Troubleshooters

King Jeff and Gorio’s Troubleshooters is quite the passion project. King Jeff wrote, directed, edited, shot, and was the production designer on the project. Gorio and King Jeff not only produced the sci-fi adventure but also star in it. Was some critical distance needed, or did the duo make something everyone can enjoy?

Sandoval (King Jeff) has been up on the job for 30 hours straight. Unfortunately, he must take a 25-question psych evaluation before he can go home. Once back at his place, Sandoval’s much-deserved rest is interrupted by Chilly (Gorio). The two of them have a new mission: to seek out and take out malfunctioning robots that are shooting their owners. Aiding them in their quest is the mechanical engineer Sparky (Brian Lanigan), who hopes to figure out why the machines are going rogue.

“…seek out and take out malfunctioning robots that are shooting their owners.”

Troubleshooters has an interesting story structure, going back and forth between the main plot, Sandoval’s constantly interrupted sleep, and the evaluation. This allows the action to expand upon the answers given during the psych examination. In this way, the film finds a balance between the action and the characters. Gorio and King Jeff are fun, and the joke about Sandoval failing to ever get to sleep only gets funnier as the 62-minute runtime ticks by.

However, the filmmakers cannot hide the extremely low budget they are working with. The props, the steampunk guns in particular, look like repainted Nerf guns fresh out of the package. Plus, King Jeff hides a lot of the action off-screen, typically only showing one side of it (the one with the leads). This means this outing feels small despite the best efforts of the screenplay to build an expansive world to play in. But, the editing works to keep the action beats that are present most fun. Also aiding in the enjoyment is the soundtrack. Each song was used effectively.

Troubleshooters is an ambitious, original independent film. Yes, it is not always easy to look past the lack of resources. But, if one can do that, than a fun time is guaranteed.