Bullet Points: Hologram Man
There is chaos in the streets, a deadly shootout between the LAPD and some bad guys, cars are on fire and blowing up, a rookie detective is saying shit multiple times, a grizzled cop is going all Dirty Harry on the bad guys, a random sex scene with the movie’s villain and a plot to assassinate the Governor is revealed!
The first few minutes of 1995’s Hologram Man was sensory overload, PM Entertainment style, and would prove to be the tone and tenor of Hologram Man for the remainder of its 1 hour and 41 minute runtime…
- Hello Governor: After learning of the assassination plot, rookie detective Decoda (Joe Lara, Doomsdayer) and his ball busting, veteran partner Wes Strickland (John Amos, Die Hard 2) are assigned to protect Governor Hampton (Alex Cord, To Be The Best) from the attempt on his life by the radical revolutionary Slash Gallagher (Evan Lurie, T-Force). Decoda and Strickland ride with the Governor in his motorcade.. a motorcade that is about to get ambushed by Slash Gallagher, who has hijacked a bus full of people. Slash gets some assistance from his minions who look up to him like Slash is some sort of god. This provides us with a car chase involving the Governor’s limo and the stolen bus with the highlights being the top of the bus being ripped off when the bus races under the Pepin Road overpass (named for Director Richard Pepin) and the limo going airborne and flipping over several times. Speaking of flipping, Slash flips out when his lover is caught in the crossfire during all the action and he more than evens the score when he shoots Governor Hampton in the head and then shoots Wes Strickland before Decoda can take him down and arrest him. Norman “Slash” Gallagher is found guilty of at least a dozen crimes and is sentenced to a maximum security prison, where inmates are turned into holograms and stored in test tubes while they undergo an intense rehabilitation program and their bodies are stored on ice. In other words Evan Lurie, who wrote the story, saw Demolition Man and gave it a holographic twist.
- Five Years Later: The movie jumps five years into the future. Los Angeles is now under a biodome, the governing body is a corporation and Decoda is a seasoned cop who drives around in a Speed Racer inspired car. It is also time for Slash Gallagher’s first parole hearing. Nobody believes five years of rehabilitation were enough to transform the maniac Slash Gallagher, but they go through the formalities and it gives Slash an open forum to insult the powers that be and continue his revolutionary message during his hearing… but then a power surge hits thanks to a disgruntled employee who works at the lab (played by William Sanderson) inside the prison that is responsible for the holograms. This turns our villain Slash into some sort of… wait for it… Hologram Man! Bullets go through him, he can walk through walls and even if you could get close enough to try to stop him, he is protected by an energy field. Slash’s minions dip him in some sort of rubber, so he has a body again that encases his hologram self… not sure how he has hair again, but I guess I can let that one slide or maybe he had rubber dreads?!!
- Holographic Revolution: Slash picks up where he left off five years earlier, trying to overthrow the powers that be and start a revolution… and in order to do this, he starts going after the members of the council that now rule Los Angeles. Slash goes on a real tear, eliminating council members left and right and with no weaknesses for the good guys to exploit. Since the guy who is playing the unstoppable Slash wrote the story, I was seriously starting to wonder if he was going to write himself a happy ending… but then the turning point came when Slash guns down Decoda… but Decoda, with the help of his sexy scientist girlfriend Natalie (Arabella Holzbog, Stone Cold), gets a second chance at life, when Natlie turns him into a Hologram Man too! And I guess what they say about only ninjas being able to beat ninjas, also applies to hologram men.
I would not consider Hologram Man the finest PM Entertainment movie I have ever seen. I would not consider Hologram Man the finest Evan Lurie or Joe Lara movie I have ever seen either… but Hologram Man managed to jam a lot into their Demolition Man inspired film with nearly all the PM Entertainment tropes one could handle and a cast full of familiar faces. Joe Lara versus Evan Lurie was a good match up and both had their time to shine.
Now it is time to shine a spotlight on some Bonus Bullet Points…
- Familiar Faces: Hologram Man may be one of the most star studded PM Entertainment flicks… Joseph Campanella, who I will always remember as the dad in No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers, played Dr. Stern. Stern is the man who created the holographic prison system… An eye patch wearing Nicholas Worth (Action Jackson), played Slash’s chief minion, One-Eye… Tom “Tiny” Lister (No Holds Barred) played one of Slash’s heavies named Eightball (he had a #8 on his forehead)… And PM Entertainment favorite, Michael Nouri (No Escape No Return) played Edward Jameson, the head of the council that ran Los Angeles.
- If You Ever: …wanted to see a love scene featuring a holographic Joe Lara, then this is the movie for you.
- Virtual Reality: Hologram Man features a virtual reality training sequence with Decoda, because I believe it was mandatory that every fifth movie released on video in the 90’s featured some sort of virtual reality content.
- AKA: Hologram Man was released as Cyber Killer in France.
