The proliferation of increasingly inexpensive, powerful, and accessible technology has had as much — and by all intents, far more — of an impact on American industry as it has had on American filmmaking. Any forward-thinking, creative individual with a knack for tinkering can take the leap and launch a business, the same as anyone with an idea for a film can pick up a camera (or even a cell phone these days) and make a movie. So often entrepreneurs in either venture stumble, failing to find consumers or proving unable to turn their idea into a successful product. Neither is the case in “Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle,” a new documentary that examines the financially lucrative Taser gun (used ubiquitously by law enforcement agencies), fascinatingly written and directed by rookie director Nick Berardini.
The documentary opens (quite wisely — it sets the tone rapidly by being nearly too difficult to watch) with footage from an early Taser test conducted by the device’s inventor, Jack...
