Dollman (1991)

A hard-boiled, intergalactic policeman lands on Earth where he is only 12 inches tall.

Director:

Albert Pyun

Writers:

Charles Band (original story), Chris Roghair (screenplay)

Stars:

Tim Thomerson, Jackie Earle Haley, Kamala Lopez

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tim Thomerson	...	Brick Bardo
Jackie Earle Haley	...	Braxton Red
Kamala Lopez	...	Debi Alejandro (as Kamala Lopez-Dawson)
Humberto Ortiz	...	Kevin Alejandro
Nicholas Guest	...	Skyresh
Judd Omen	...	Mayor
Michael Halsey	...	Cally
Frank Doubleday	...	Cloy
Frank Collison	...	Sprug
Vincent Klyn	...	Hector (as Vince Klyn)
John Durbin	...	Fisher
Merle Kennedy	...	Maria
Luis Contreras	...	Jackson
Eugene Robert Glazer	...	Captain Shuller (as Eugene Glazer)
Richard D'Sisto	...	Armbruiser

Storyline

Brick Bardo (Tim Thomerson) is a traveller from outer space who is forced to land on Earth. Though regular-sized on his home planet, he is doll-sized here on Earth, as are the enemy forces who have landed as well. While Brick enlists the help of an impoverished girl and her son, the bad guys enlist the help of a local gang. When word leaks out as to his location, all hell breaks loose. Brick is besieged by an onslaught of curious kids, angry gang members, and his own doll-sized enemies, and he must protect the family who has helped him and get off the planet alive.

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Plot Keywords:

spoof | gang | policeman | arm blown off | kiss | 

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Taglines:

He's the toughest cop on the planet Arturus -- but on earth he's in over his head!

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Horror | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sci-fi violence, and for language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Tim Thomerson later worked with director Albert Pyun again on Nemesis (1992).

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Goofs

Some of the stock footage shown during the South Bronx montage are actually not of the South Bronx.

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Quotes

Brick: When will this nightmare be over?
Debi Alejandro: It's not a nightmare.
Brick: Then what the hell is it?
Debi Alejandro: It's the South Bronx.

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Connections

Referenced in Best of the Worst: Elves, Santa Claus, and Christmas Vacation 2 (2013)

User Reviews

A Fun-Sized Futuristic Dirty Harry-Meets Suburban Commando-Meets Honey I Shrunk the Kids Anyone?

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.

Details

Official Sites:

Full Movie on Hulu

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 March 1992 (Brazil)

Also Known As:

Dollman

Filming Locations:

USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Full Moon Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33:1 (Home Video)