DVD Review: Rock Jocks

DVD Reviews, Reviews

There has always been a place for films like Clerks or …Waiting. Films where we see average Joes like ourselves working at normal bland jobs and the wackiness that ensues. So how is that formula going to work in a secret underground government program that uses alien technology to blast incoming asteroids with lasers that are attached to satellites?

I was very apprehensive when the film opened with one of the character’s getting called in on his day off. The “I’m not even supposed to be here today” has already been played out, for those who remember the opening of Clerks and character Dante. These are pretty much the worst people you’d want defending our planet from what is painted as nearly constant impending doom. One of them is an alcoholic, one is new and nervous, one is the poor man’s Jim Halpert who could care less about being there and the last is like Harold from Harold and Kumar. Only Alison seems to care about what goes on here. Meanwhile, two security guards played by Jason Mewes and Robert Picardo sit and have random conversations. Oh and there is an alien that crash-landed on earth in the 60’s. He provided them with the technology for the satellite lasers and has been sitting around smoking and building chain reaction puzzles ever since.

The best actor in the bunch is Felicia Day (of The Guild fame) with Andrew Boden as a close second, though he does feel, as stated before, like a low rate Jim Halpert. Everyone else feels a little awkward. They’re not terrible, I have seen much worse. And Doug Jones isn’t bad as the alien, but he doesn’t have any dialog. I guess the since he played Abe Sapien in Hellboy they just wanted a guy who would be okay under lots and lots of make up.

There are moments in the Rock Jocks that are kinda funny. There are couple giggles here or there. There are also many moments that are supposed to be funny, but fall very flat and end up just being awkward. This film is very low budget which kind of adds to its charm. The wall computers look worse than the set of the original Star Trek series. It’s funny that their computers look like the old Asteroids video game. The actually space footage is a little better than you’d expect for a film like this. I’ve seen much higher budget films with much worse computer special effects.

Rock Jocks is presented in a widescreen format. The sound is in 2.0 Dolby Digital stereo sound. This is a fine looking film. It looks low budget, which it is, but that’s not a negative towards the film, just a fact.

Behind the Scenes: (14 min.) It’s always so interesting to see people talk about how great the script and cast and film is, when the overall end product is not nearly as good as they think. You also get a trailer.

I wasn’t expecting much going into Rock Jocks and I didn’t get much. I didn’t hate it; I’ve seen much, MUCH worse. The initial idea for the story is okay, I suppose it could have been elevated by a really solid script with some really funny actors punching up the dialog, but lacking both of those things it’s just another mediocre movie.

Flatiron Film Company presents Rock Jocks. Written and Directed by Paul Seetachitt. Starring: Andrew Bowen, Felicia Day, Justin Chon, Gerry Bednob, Doug Jones, Robert Picardo and Jason Mewes. Running time: 91 minutes Rating: Not Rated, contains vulgar language. Released: August 13, 2013..

Mike Noyes received his Masters Degree in Film from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco. A few of his short films can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/user/mikebnoyes. He recently published his first novel which you can buy here: https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Days-Years-Mike-Noyes-ebook/dp/B07D48NT6B/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528774538&sr=8-1&keywords=seven+days+seven+years