Copeland intimately catches the Police

The film, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival this year, is a pure adrenaline rush. Copeland rides the mania of the time as the Police are mobbed at record store signings, engulfed by screaming fans, and hounded by the media, while ascending rapidly from gigs in bars to stadiums. Copeland even set up his camera on a tripod by his drum kit and talks to it as the shows go on. It's insane, irresistible stuff, with a fast editing style and lively, sometimes corny narration that happily maintains an irreverent edge. He pokes fun at Police singer/curmudgeon Sting by saying, ``He gets a buzz from the energy of the scene, but he pretty much hates the music, especially ours."

Still, it's a loving tribute, as Copeland catches Sting and guitarist Andy Summers fighting good-naturedly on a train, hamming it up in the studio, and lip-synching through a video shoot on skis, not to mention priceless concert moments. Copeland overlays Police music, adds chapter titles such as ``The Golden God" (where Sting dives into a swimming pool a la the rocker in Cameron Crowe's ``Almost Famous") and ``Life Becomes a Duran Duran Video."

There's remarkable street footage as the Police go around the world, but also a probing look at how the superstar trappings of luxurious private planes, hotel suites, and Caribbean recording studios were so far a way from their roots. Copeland pulls no punches in describing how Sting's growing control of the songwriting left the other members out. But, ultimately, this is a rollicking, on-the-road glimpse of a band that played it fast and loose, and won big. They broke up at the peak of their appeal and Sting jokingly stares into the lens and notes, ``I'm going to blame this cameraman for all of my problems."

Extras: Twenty minutes of bonus footage not included in the film, plus a commentary by Police members Copeland and Summers. (Hip-O, $14.98; available now)