Dreadfully Boring

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

In an era of movies like TERMINATOR: GENISYS and CHAPPIE, can a B-grade robot adventure from the mid-90s find an appreciative audience? The answer is yes, at least if it can find its way into my hands. No low-budget filmmaker loved the sci-fi genre more than Philip J. Roth ("APEX"), and this particular cyborg-themed outing highlights the best that he – or almost anyone – could bring to the table under B-movie constraints. Though not terribly original, DIGITAL MAN is engaging and action-packed enough to accommodate its target audience and perhaps win over a few new fans as well.The story: A squad of futuristic soldiers (led by Ken Olandt) is sent to a backwater Earth settlement to neutralize a deadly combat cyborg (Matthias Hues) run amuck.It bears emphasizing that viewers who need expensive production values and state-of-the-art special effects to enjoy sci-fi flicks will be disappointed by this one, with its outdated CGI and gooey prosthetics. Personally, I love the production design, which is so skillfully implemented that there's no stylistic discord even when the setting shifts from a high-tech space station to the dusty Earth setting. Despite a handful of esthetic lifts from ALIENS and THE TERMINATOR, DIGITAL MAN looks and feels very much like its own movie, and in the process manages to avoid the artistic pitfalls of basing a production in the desert: it's never not fun to look at, despite its limited color palette.The action's comprised primarily of explosions and shootouts, with a smattering of kickboxing. Though bluntly effective, the firefights aren't worth the price of the picture alone, and it's disappointing that Hues' physical talents are limited to only a single, one-sided brawl. Despite looking cool in his armor, Matthias is generally the worst-utilized performer of the film, having next to no lines and virtually nothing to do other than stalking and shooting. The rest of the cast does much better, with especially the soldiers getting enough character moments so as to not feel expendable. The rest of the cast is pretty memorable, too: Don Swayze (brother of Patrick) is a decent supporting goof, Amanda Wyss does what she can in an uncredited role, and the great Susan Tyrell has two glorious cameo scenes.Director Roth infuses the picture with the enthusiastic pacing and gusto so often missing from low-budget productions, thereby keeping the film upbeat and rolling along nicely. He might have also included a tad too much story for his own good, as the paranoia angle of squad members potentially being cyborgs themselves feels unnecessary for a movie this small. Nevertheless, the film is worth a rental, and potentially even a purchase if you still own a VCR.

Not really that much to say about this one other than this movie about a cyborg (for lack of a better word) who goes AWOL and causes all sorts of trouble is not anything great but on the flip side it's not really too bad either. Perfectly suitable as either a flick you turn on for a rainy Sunday or even just as background noise while doing something else. It's not the type of film that you have to pay rapt attention to. The digital mans interactions with some local white trash is a highlight of the film. Forgettable, but still a solidly average popcorn flick.Eye Candy: Chase Masterson gets briefly topless My Grade: B-

In the future, if there is a situation too dangerous for human soldiers to go into, there is such a thing as the "D-1 Weapons System", or "Digital Man" (Hues). Such a situation arises when terrorists steal the launch codes for some nukes and demand 2 billion dollars in gold. Digital Man spoils their plans, but he uploads the launch codes on to his system. He then ends up in Badwater, Nevada, a small, dusty hamlet in the desert. When it is found out he has the nuclear launch codes, a special, crack team led by Anders (Olandt) is sent to Badwater to "take him off-line". Also there's some sort of stupid intrigue involving Adam Baldwin and Ed Lauter that is impossible to care about. So it's a scenario with a multi-racial team trying to stop Digital Man, Digital Man eluding them, and rednecks and trailer park dwellers such as Billy (the Swayze of the Don variety) interacting with all the high-tech goings-on.Maybe it's just us, but I hate these low-budget sci-fi future movies. The dialogue consists of nothing but gobbledygook which is completely unrelatable to any audience. Thus they mentally "check out", lose interest and stop caring about the proceedings. Digital Man in particular is guilty of this, with very few, if any, likable characters. The most likable of the bunch is probably the emotionless supersoldier Digital Man. It's a perfect role for Hues.In 1995, CD-ROMs were huge, and this movie feels like one long, painful CD-ROM, with all the graphics and silly "morphing" effects that would entail. I've played flight simulators that are more thrilling than Digital Man. Flight Simulators.Just imagine a mish-mash of Virtuosity (1995), The Terminator (1984), Neon City (1991), Robocop (1987), American Cyborg: Steel Warrior (1993), Hologram Man (1995), Circuitry Man (1990) and even the Sega Genesis game Vectorman. The idea of the "sci-fi western" has been tried with everything from Westworld (1973) to Oblivion (1994). While the novelty of Don Swayze in a Chad McQueen-style sleeveless shirt angrily spouting lines like "You can't tell me what to do, robot!" in utter seriousness to such people as Matthias Hues is worth noting, Digital Man is just so dumb and tedious it wears off quickly.For example, the weaponry the cast uses look like spray-painted leaf blowers, and robots die like the Itchy and Scratchy robots in that episode of The Simpsons. The "crack team" does hone their craft, whatever that's supposed to be, by fighting "Virtual Ninjas" (you gotta figure the word "virtual" is going to show up sometime). The idea of a virtual ninja is cool and is probably strong enough to support its own movie. Maybe there will be a spin-off (please God not a sequel).So while the movie does have a professional look thanks to the cinematography, and there are a lot of explosions, the only real reason to watch this is for Matthias Hues. Which is the only reason we watched it. So that works out. The climax does feature some Hues hand to hand combat, which is nice, because Hues walking around a trailer park with a leaf blower for 90 minutes sounds more entertaining than it actually is.In the end, Digital Man seems like something you'd happen to catch on HBO or Cinemax in the middle of the afternoon sometime in the 90's. Sadly though, the strong B-movie cast cannot save the dire stupidity within.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

Digital Man is a very entertaining movie, with good acting, excellent photography and outstanding F/X. It does suffer from a mediocre script however. A very good, overall effort from a bunch of actors who fall into the category of "where have I seen them before?" A rating of 8 out of 10 was given.