The FP Movies

Over the past week or so I watched all four currently released movies of The FP movie franchise and while I believe I've lost a good deal of brain cells - its time to recap these films. While I watched the first film with some others under the guise of "bad movie night" - I watched the remaining three alone to make this post.

In a post apocalyptic future, two rival gangs fight for control of Frazier Park by playing "Beat Beat Revelation", a deadly version of Dance, Dance, Revolution(TM).

The first film in the series sets up a universe that is tough to follow. I'll do my best:

• Characters are named quite oddly, such as JTRO, KCDC, BLT, BTRO and L Dubba E.
• The spoken language is some mix between slang and 6th grade wannabee gangsters.
• The residents of dystopian Frazier Park need alcohol to prevent scourge of drugs upon them and prefer alcohol over water.
• Gangs fight over control of the city (The FP) in order to control the "booze mines", which provide alcohol from rocks.
• If you lose a dance battle - you sometimes die.

Now that I've seen all the movies - this first film is the least green screen filmed of them all, with also a much more tamed approach to the type of language spoken in this film.

To fully understand what I mean - here is a sample of some real lines in the film word for word. Some of them I don't even feel comfortable pasting in this post as out of context can be quite difficult to explain.

Back your stank ass shit up off my flavor!

You got's permission to be up all up in dis suare de la twa.

What I found interesting is it seems the main character (JTRO), who is also one of the directors, doesn't often want to use the established type of spoken language. He reverts to talking like a regular human towards many characters throughout the film.

This film follows a pretty standard movie plot, which works roughly like:

• Protagonist loses to antagonist.
• Protagonist needs help to get back on path to victory.
• Antagonist has the person/object/thing protagonist is interested in.
• Protagonist needs to train Rocky style to prepare to face antagonist again.
• Protagonist beats antagonist after training.

So as this movie ended I was quite surprised to find there was not only a sequel, but three additional movies to watch.

Despite hanging up his boots following the events of 'The FP,' JTRO must return to the blood sport of Beat-Beat Revelation one last time. JTRO and KCDC - his mystical hype man - will quest deep into The Wastes, a land destroyed by the Beat Wars, to compete in the ancient Beat-Beat tournament, "Beats of Rage," face AK-47 - and, hopefully, save the world.

The 2nd film is the franchise moving further and further into the realm of green screens. We see the main character JTRO back in action aging as his friends from the older film compete in Beat Beat matches in the middle of the wastes. This is apparently the area outside of The FP where alcohol is harder to come by.

One of the main characters from the first film (BLT) ends up dying in the intro of movie to the new antagonist known as AK-47. So now we have JTRO and KCDC off to wandering through the middle of nowhere to find this underground style of beat matches where this new arch nemesis resides.

This is where we learn that rain/water is known as "wet shit" and the absolute worst thing to drink to these characters. Its alcohol over anything here, which is odd especially with how dehydrated you get consuming alcohol.

We meet one of our new main characters known as CHAI-T who seems to be the newest love interest for JTRO. These two will end up together and become the main characters for the final two films. CHAI-T has stayed true to the established universe in this film and speaks in only the oddest form of words.

Magic is real AF out here, JTRO

CHAI-T just went all Anzac Day on that mother-bitcher, yo!

While the language went up a notch in oddness - the story line remains about the same. Our lead character JTRO loses a fight against the enemy and proceeds to train and learn to face them again towards the end. I'm still confused watching this how some folks die (187`d) in the film after losing a match, but others can simply retrain and face again. It must be that plot armor protecting JTRO at this point since it seems he cannot be killed.

As JTRO wanders back home after losing to AK-47 he stumbles upon a bar in the middle of no where who happens to have a hooded bartender who is his father. His father then brings him back to his childhood house out in the wastes and explains a bit of family history. Whats important to note here is:

• NITRO (JTRO Dad's) ended up having kids with CHAI-LATTE
• NITRO competed in illegal beat matches causing to get thrown in Bako (Jail)
• CHAI-LATTE was a Ninjawa (Magic Ninja Warrior)
• NITRO had 3 kids (BTRO, JTRO and ATRO)
• BTRO died in the 1st film
• ATRO is AK-47
• JTRO is a RE-NINJ (Evolved with powers?)
• CHAI-LATTE died in a beat match when forced to face NITRO

So we get another training montage and JTRO is apparently ready to roll again against his brother AK-47. CHAI-T appears pregnant from her time with JTRO and returns to find JTRO to support him in this final battle. So this training montage must have occurred over months based on the pregnancy.

At some point in this final battle - JTRO gets electrified and its shown that he has "RE-NINJD", which must be some form of evolution. So of course with that added boost of power - he defeats the enemy.

So the 2nd film ends with JTRO and CHAI-T together with a soon to be born child.

JTRO and Fam embark on their most dangerous mission yet: Forcing them to battle foes from the past in order to save their future from a calamity that threatens to wipe humanity off the mo' suckin' face of the Earf...4 EVZ.

The 3rd film in this series throws everything out the window that you thought you knew. It was apparent that you couldn't continue to evolve a movie series if people are just dancing on dance pads as a form of competition. The movie starts off with a huge amount of text to help you understand what you are about to witness.

THE WET SHIT IS COMING

A NEVER ENDING STORM OF SOBRIETY FROM WHICH THERE AINT NO CURE HAS SWEPT OVA THE MO' SUCKIN' EARF.

ROLLIN' UP FROM THE RUINS OF BAKO, A BEAT-BEAT PRISON CITY FROM THE OLD WORLD THAT LIES BEYOND THE WASTES, DEEP AF OUT ON THE EDGE OF KNOWN EARF.

