CERT: 12 | PLATFORM: DIGITAL | RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 19TH
Stuart Ashen, aka Ashens, is a comedian and actor best known for YouTube videos in which he unboxes worthless tat. His previous movie, The Quest for The Game Child, brought us into his strange world, in which useless bits of knock-off tech held earth-shattering secrets. It was ridiculous fun that was far funnier than it had any right to be.
The new movie opens with a parody of every cat-burglar scene we’ve ever seen before swinging straight into a title sequence that pokes fun at Bond and similar action movies. As you might be able to guess from the title, this is a crime-caper comedy. The plot revolves around the legendary arcade game, Polybius, a machine rumoured to have strange powers, now owned by mysterious the billionaire Anthony Agonist. Stuart has to pull together a team of unlikely geniuses to pull of the ultimate heist. The fate of the world depends on it.
The gags come thick and fast and yes, there are many puns. The style is an interesting mix of old-school Ealing comedy and more modern slapstick. The jokes pile on, each raising a wry smile until eventually you fall about giggling; it’s that sort of gentle but very silly humour that relies on accepting that each and every character is an idiot. This is a movie spawned from YouTube fandom, so there are plenty of nods and cameos throughout, most of which work seamlessly into the story. The result is that there’s a lot of very strong talent throughout the feature. This feature is a geeky, funny feast; Spaced for the YouTube and 8-bit generation. More like this please.
You can find the movie here.