Space Cop (2016) Reviews

• Disappointed

  kjmusto2016-01-31

  As a huge fan of RLM I was really looking forward to this movie, but I was really disappointed. It's not funny. I really like their skits that they have done in the past(HITB&others), but this movie just isn't funny. I was kinda smiling in few parts and laughed twice, but yeah there is just so many missed jokes they could have done. I was writing a better movie in my head while watching it. They clearly put a lot of effort in to making this movie and I'm not trying to dis them, but I suggest next time they should put much more effort in to the script than the sets and special FX. They should try making some kind of down to earth comedy(clerks) rather than a high concept one because of their limited budget & crew. And the acting/casting choices of Rich and Mike were just horrible. Mike should be the lovable cynic and Rich the wacky one not the other way around. I hope in their next project they don't try to do these "wacky" voices and just speak in their normal voices. 4/10

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• I was satisfied

  hlocnw2016-12-04

  I enjoyed this movie because of the lessons it teaches about telling a story on a tiny budget. Mike, Rich, and Jay (along with the other members of the RLM team) focus most of their output talking about movies, about what makes them work and what makes the fall short. Space Cop is very self-aware, and I don't think it can be viewed by itself as a standalone movie. In many ways, it is a meta-movie, designed to point out the elements that comprise storytelling on the screen. It's not hilarious or beautiful or fascinating; it's something else, a secondary communication from the creators that brings together many of the ideas from Half In the Bag, Best of the Worst, and The Plinkett Reviews. I enjoyed this movie, but I did lot of homework with RLM over the years to get the points they are making. I accept it for what it is.

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• Space Cop Fell Short, Mostly Flatlined

  BitterJim2016-01-27

  The feeling I had after viewing was a strong "Meh." Perhaps if the product had sold for 10 bucks instead of 25 bucks, I wouldn't have felt so unfulfilled. But for the price of the movie(the blue-ray version), it was not worth it. The special features did not add much either. The audio suffered in many areas. The musical score was drab and irritating, and in some parts, even distracting due to the levels being off. The score clashed with dialogue and other sound effects, forming a mesh of noise. There were also audio flaws. Aside from parts of the film where audio did not sync properly to characters mouths, much of the dialogue sounded dubbed, as if they had technical problems they did not realize until post production. When actors were called back to re-record lines, they ended up sounding like they were concentrating too hard on syncing their voices to footage, which took away from the much more natural delivery they probably had on set physically interacting with each other. Most noticeably was this in Jocelyn Ridgleys character. There were also audio distortions in some of the dialogue with characters, like the mic had redlined. When it came to the cinematography, Space Cop relied mostly on bland tripod shots, or shaky hand held shots. No steadicams, skylifts, booms, panning...just the type of cinematography you would expect from anyones low budget backyard film. For RLM, you would expect more, as you have seen them do more in several of their projects. Mike Stoklasa and Rich Evans as the main characters, the formula did not work for one main reason. Both Mike and Rich played caricatures, not characters. The combined result of two "cartoons" took away from the film, as I found myself detached and not invested in either. Had Stoklasas character played just Stoklasa, or a more "straight man" role, it might have worked better. Instead, Stoklasa played a caricature of a corny 1930's styled vaudevillian,(though I think they meant to do more of a 1950's style "Untouchables/Elliot Ness" type) while Evans played a cliché clint eastwood/1980's action hero. The result was being forced to listen to two "silly" voices for the whole film, and the humor you would get from it hit its punchline 60 minutes before the film ended. When it comes to indie films, most indie film makers take advantage of their unrated status, and exploit things like sex, violence, foul language or a lack of political correctness. Space Cop fell short of all of this. It is a PG-13 film, yet the vast majority of RLM's fanbase are well over 17. I think Space Cop may have made up for its shortcomings had they went for more blood and gore, or made the audience wince over other subject matter. For instance, Stoklasas character is a detective from the past, and they did play with some politically incorrect humor over his storyline. But they could have gone further with it, even made an intelligent and satirical statement about the subject matter. The problem with this self aware, purposefully bad film making style(that often dominates the indie scene) is that it makes it harder for the audience to invest in any of the characters, to root for the good guy, or get involved with the story. These things are essential to any movie. As bad as Death Wish 3 was, the producers set out to tell a story and deliver a performance. You still rooted for Charles Bronson. You still cared about or hoped his friends and allies would not get hurt. You wanted to see the bad guys get what they deserved. In Space Cop, you just didn't care. You went a long with the story simply because it existed. The "bad guys" were convoluted, in fact in the last 20 minutes, you learn they aren't even the antagonists. I'm sure my little review will be attacked by brainless and pathetic RLM fanboys who will defend slipshod work with excuses like "its meant to be bad" and "its JUST a b movie", but this only vindicates my point about purposefully self aware shlock. For a group of people to make a side career out of criticizing the work of others, it must be nice to be able to fall back on such excuses when your own work flatlines or falls short. In all honesty, the entire movie felt like a long youtube video. In fact, Red Letter Media probably would have gotten more attention and fanfare had they turned Space Cop into an internet series, broken into 10 minute videos. Not only would they have reached a larger audience by providing the content for free, but they would have still earned ad revenue on the product, and the flaws and shortcomings would have been much more forgivable. Having seen all of RLM's films, Space Cop was definitely a step backwards. Hopefully in their next project, they will base a story on something more than just a cheap gimmick/joke, not take so long to complete it, and charge much less. There really is no need for them to bother with Blu-Rays.

