Mega Time Squad review: A small-time criminal finds himself in dire straits after trying to make the big time in the latest genre comedy from New Zealand.
Mega Time Squad review by Kat Hughes.
Mega Time Squad Review
Johnny (Anton Tennet) and his best mate Gaz (Arlo Gibson) are tasked with a simple job by their criminal boss Shelton (Jonny Brugh) – steal a large sum of money from the local Chinese gang who are trying to muscle in on their territory. Tired of being just a grunt for the boss, Johnny has the idea to become his own boss by stealing the money for himself. The plan doesn’t quite pan out however, and he finds himself hunted down by Shelton and his gang of misfits. Luckily for Johnny, he stumbles across a device that enables him to travel back in time. Armed with this new magical item, can Johnny fix his mistake, get the girl, and keep the money? Armed with a squad of ‘fellow time-travellers’, he just might…
The bulk of the artwork advertising Mega Time Squad plays on the iconic Back to the Future posters, and whilst technically the film features time-travel, it’s not in the same manner. Rather than travelling back in time years, weeks, days, or even hours, Johnny’s device can only transport him back a few minutes. The more he uses it, the more versions of himself he creates until he forms the titular squad from time-travelling versions of himself. This makes Mega Time Squad feel much more like Michael Keaton’s Multiplicity than the DeLorean films.
Mega Time Squad Review
Having multiple versions of our protagonist makes it hard to keep track of which one of them is the version of Johnny that we started the story with. It also muddles other aspects of the plot as you’re concentrating so hard on which version is which that you forget to pay attention to the other elements unfolding. The biggest issue though arises from the film kicking-off immediately with Johnny being given the task by Shelton. Usually there’s nothing wrong with jumping straight into the action, but here the audience is on the back-foot. We get no time to really get to know Johnny, who he is, and his place in the world. It’s so jarring in fact that it feels almost like you’ve missed a reel of film as it starts.
Mega Time Squad Review
Described by many as having the same kind of quirky tone and humour as previous New Zealand exports The Hunt for the Wilderpeople, and What We Do in the Shadows, Mega Time Squad doesn’t live up to this boast. Granted the plot is a rather unique idea, but the humour itself is quite basic, settling on the lowest common denominator of comedy. This means that there’s a lot of crass jokes that are infantile and immature. Most of this comedy is contained within our antagonist Shelton, whom is just a walking politically incorrect machine as he spews a whole host of offensive lines.
Nonetheless, there are a couple of entertaining sequences, and Mega Time Squad has certainly been well shot – having multiple versions of your main character is not an easy task to accomplish, but unfortunately there’s just something intangible missing to make it truly special.
Mega Time Squad review by Kat Hughes, July 2018.
Mega Time Squad screened as part of the Fantasia International Film Festival 2018 line-up. It will also screen in August as part of Arrow Video Frightfest 2018 in London.
