Where to watch Digital Man
3 Stars
An out-of-control robot is inadvertently set loose in a small community, and a crack squad of soldiers are sent to hunt it down. Gradually, the members of the squad begin to suspect that some of them are robots.
From 1996 to 2002, my closest friend in the world was named Bryan Davis. He recently died of liver failure due to alcoholism in his late thirties, but for over half a decade, we were inseparable. And Digital Man is the kind of movie he would have loved. This is a guy who saw movies like Wing Commander and Species II and dragged me along. We weren’t only close buddies; we also worked together in a mom-and-pop video store, and we saw nearly every single b-movie, especially if it had a martial arts or sci-fi element to it. So, I’m astonished that we never stumbled upon Digital Man, particularly because I have always liked Matthias Hues, Ed Later, Adam Baldwin, and Paul Gleason, all of whom appear in this fun little genre picture from helmer Phillip J. Roth.
Digital Man mixes The Terminator, Aliens, and The Thing into a successful, albeit derivative, programmer with a healthy sense of humor and some decent explosions. Ken Olandt is a swaggering presence as the lead badass tasked with taking out Matthias Hues’ robotic killing machine. While Hues spends the movie dressed in a Robocop-inspired costume and given sparse dialogue, he still makes for an intriguing central character. In fact, I’m surprised that the producers didn’t enlist the hulking Matthias Hues for a second installment.
For Friday night mindless entertainment, Digital Man fits the bill. I’m just upset it took me this long to see the movie, and while I enjoy the knowing nods by the filmmaker acknowledging the goofy aspects of the story, I know I would have enjoyed it even more if I could somehow get a chance to watch it with my buddy Bryan.
Directed by: Phillip J. Roth
Written by: Phillip J. Roth, Ron Schmidt, Kenneth Melamed
Starring: Ken Olandt, Kristen Dalton, Adam Baldwin