The FP Blu-ray review

Actors: Jason Trost, Lee Valmassy, Art Hsu, Nick Principe, Brandon Barrera

Directors: Jason Trost, Brandon Trost

Format: Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: English

Subtitles: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT

Release Date: June 19, 2012

Run Time: 83 minutes

            The FP begins almost exactly like the beginning of 8 Mile, which made me worry that this futuristic comedy about a Dance-Dance Revolution type game was actually a spoof. There are few films less creative or unique as those which merely make fun of more popular and successful movies. The FP is anything but unoriginal, however, and it has the ability to take its subject matter deadly seriously regardless of how silly it may be.

            The film takes place in a future where gangland warfare is decided by playing a dancing video game called Beat-Beat Revelation. Though it is never explained how this occurs, the main character’s brother is killed during a match in the first scene by a rival gang. JTRO (co-director Jason Trost) must avenge his brother and take back the territory of Frazier Park, otherwise known as The FP. He must do this in order to stop the rival gang, who control the local liquor store and have forced alcoholics to drugs by restricting what they sell. As a way of freeing the people to drink and avenging his lost brother, JTRO trains to fight in a dancing video game competition.

            There really couldn’t be much sillier or stranger storylines as the one in The FP. The only thing to match the absurdity of the storyline is the dialogue within the film, which is made up of a variety of modern lingo and Ebonics. No sentence is given proper grammar and half of the things that the characters say don’t even make sense, but this is somehow the point of the Trost brothers’ vision, along with kinetic camera work and an unbelievably goofy story.

            The Blu-ray comes with plenty of special features, including a commentary track from the Trost Brothers and a general making-of featurette. There is also a featurette about the real Frazier Park and a 16-page booklet insert with production photos and short essays by Rob Zombie, Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor.