidekick - gory and funny... awesome. Even Sprugs fake head on a hover plate is close enough to be possible, though they couldn't spring for a fully automated version.

The story is the only thing that lets it down... but not too much. It's your basic good guy chases bad guy scenario. It's the other elements that are used to keep the audience entertained. And they are. Most of the jokes and sight gags work. And Thomerson's deadpan performance, believing all the lines he spouts, is more than humorous enough to keep you giggling.

This is one of the better Full Moon Entertainment titles and well worth a look-see.

I'm a sucker for the low budget direct-to-video movies from Charles Band's Full Moon Features, which brought us such cheesy classics as the "Puppet Master" "Subspecies, and "Oblivion" series of films. In this film, we have a hard-boiled space cop Brick Bardo, played by Tim Thomerson ("Trancers" "Cherry 2000" "Near Dark"), chasing down intergalactic criminal Jackie Earle Haley (Rorschach from "Watchmen" and Kelly Leak from "The Bad News Bears"). Jackie Earle ends up on earth, but there's a Gulliver's Travels type of twist and Brick finds he's the size of a Ken Doll on this planet of earth giants. The novelty of a tiny Dirty Harry tough talking giant humans goes a long ways and is pretty entertaining. The film was directed by Albert Pyun ("Cyborg" "Nemesis" "Dangerously Close"), who I've always love his penchant for setting his films in the ruins of old factories, which conveniently double as distant planets, post apocalyptic wastelands, or contemporary urban blight (quite cost effective, Albert!). Overall, like most Full Moon Features, it's hampered my a low budget, a corny script, and middling direction, but it has an infectious scrappiness and unpretentiousness that I find hard to resist.