Originally published August 15, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
Lazer Team, 2015.
Directed by Matt Hullum.
Starring Burnie Burns, Gavin Free, Michael Jones, Allie DeBerry, Colton Dunn and Alan Ritchson.
SYNOPSIS:
Four losers are thrust into the position of saving the world when they stumble upon a UFO crash site and become genetically equipped to the battle suit on board.
Comedy group Rooster Teeth, combined with YouTube, bring you their entry into the superhero genre with Lazer Team. A YouTube original movie doesn’t particularly scream big budget and as you’d expect, this is a world away from Marvel and DC. With the creative team involved though, this is a film that you would expect to have tongue firmly in cheek.
Four losers inadvertently open a crashed space craft that houses individual pieces that make up a super suit that is destined for Earth’s greatest warrior to don in order to save the world. The losers blunder themselves into the situation and split the parts of the suit between them. One has a power glove that can fire all manner of explosive beams. Another has the boots that give you super speed, another has the helmet that allows for telepathic communication, X-ray vision, targeting and threat detection among other things, and the other has a shield. The concept itself is actually pretty good, as four individuals completely ill-prepared and unwilling to work together are forced to join forces to make mutual use of the suit of power.
I’m not familiar with Rooster Teeth’s previous works (most notably, Red vs Blue) but there’s a clear chemistry between the principal cast here and they’re definitely having fun here. The film isn’t loaded with great gags or good writing by any stretch, but they fire enough gags out which work and make this an entertaining film to watch. Burnie Burns (Co-founder of Rooster Teeth, who also co-wrote this) as Hagan offers a little humility with the humour.
Despite the film’s low budget, there are some nice visual FX. Of course it’s not up to the level of your Marvel production, but by the same token, because of this, the film isn’t overstuffed with CGI. Still, for the budget involved, the effects are solid enough, as are the set pieces.
In all this is a good romp which passes by at a good pace, and whilst it won’t particularly live long in the memory or offer too many water cooler quotes to relay, it’s at least good fun which in all honesty is something many of the big studio super hero films often forget.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Tom Jolliffe
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https://youtu.be/b7Ozs5mj5ao?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng
