Review of Super Troopers 2 (2018) by K Nife C — 21 Apr 2018

A lot of people don't like the Eagles of Death Metal. I can't say I blame you if you aren't into tongue-in-cheek rock 'n' roll tropes or ass-backward conservative demagoguery in the wake of one of the most tragic terror attacks in the western world. I've been a fan of them since their inception in the obscure but quality Desert Sessions and rocked the "Live at Slims" bootleg that preceded their first official release "Peace Love Death Metal". I met Jesse Hughes and Dave Catching by chance about 10 years ago, and they were both funny, genuinely warm fellows. When the horrors of that fateful night at the Bataclan in Paris transpired, not even 9/11 had rocked my perception of the Earth and its horrifying goings-on to that degree.

Both primary songwriters Hughes and Joshua Homme have since publicly proven themselves to be complicated and flawed individuals (some would say "douche bags"), but I try to divorce the art from the artist when it's more convenient for me. "Yay!" for double standards. See the documentaries The Redemption of the Devil and Nos Amis for an insightful before and after of Hughes, a man who was at the epicenter of that violence. He was always a little off, his mental and emotional state an eccentric tapestry painted by too many drugs and the archaic ideologies of mid-20th century America, ideologies held mostly by a demographic of people who would look down upon Hughes' lifestyle of rock star excess. If you can manage to get past his egregious pro-gun remarks after the Parkland school shooting or are un/fortunate enough to live in a political vacuum, at the heart of the music of Eagles of Death Metal is a manically stupid lust for life.

It only makes sense that they would provide the soundtrack to an over-the-top, politically irreverent comedy about cops abusing their power in violent, illegal ways. In the same way that Hughes pines for the bygone days of Reagan, the Broken Lizard troupe cull from the bad 90's comedy movie playbook. There's gay-panic, transphobic gender politics, stupid accents, insensitivity towards First Nations people, puerile toxic masculinity, patriarchal wish-fulfillment, Rob Lowe, and, of course, the fat guy farts and falls down. Most of the humor feels lazy, many times forced, and occasionally in baffling poor taste, but I would be remiss if I didn't laugh at something about every five minutes. I suppose I'm an easy mark for low-brow humor and cringe-inducing pun play, but who doesn't appreciate a little slapstick from time to time?

Maybe some of us are misreading the whole thing, like it's a critique on the police state, nationalistic isolationism, and hateful identity politics. I really doubt it though. This movie doesn't need to exist, but as the success of the nearly unprecedented crowdfunding venture facilitating it demonstrated, the fans wanted it. Now, think what you will of those fans, those people are going to get what they paid for. So, go ahead and avoid it like the plague if it doesn't sound like your bag and deride Broken Lizard for producing it. I have a feeling that despite Eagles of Death Metal and Super Troopers 2 gladly flopping on the wrong side of history, at least they're having a good time over there. However, everyone would be better off watching Wrong Cops by Quentin Dupieux instead.