Much like Puppet Master III: Toulon’s Revenge, Trancers III: Deth Lives was a highpoint in the series. Unfortunately, as good as his entry was, C. Courtney Joyner’s sequel saw diminishing returns despite it being reviewed fairly well. For the next installment, it was decided to take Jack Deth out of his element, more so than the original. Charles Band had started working with Castel Films, a burgeoning studio based in Romania formed after the fall of Communism. Many Full Moon films were produced at Castel Films, including Dark Angel: The Ascent, Mandroid, Oblivion, and the Subspecies sequels. They decided to film the next Trancers film in Bucharest, hiring comic book writer Peter David to pen the script. Additionally, David Nutter, known for TV shows like 21 Jump Street, Booker, and The Commish would be directing the film. In February of 1994, Trancers 4: Jack of Swords was released to video.
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Synopsis
Jack Deth (Tim Thomerson) has returned to the 23rd century and is working for the council on various missions. As he prepares for his next mission, a mysterious creature sneaks aboard the TCL Chamber and starts sabotaging it. He arrives in an alternate dimension, an ancient medieval kingdom, where he finds a new kind of Trancers called “Nobles”. Led by the nefarious Lord Caliban (Clabe Hartley), the Nobles suck the life-force out of their victims to sustain themselves. Deth soon encounters a rebel group fighting against Caliban, including Shaleen (Terri Ivens), Farr (Alan Oppenheimer), and Prospero (Ty Miller). He reluctantly agrees to help them fight this new group of Trancers, Farr prophecizing he’s the one to save them. Unfortunately, most of Deth’s weapons don’t work in this dimension, so he’s going to need some help in the fight. Will Caliban be defeated, and what other dangers await Jack Deth?
Review
Trancers 4: Jack of Swords is a massive drop in quality from the first three films, inconsistent as they are. It’s easy to see that by this point, Charles Band had milked this franchise for all its worth. While admirable that they tried mixing things up by placing Deth in a medieval setting, it doesn’t work here. It worked in Army of Darkness because it felt tonally consistent with the previous films and had a decent budget. This clearly didn’t have the budget needed, and it essentially took away the sci-fi noir of the first three films. In fact, aside from Jack Deth, the opening 10 minutes, and some references, this is a standard direct-to-video sword-and-sorcery movie. While Trancers II: The Return of Jack Deth might’ve been drastically different, it at least felt like a Trancers film. It’s disappointing to see such a cool franchise brought down to this level.
Tim Thomerson is trying his best given the material, but you can tell his heart’s not in it anymore. With that said, he still has the same smarmy attitude and smart-ass quips we’ve come to know and love. Aside from him, the rest of the acting comes off pretty wooden and stilted, especially from Hartley and Miller. Classic actor Alan Oppenheimer adds some class to the production, but he’s clearly just waiting for when his paycheck clears. David Nutter’s direction, while not terrible, comes across as flat, though that could just be because of his TV background. However, perhaps the film’s biggest flaw is simply that it’s boring, and its flat acting and direction don’t help. As with many Full Moon franchises, this was filmed back-to-back with the next installment, and things don’t get much better. Overall, Trancers 4: Jack of Swords is wasted potential in a cult-favorite series.
Buy Trancers 4: Jack of Swords from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ok1IvG