IF THE WET SHIT CANNOT BE STOPPED, AND IT SWALLOWS THE FP WHOLE, ALL WHO REMAIN... WILL TURN STONE COLD SOBER.

4 EVZ...

So after reading this - it seems this film is really all about the alcohol, but yet our main characters are rarely consuming it. Probably not something you want to base your movie franchise off of if all the characters are consuming copious amounts of alcohol.

The film starts off with us learning that at least 18 years has passed since the last film and JTRO/CHAI-T's daughter has just turned 18. All our characters in this film are much more focused and training for some unknown event. The 4 main characters (JTRO, CHAI-T, KCDC and CHAI-TRO) end up coming upon a portal in the hills/mines. When CHAI-TRO approaches this portal she somehow "beats" back in time into Bako.

So now we've mixed time travel into this and it just adds to the confusion. What further makes this a confusing movie to follow is how much the spoken language got turned up to insane levels. We are talking replacements for words and the order of words that are funny the first time and then beyond annoying by the 15th.

We're just going through immigraties, while they chin wag us up and down.

Lates yo

The enemies this time appear to be recycled and somehow still alive - so we have both L Dubba E and AK-47 back with some adaptions in the 3rd film. The family is united to solve this Bako puzzle, but we learn at some point from JTRO that CHAI-TRO's twin died around birth. I wondered why they were telling us that as it seemed to make no difference, but alas the 4th movie connects that dot.

JTRO however could not beat L Dubba E in the final showdown, but it did not matter. Like we know from plot armor - he does not die and instead AK-47 flips to be good as he realizes he is ATRO and not meant for the evil side. The arrival of backup and AK-47 changing sides pushes L Dubba E off the edge and the threat is neutralized.

Or so we think. The movie ends on a cliff hanger that this reunited stronger family must work together to fight one more enemy for the fate and survival of The FP.

A legendary family of rhythm game warriors must battle their way deep into the future to save what remains of a booze fueled humanity from a horrific calamity that threatens to turn them all stone cold sober 4 EVZ.

The 4th film starts off with narration from JTRO who helps piece together the back story and history of this universe. I'll break it down in simple bullet points.

• Ducks ruled planet prior.
• Beat Massa X came from stars introducing Beat-Beat Revelation and a comet full of booze.
• Beat Massa X enslaved people with alcohol dependencies and killed the enemy known as the "beat wars".
• Beat Massa X introduces "rage" to recruit followers for him (the red).
• CHAI-T is the Beat Battle Queen from the Wastes
• CHAI-TRO went back in time in history to blow up the comet of booze.
• Rain is coming and will make everyone sober and frozen.

What I've also started to pick up is the cheaper a film is the more green screen that is involved. I'm not sure when that changed, but at some point I guess it became cheaper to fake scenes than make them. However, seeing this movie was filmed during COVID - I'm guessing that restriction was forced rather than intended.

The movie begins with JTRO & CHAI-T dancing in some prehistoric ruins in order to unlock a portal that somehow has a hologram of JTRO's mom. This hologram explains in another odd forms of words that a fountain of life exists that contains booze which can revive fallen beaters and can be used to revive those lost in the "wet shit".

(She also explains you cannot stop the rain)

Turns out however if you use this fountain you'll awake some enemy and also need a certain type of person with a certain type of object. So it seems in the first 15 minutes we've established a ton of back story and the plot of this film.

The spoken language this time about broke me. I didn't think I could hear the word "earf" or "youse" one more time. As the clip shows below we have some interesting phrasing of words and tons of layers of video artifacts.

Aight. But shut your chex guzzler, cause I only be spittin' this shit once, okay?

But that does not mean you should jack yourself of enjoying this mome-y-do you've earned.

As JTRO & CHAI-T return home with this knowledge - they party until a human with a red duck mask appears and takes CHAI-TRO hostage. This embarks the main characters on a quest to chase this enemy all the way to where the final showdown occurs. They'll of course have to compete some challenges on that journey which no matter what will have something to do with dancing or punching.

As this happens we learn the enemy they are chasing is actually the brother who apparently did not die when the family gave birth 18 years ago. This made zero sense to me as they made it perfectly clear he was dead and the guy looked 40 years older than JTRO anyway. It turns out that its a common pattern in this film to have new family members appear on every single film.

Right when they meet up with the enemy - he takes one bullet and shoots CHAI-T dead. This is the Beat Battle Queen so I find it a bit dumb that she takes a single bullet to the chest and dies.

Fortunately, JTRO and CHAI-TRO end up battling their own battles to awaken some space craft and obtain some booze that would revive CHAI-T and they succeed. It was hard to trust that this daughter who had zero training till 18 could fight in battle to win these engagements against established enemies, but she did.

The movie is quickly over and threats neutralized and The FP is back with alcohol flowing. That seems like the end until the end credits scene where we see JTRO has chased down the space craft that escaped at the end of the film. I don't think I have it in me to see a 5th movie, but one might occur.

All in all - the first movie I watched with others and it was a laughable experience despite all the flaws. It's tough to make a bad movie intentionally and replicate what you see with movies like "The Room" or Neil Breen.

Watching the next three films alone was tough to do. At many points during the watching I was wondering why I was doing this to myself. The 4th movie about broke me - it was clear at many points that folks were just acting in front of a static green screen. From the other side though - making four movies with a small budget is no easy task, so I've got to hand over props for that.

If you want to learn more about these films. You can find them on the free streaming services, but you can purchase them if wanted from the official JTRO Link Tree.

Since I imagine over time a few Google searches will land on this page. Here is a glossary of terms I've picked up watching these films for this post.

Glossary