Lazer Team defines “squad goals”

Matt Hallum creates an interesting story of sci-fi and comedy with the team.

Matt Hallum creates an interesting story of sci-fi and comedy with the team.

Some are born for (or trained from birth for) greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them (or accidentally shoot it out of the sky with fireworks).

Lazer Team concerns the latter, four doofs who have to save the world after they happen to get their hands on a weapon that was meant for someone else.

In the Lazer Team universe it turns out that not only do we know we are not alone in the universe, but that we have been preparing for the invasion of our neighbors for quite some time. A friendlier species of aliens offer us a “Suit of Power” (their words, not mine) that will give humans a fighting chance against an attack from a more hostile species. To utilize this power, the government trains a man from birth named Adam (Alan Ritchson), expecting the Suit to arrive when he reaches adulthood. Which it does, but Adam doesn’t receive it.

One day Hagan, a small town sheriff (“Team” co-writer Burnie Burns) is joined with his doofus pal Woody (Gavin Free). They mingle with his old football buddy Herman (Colton Dunn,) and Zach (Michael Jones) a teenage football player and boyfriend to Hagan’s daughter, Mindy (Allie DeBerry.)  The team finds its origins by intercepting the “Suit” when playing with fireworks. You can see where this is going: each idiot gets a piece of the suit grafted to his body and they must work together to stop the baddies.

Drawing from such buddy/team movies as Mighty Ducks and referencing everything from Friday Night Lights, Ghostbusters and Independence Day, Lazer Team, is the first live-action flick by the Austin-based online content creators Rooster Teeth. Note Rooster Teeth from the ( “Red vs. Blue” fame) which raised $2.4 million via an Indiegogo campaign.

Lazer Team is, when all is said and done, not as much about alien invasion as it is about gaming, both video and otherwise — the camaraderie, the inner logic, the teamwork, the lowbrow jokes passed between pals. Rooster Teeth devotees will likely devour it.