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• Could have been great

  chrisnbuchanan2016-02-01

  I'm sad to say that after all the anticipation, Space Cop is fairly underwhelming. It seems strangely uneven, unpolished. And most disappointingly, it's formulaic. I'd hoped for something wittier, more off-the-wall, more creative based on RLM's previous work. Space Cop gave me nothing to think about -- the clichéd plot points, double entendres, tired set-ups, bad models / costumes and archetype characters aren't there to be subverted or analysed, they're just there. The music works very well, the sets are solid, there are lots of laugh-out-loud moments scattered through. But it's not confident in itself. It feels rushed. The script in particular feels like a first draft. Motivations and relationships shift wildly from joke to joke - it's hard to understand what we're supposed to think of the characters or how Space Cop in particular is perceived by the others. Sometimes the tone is so muddied it's tricky to tell if a moment is going for humour, tension or drama. At one point the movie slows down so we can watch a striptease and take long, lingering looks at the actress' body. I kept waiting for the punchline, but amazingly it seems to just be there for titillation. There are highlights. Rich Evans and Jocelyn Ridgely are funny and do very well in their roles. Mike Stoklasa appears to be deliberately hamming it up, which often doesn't 'fit' with the other actors but is enjoyably tongue-in-cheek in itself. The 'real' actors and cameos vary in skill but most are solid and some are great. Len Kabasinski of all people absolutely cracked me up. This movie could have been great. Overall, Space Cop comes across as either lazy or stumbling. Mike, Jay and Rich have a lot of talent and creativity, but only some of it made it through the filming process on this one.

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• It's fine. Everything's fine. I think.

  Tehmeh2016-03-04

  First things first: If you're not familiar with Red Letter Media, not even their majestic Plinkett reviews, I suggest checking their stuff out from RedLetterMedia.com or their Youtube channel. It's basically three guys (along with some occasional sidekicks) talking about films and obviously making them themselves. Naturally funny guys, I might add. Their humor is something many probably want to imitate, but can't. I found out about them four years ago, and I still think they're probably the best "content creators" around. Anyway, about the film. Space Cop! I have to say that I wanted it to be better. I knew how funny these guys can be, and I set certain expectations for the movie that weren't met. And I know how hard it is to strike that balance in a movie like this. Space Cop knows it's a bad movie, which is an approach that almost always guarantees a failure. It's not unintentionally bad either, which of course is the funniest kind of bad. So from the get go, this movie makes things hard for itself. It's ultimately not any funnier than an average RLM skit. It's not that spectacle of hilariousness many of us were waiting for. Some jokes are even straight up bad, in the worst kind of way. I smiled a lot, but I don't know if I laughed out loud even once. Space Cop takes the obvious route too many times, and it seems to hold itself back. This is evident from some of the deleted scenes: some of them were a little more off the cuff, lacking this certain restraint that plagued much of the main film and it made me actually laugh. But is it crap, then? If you're expecting to see a good movie, yes, it's kind of crappy. If you're just interested about these guys and what they do, then it becomes okay, because you're not the audience anymore, but an observer instead. "Space Cop" is basically a strange inside joke in a movie form that's hard to explain. The RLM quality is still there at times, and it's still a funny enough movie to barely deserve its own existence. You can see how Mike, Rich and Jay love movies and the craft involved. They probably hate the process of making a movie itself, but they like to express themselves in a funny way nonetheless. That certain childish heart shines through. So whenever I saw weird miniatures or several do-it-yourself solutions on the screen, I smiled like an idiot. And that's what Space Cop ultimately is. It's a somewhat self-aware B-movie made by a bunch of friends who love (B-)movies and like to be creative. It feels like more of a thing that these guys made, and less of a movie. It's not the ultimate RLM experience by any means, but it's certainly a part of it. Be warned though: For anyone with no affection for these guys, this movie might flat out suck. There are plenty of winks and inside meta-humor too, and for a newcomer they probably won't land at all. Rich Evans and Mike Stoklasa play the main characters, and they're both fine. I've always liked Mike. I just can't help but have a stupid grin on my face when I see him "acting", but Rich is alright too, playing his role straight. In fact, there are good performances and even real actors in this movie. No joke. Chike Johnson and Deborah Clifton, for example, do really well. Plenty of familiar faces, some going back as far as the Plinkett reviews and probably their older movies too. Bonus points for Patton Oswalt, his bit was good. Double bonus points for Len Kabasinski's performance as Rich Evans' stunt double. I also have to compliment the production, because it's not that bad for a low-budget flick. Some of the visual digital effects are way better than I thought I'd see in this movie. Looks like their Canadian friends came through! And of course the practical effects and this do-it-yourself approach never gets old. At its best, this kind of B-movie charm can inspire people into making films just as much as praised classics. That mostly happens with better movies, but there is some of that to be found from Space Cop. Whoever made the opening title sequence theme music, captured the Terminator/Total Recall vibe perfectly. I don't know what else there is to be said. Space Cop is Space Cop. It struggles to find its comfort zone, and it's bad in all the wrong ways, but at the same time I kind of like it. Not so much as a movie, but as a thing these guys made. If they make a movie after this, I'd like it to be something really stripped, really simple, really mindless and loose (which can make for a tighter movie). It might be that Space Cop was just too much of a collaboration and too long of a project for that Half in the Bag - kind of humor we (or at least I) love to surface itself. In that environment, these guys are relaxed and funny all around. With Space Cop, there are loads of things to take care of, people to work with, schedules to worry about and such. I don't know if that has any effect on anything, but it's a thought. They might have gone too far - or not far enough - in a few places, but it's stylistically designed to be that way. They can't undo it, and now that it's out they can't even diminish the effects of it. I paid a little too much for the movie (well over 40 euros when shipped to Finland, including the ridiculous toll), and It's not what I hoped, but I don't regret getting it. I'll probably watch it at least one more time, and check out the cool extras again as well.

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