Director:
Don Barnhart, Jr.
Studio/Production Company:
Chucklehut Entertainment
Genre:
Action
Length:
Feature
Website:
http://www.chinadollsmovie.com
Score:
2/5
Caught between trying to make a statement and trying to make an entertaining thriller on a low budget writer-director-producer-star Don Barnhart Jr. winds up, unfortunately, not doing much of either.
There is certainly a wealth of material to be mined from the heinous international sex trade, human trafficking and prostitution but here, married to a by-the-books mob plot, any social commentary really takes a backseat to the action.
“China dolls” Jerri (Linda Vu) and Marie (Porshe Ing-Johnson) are beautiful working girls in the syndicate run by the savage and psychotic Goza (Don Turner). The women bemoan their situation and dream about leaving the “life” but know how hard and dangerous it is to get out. When an opportunity to escape with some of Goza’s riches arises, they jump all over it, setting up a chain of events that spins wildly out of control, involves a pair of innocent do-gooders captivated by their plight and, of course, incurs the wrath of their sadistic boss.
Only Turner, as the vicious, maniacal mobster, brings any vitality to the film, His, Goza, is a monster, sickly, almost corpse-like hideous, with a putrid amorality to match his deteriorating physical qualities.
As a standard ‘getting out of the mob’ scenario, there is nothing dramatically wrong with “China Dolls”, it fulfills any genre expectations that the audience has but nothing more. The problem however is that, as a low budget independent film, it feels like just that, a film that probably could have been much, much better with higher quality acting and production values. Bottom line, it just feels and looks like a low-rent, low grade film and suffers for it, unlike some films that are able to work against their limitations and manage to succeed in spite of the financial constraints of the production.
Don Barnhart, Jr.
Studio/Production Company:
Chucklehut Entertainment
Genre:
Action
Length:
Feature
Website:
http://www.chinadollsmovie.com
Score:
2/5
Caught between trying to make a statement and trying to make an entertaining thriller on a low budget writer-director-producer-star Don Barnhart Jr. winds up, unfortunately, not doing much of either.
There is certainly a wealth of material to be mined from the heinous international sex trade, human trafficking and prostitution but here, married to a by-the-books mob plot, any social commentary really takes a backseat to the action.
“China dolls” Jerri (Linda Vu) and Marie (Porshe Ing-Johnson) are beautiful working girls in the syndicate run by the savage and psychotic Goza (Don Turner). The women bemoan their situation and dream about leaving the “life” but know how hard and dangerous it is to get out. When an opportunity to escape with some of Goza’s riches arises, they jump all over it, setting up a chain of events that spins wildly out of control, involves a pair of innocent do-gooders captivated by their plight and, of course, incurs the wrath of their sadistic boss.
Only Turner, as the vicious, maniacal mobster, brings any vitality to the film, His, Goza, is a monster, sickly, almost corpse-like hideous, with a putrid amorality to match his deteriorating physical qualities.
As a standard ‘getting out of the mob’ scenario, there is nothing dramatically wrong with “China Dolls”, it fulfills any genre expectations that the audience has but nothing more. The problem however is that, as a low budget independent film, it feels like just that, a film that probably could have been much, much better with higher quality acting and production values. Bottom line, it just feels and looks like a low-rent, low grade film and suffers for it, unlike some films that are able to work against their limitations and manage to succeed in spite of the financial constraints of the production.