Lazer Team

By: Robert Murphy

Many of you out there are old enough to remember just how comical science fiction movies use to be before everyone started to take the genre seriously, the movies weren't all bad but there were plenty out there like Mars Attacks that were plain ridiculous. Well, Lazer Team is just that kind of ridiculous, but in a good way. Developed by the web production company Rooster Teeth the movie follows four misfits who end up crashing a vessel sent from an intelligent alien race known as the Andarians and is meant for the savior of planet Earth. Sadly, the suit inside ends up in their hands and the world is left with no other choice but to have them fight against an imminent alien threat.

The story itself however tends to focus more around the four members of the team; overprotective cop Hagan (Burnie Burnes), cocky high school quarterback Zach (Michael Burns), burnt out alcoholic Herman (Colton Dunn) and the dimwitted Woody (Gavin Free), rather than the impending attack on Earth. This isn't a bad thing though as each of the characters have their own unique experience with one another and the pieces of the suit they receive. Hagen receiving a shield that symbolizes his wanting to protect those around him, Herman picking the pair of boots that fixes his limp and restores his former legendary speed and then some, Woody dawns the helmet that grants him a massive intelligence boost and Zach takes the laser for his incredible throwing arm and his loose cannon personality. It's not the most subtle of metaphors for each of the characters but it gets the job done.

The other factor working in the teams favor is the fact that the cast members themselves have worked together for many years and it relieves any misgivings people might have about their lack of acting experience. There is no sense of tension on screen and all of the actors are able to play off of one another in the best way so the jokes hit when they need to, for example Woody's sudden adaptation of an English accent after gaining super intelligence (Free actually being of British decent) and making a point to say that stupid people think British accents make them sound smarter. However, some of the dialogue does go to a lower level for the sake of trying to get a cheap laugh out of the audience. I felt that there were far more hits than misses when it came to the humor but early on when you have characters like Zach (who is portrayed as the dumb jock) talking like a buffoon about sex, drinking or getting "likes" on an Instagram post of the "Lazer Team," it goes a bit too far. 

Some of the side characters also have room to play with their roles as well and this is especially true for resident Captain American-esque Adam (Alan Ritchson) who was meant to wear the super suit and be Earth's savior. He is admittedly upset about the thing he spent his life to achieve being taken away by these undeserving four and even more so when he is given the task to train them on how the suit is suppose to function. He later has a change of heart when he sees just what they are capable of when they work together. You also have Mindy (Alexandria DeBerry) who is not only Hagen's daughter but also the love interest for teenage motermouth Zach. Her best moments are when she shows up to the team's hideout to refuel the team with food and refuel Zach in other ways. Don't worry, it doesn't go well. 

Now the budget for the movie was obviously not to the heights of many other Hollywood productions but once again Lazer Team makes the best of what it's got. The CGI levels were up to par with exactly what they needed to be used for in the various fights and alien technologies such as holograms and so on. But what is the movies biggest eye sores are the moments where you remember that this a web production company and they're probably going to pump some free advertisement right into it. I appreciate the odd reference here and there but more than a couple times previous glories from the company's biggest production make their way into the story. Near the end of the movie there were a gaggle of superheroes dressed like characters from RWBY and X-Ray and Vav too. There was also the football teams colors being Red and Blue, a tip of the hat to the company's first production in online machinima. And while having your own easter eggs is fun, it is a bit self serving considering many of the people who will pay to watch your movie are already long time fans of your content. 

Lazer Team walks a fine line between being an example of just what crowd funding and plenty of community support can do for an independent movie. Nothing was too over the top or out of the depth for what the story needed in order to be funny, action packed and interesting. The four lead characters were all easily likable losers as well that had their own challenges to overcome in order to beat back the alien threat. However, many low brow jokes and plot points don't quite cut it here and when you think about the fact that there is a plan for a sequel to be made, you begin to hope that things won't get too far out of hand here.

Good:

- The "Lazer Team" themselves were solid

- Plenty of humor and high points for the story

- A balanced use of CGI and props that doesn't go out of depth for the story

Bad:

- Low points that feature bad dialogue and some frankly unappealing jokes

- Referrances to Rooster Teeth's other productions should have been few and far between

- A sequel? I'm not so sure guys.

Scully Rating: 6.0 out of 10 

Jurassic World

By: Robert Murphy

I would be hard pressed to find one kid out in the world today who hasn’t thought how amazing it would be to see dinosaurs once again roam the Earth. These monolithic beasts were rulers of the land, sea and air making it very hard to believe that homosapiens would end up being the dominate life forms today. 22 years ago Steven Spielberg brought these creatures back to life with the first Jurassic Park movie where John Hammond sought to bring every child’s dream to life of seeing a real life dinosaur for themselves. It, of course, ended in tragedy as the park failed and the animals escaped from their habitats causing people to lose their lives. Now though it would appear the vision that Hammond set out to create all those years ago has come true and the new Jurassic World is a fully functioning attraction which brings people from all around the world to it. People no longer fear being eaten; they ride on dinosaurs backs, pet them like in a regular petting zoo and even get front row seats to being splashed in a giant wave by one of these gigantic killing machines that died out all those years ago. But, that lack of fear and excitement may turn out to be the downfall of this newest park as the pressure to amp up the wow factor will lead to things that should not be tampered with.

