Lazer Team: A Fun B-Movie Throwback
Featuring a low-budget charm and earnest energy, Lazer Team is a slight, yet fun experience.
Crowdfunding has been a process to make filmmaking even easier. Spawning back in 2014 with the Veronica Mars movie, more and more talents have gone to sites like Kickstarter in efforts to fund their films from fans. This has resulted in a few solid flicks, such as the Veronica Mars film and Zach Braff’s Wish I Was Here. Both thankfully delivered on the trademark styles that fans adored.
The latest talents to hit the crowdfunding scene was the Youtube personalities Rooster Teeth. Adored by fans for their knowledge of geekdom and offbeat sense of humor, their film project Lazer Team raised three times more than their asking price. The film even became the highest funded project in the history of Indigogo, an impressive achievement that displays the adoration the group has received from fans.
Lazer Team follows four rejects who stumble upon a mysterious UFO containing a suit. With each of the four taking a key part of the suit, the four are humanities last chance against an oncoming alien invasion. While imperfect, Lazer Team is a fun homage to 1980s science fiction flicks that will deliver what fans are looking for.
As a relatively small production (the film cost under $3 million to make), Lazer Team is quite impressive. Director Matt Hullum uses his experience from Rooster Teeth well. There are a lot of visual effects here, but all of them are fairly solid. Instead of making its small budget an issue, Hullum uses it to his advantage, creating endearing effects that further play up the throwback angle.
Endearing in general is a great word to describe the film. Here is a film clearly made by people who had an adoration for old school B-movies, with everyone putting all that enthusiasm in the film. It’s a labor of love by everyone involved, with that earnest energy really showing up on screen.
Playing the band of misfits is a cast that is very much up for the task. This is very much an ensemble effort, with the cast playing off each other extremely well. The core four played by Burnie Burns, Gavin Free, Michael Jones, and Colton Dunn all do a nice job together, making their dynamic on screen a rather fun one. Other supporting players such as Alan Ritchson and Alexandria DeBerry do a solid job as well.
Lazer Team also packs together a great deal of laughs. The script, collaborated by The Rooster Teeth team, the quartet bring their signature style to the film. With the characters being endearing buffoons, there is a lot of comedic material to be had with the way they act. The humor plays in nicely with the rest of the film, with there being just a generally fun tone throughout.
- Photo Credit: YouTube Red
There are a few problematic parts of the film. There are some moments where Lazer Team tries to get dramatic with its characters and situations, with these moments feeling very forced. It’s a cliche of the genre that has gotten just annoying to see, especially here considering the generally light-hearted tone the film has throughout.
While the laughs are certainly present, the film features a fair share of notable misses. Often times, the Rooster Teeth team can get a bit too juvenile with their humor, with it sometimes comes off in poor taste. As a whole, Lazer Team feels somewhat slight, with the affair as a whole not being the most memorable in the world.
Still, Lazer Team is a fun and endearing ride while it lasts, with its affable cast and solid production making up for its problematic aspects. With an ending that teases a possible sequel, do not be surprised if there will be a Lazer Team 2 in the near future.
