misbegotten Review of Hologram Man

Hologram Man (1995 Video)

A disappointing and distasteful misfire.

[4/10 · 29 September 2020]

Another Nineties effort from straight-to-video action maestros PM Entertainment, this is their version of DEMOLITION MAN (1993), to the extent that the bigger-budgeted Stallone/Snipes epic is referenced in the dialogue. In the near-future, convicted terrorist Norman 'Slash' Gallagher (played by Evan Lurie) is sentenced to be held in suspended animation, but manages to escape by having his consciousness downloaded into a hologram (?!) and is pursued by Decoda (Joe Lara), the cop who originally captured him. Even by B movie standards, the science is extremely wonky, but if you can overlook that, this actually starts out quite strongly, with - despite the low budget - some impressive production design. I especially liked the courtroom set, some of the futuristic vehicles, and the realistically functional virtual reality training program. However, during the movie's last half-hour the narrative just descends into repeated scenes of groups of cops and terrorists endlessly firing automatic weapons at each other, and instead of being exciting it's just repetitive and numbing. However, what is genuinely disturbing is the fact that during the climax Decoda manages to disarm and overpower Gallagher's two key henchmen (William Sanderson and Nicolas Worth), and although they no longer pose any threat to him, he self-righteously kills them both in cold blood. Likewise, the subsequent final confrontation with Gallagher (which is too short and frustratingly anti-climatic) ends with Decoda trapping the villain inside the mainframe that originally generated his hologram form and - despite having rendered him harmless - then blowing up the computer, destroying him. And if that hadn't already proven enough that he'd appointed himself as judge, jury and executioner, Decoda concludes the movie by murdering the corrupt CEO (Michael Nouri, slumming it) of the corporation that now runs California - which is the very act of assassination and terrorism that Gallagher had been trying to achieve the entire runtime! The makers of HOLOGRAM MAN apparently believe it's perfectly okay and legitimate for Decoda to do all this, because he is - supposedly - 'the good guy'. Instead, such simplistic and warped logic just leaves a very nasty taste in the mouth.