We had a chance to check out an early screener of American Rescue Squad.
Low budget independent filmmaking is a very difficult task.
As someone who knows several indie filmmakers personally I know exactly how
hard it can be to write, direct and produce a movie with little or no financial
backing. That is why I have a soft spot for these types of films. There are so
many hidden gems out there waiting to be discovered. Unfortunately American Rescue Squad is not one of
them.
Written by the team of Elliot Diviney and Adam Diviney and
also directed by Elliot ARS is
nothing short of a love letter to South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt
Stone, trying desperately to recreate the type of brilliant satire Parker and
Stone have become famous for. What we
get is a movie that is creatively ambitious, but maybe too much for its own
good. ARS is a superhero musical with
political metaphors literally manifested as the characters themselves.
Characters like Common Sense, Personal Responsibility, The
Taxpayer, Birth Control, Bad Dad and The Bible Thumper beat you over the head
for the entire 90 minute run time with their not so subtle messages. Mix in a
whole bunch of musical style song numbers, cliché voice over narration, a bland
plot and a lot of uninspired acting and you're left wondering what the hell you
just invested an hour and half of your life that you will never get back, into
watching. This thing is a hot mess.
I almost feel bad being this blunt about it, I really wanted
to like ARS because I respect what
its creators were trying to do. Sadly, it just didn’t work for me. I love political
satire, but this film is trying to be too many things at the same time. Neither
the script nor the acting are up to the task here. It’s a shame because I think
they were close to making something pretty damn cool.
-Brian Rohe