Despite the many disasters that have come from the experimentation and work of InGen over the years Jurassic World still became a reality, proving that money can make just about anything go away. InGen and the park are now separate but slightly connected entities in this latest film as InGen has moved to more militaristic work and the park has been taken over by a new eccentric billionaire Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan) who shared Hammond’s dream of a park that would bring fun and happiness to people and not just the extremely wealthy. This would definitely appear to be achieved as you see kids get wowed at the sight of a Tyrannosaurus Rex digging into a goat (one of the less but equally enjoyable throwbacks the film makes) and others explore out into the park to see the creatures in their natural habitats in wonderful gyroscopic creations. However, you can only wow someone for so long as Jurassic World expertly points out that people, especially teens, need something new to keep them coming back to the park and make them actually get invested in the amazing things that they are experiencing. Well, returning lead scientist Dr. Henry Wu (B.D. Wong) is prepared to make sure that the next attraction will be the biggest of them all as his team of scientist genetically create a terrifying creature, the Indominus Rex. This, of course, would prove to be a terrible idea as the creature gets out and begins a park wide massacre of not only the other dinosaurs but the innocent people in the park.

For the most part our resident showrunner dino is a pretty believable creature. It was created with the soul intent to frighten and impress everyone who came to see it and what little glimpses you receive of it early on certainly inspires that reaction. It has the large body of a super predator like the Spinosaurus in Jurassic Park 3, the physical build of a T-Rex, terrifyingly long claws and would end up being the largest dinosaur ever created, oh and it is an albino white color. The more unbelievable bits are kept a secret up until the point where you find out just how this beast escapes from it’s captivity but for the most part I did not spend too much time eye rolling at the creature and actual spent more time with my jaw on the floor as everything fell into chaos the minute it gets out.

This factor is what is great about a movie like Jurassic World because you aren’t going out on a limb with too many of the concepts that you’re presenting to your audience. This even includes Owen (Chris Pratt) driving a motorcycle to a dense forest with highly trained Raptors at his side. An idea which peaked my interest immediately but would most definitely be something to normally gawk at but this isn’t the case once you witness the connection he builds with the animals before hand and realize he’s worked with them for years to get to that point. Even while it’s happening he still doesn’t fully trust the situation or agree with it so it isn’t just for show. Pratt does a brilliant job as the sarcastic but strong character that presence most of the voice of reason for the film and knows just how intelligent they can be. A fact that leading lady and head of the park Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) seems to ignore as she is more of the control freak business woman and less of touchy feely type that would get emotionally invested with the animals at the park or even her two nephews that are their visiting at the time of the break out.

Claire does change the most throughout the story though as much of the turmoil surrounding her makes her see things in a new light. The turning point for her is probably when she first realizes she hasn’t checked on her nephews in forever and now has to save them. That along with the touching scene where she and Owen come across a field of dead dinosaurs that the Indominus killed for nothing other than pure sport also changed her quite a bit. It makes her more aware of just what these creatures are and what they are like, it grounds her character more and Owen also brings her down as well. The two are that classic mismatched pair and it inspired sort of an Australia romance where Owen is the gruff muscle man who you would not expect to end up with the uptight and cultured Claire but it somehow works. Their ever growing romance doesn’t feel forced at any point and I was totally on board with it up until the cheesy line at the end but it was far too late for me to not enjoy what the two had together for the entirety of the film.

What did feel frankly subpar was with Claire’s two nephews and some of the other secondary character you will see. Zach (Nick Robinson) and Gray (Ty Simpkins) do both of their parts fairly well and have a good bond with one another that shows when they end up being stranded in the original films decaying park and try to escape certain death at the hands of our main dinosaur. Zach also does a great job of displaying the type of teenager that just isn’t impressed by most of the things that are going on in the park and that he’s more interested in the girls walking around than anything else. There is a weak subplot though where it is revealed their parents are getting divorced and it feels entirely unnecessary to the story along with including the odd suffering relationship between Claire and her sister. We then have the overly eager Hoskins (Vincent D’Onofrio) who represents the current InGen and wants to unleash some of the dinosaurs as weapons to fulfill their government contracts. You get the sinking feeling that he is up to far more than he’s telling you throughout the story and later on he makes a mess of what was a seemingly smooth plot up until that point.

That being said Jurassic World doesn’t lose too much momentum as it moves forward with its new ideas and revisiting some old nostalgic pieces. Old call backs and appearances made me smile and were clearly meant to bring back touching moments for those who loved the original. Then you have the new gritty action scenes which weren’t afraid to punctuate on some human casualties but not to a degree that made it into a Hollywood bloodbath of shock and awe. Things were clearly in the right hands as the ideas and vision of the first film return but are finally brought to life in ways that I never thought possible.  

Good:

- Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard were a great pair

- Just the right amount of nostalgia trickled throughout the story

- The Indominus Rex and all the action and chaos that followed with it

Bad:

- Subplots and the secondary characters

- The new InGen and their evil schemes

Scully Rating: 8.0 out of 10