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OneFive Media's shiny new mountainboard Film To start with, this film has been properly hyped. Forums have been humming for months; a slightly pushed-back release date coupled with the pedigree of the one5 media crew means many eager eyes have been waiting for this to drop... There has been a buzz about other wheelie-board films in the past, but not to this degree. And now here it is: The distribution of this latest mountainboard flick is a little different than what has been done before; Its pay and download, which at $5 is a bargain. So we payed the money and left the computer gently downloading for about hour and a half- it is after all a gigantic file at almost a gig. Kettle on.
After Shralpdown (the first One5 film, just in case you have been living in cave), we were expecting another 20 minutes or so of big air pornography. Which, if you are into your uber trick-flicks with lots of lovely slow-mo and not too worried about locations, was one of the sickest movies of last year. It was all very nice, great riding, but just left us feeling a little cold; I also ended up with a similar feeling from MDP snow movies. Style over content maybe, glossing over the soul.
Anyways, we grab ourselves a cuppa and settle back to enjoy the this latest offering of Hot Action.
From the off, it is impeccably sharp, in Hi-def, and the production quality looks amazing. Opening titles ( No big list of sponsors, this is a pure One5 film ) introducing big names and a few newbies in the US scene; ambient electronic music, nice scene-setting shots, time-lapse, inspirational landscapes and tricks. Yes, it looks so gorgeous you could eat it. Twice. The movie starts proper and this is where the change to Shralpdown is first evident as there is a move to a documentary-feel with voice-overs, and, strangely for an American film, it starts with some freeriding.
The first section kicks off; B jo and Griz extolling the virtues of 'searching' and freeriding in Colorado. The riding goes from carving-up open hillside, to tight single track through trees, to north shore drop action in an off season ski resort. It looks beautiful.ed There is also a wick freestyle sesh in the woods with tree-taps and transfers most of us can only dream about. The whole section wraps up where it started, with three mates and a dog carving it up after what looks likes a great days riding- it conveys insight and is a great opener. The next section start off with Juice telling us about the simple fun of riding in your local park- if you are lucky enough to have it on a hill. Lots of carving, cool sliding action with wicked jibs thrown and stories of crashing weddings. The whole section also felt like one from a longboard video but with the slides on the grass instead of the tarmac. Great shots of shredded turf kicking up.. From here Juice links nicely into the section from Hillbilly's Trailer park and their Mountainboard Tikki party. Lots of Aj Lawson and friends getting steezy and so many sick tricks being thrown down, it's hard to mention just one. Just as it gets too dark to film ( and probably as the riders need to concentrate on partying), the section comes neatly to a close. Kody Stewart then has a play on his own the following day, revealing no drop in his awesome skillz.
This takes us to Legend J lee telling us about 2008's MBS road trip, the Mustache tour of destruction, this time heading to New Mexico. You have been warned, expect lots of dodgy looking moes in this section and great variety in terrain - eg some mountainbike dirt-jump riding and classic old-skool drainage ditch carving (hints of Dogtown?). It looks like a great memorable journey, the 11 lads ( including J Lee himself, Tyler Mork, Evan Carlson etc) not taking themselves too seriously yet doing rad, fun riding. The soundtrack is very complimentary, non-obtrusive, positive-feeling and trancey, like some Orbital remix. There's the signature directors touch of pulling focus on wildflowers in the foreground, and we flow onwards...
Continuing with the documentary theme, the next section takes in a mountainboard comp. It's another sweet section with some good varied shots of boarderX racing and freestyle. They don't mention which comp it is but an almost subliminal shot of a t-shirt reveals it's the Altitude Cup in Colorado. The main focus of the section seems to be about the (ironically) non-competitive nature of comps- mountainboarders getting together and the community feel you get at the events. The 'progression session' is full of big names like Leon R, Dave Starfighter, HBomb etc, so it has sweet moves, captured in sweet, colour-saturated slo-mo.
This leads on to a skatepark section, which is another stand-out section of the film. It shows what can be done with a mountainboard on the 'flat' and in various sk8 parks; there's just something about mountainboarders ripping it up in a skatepark. Outdoors, indoors, stalls, grinds, taps, rails, manuals, slides. Once more, Chickenboots and the Lawman stand-out and rip it impressively.
Time for a quick round of golf: four! comedy fancy-dress posturing, tongues firmly in cheeks as they do golf-cart tow-ins, bunker jumps and generally have a laugh. The UK's Ben Tweedie & Niki Forecast pay a visit and the fun penultimate section comes to a close...
The film wraps up with jam footage from the MBS back yard. A sick park (one of the biggest built specifically for mountainboards), with some aspirational big freestyle riding from the pros, and nice summing-up soundbites. It closes the film impressively.
Cue credits... Overall, what did we think? Frankly, it's hard to fault it in anyway.
It was slightly annoying to have watch it on the computer instead of on the plasma, but after the first watch we burned it to DVD and the second viewing (on telly) really wowed.
It's going to be one of the milestones of mountainboarding media; for the riding and production. It's pretty much a must see if you are into your 4x4 wheelie boarding. The documentary format works really well and gets away from what can sometimes be monotonous trick flicks which get put out for all free sports. It's also a good length and you're left satisfied yet still wanting more, which ain't no bad thing.
Even better, the chances are non-mountainboarders are going to see it and think hell yeah that looks fantastic fun, i wish i was doing it, even hard-to-impress snowboarders, skaters and surfers.
Everything is given time and space to breathe, and it flows beautifully. It has soul, character, a sense of humour, awesome riding and it just looks divine. This is what we wanted, and it's what we got. Hats off to the riders, and to Justin Dersham and Michael Herbener. Let's hope it reaches the non-believers.
Find out more about One5 media, check the Hot Action trailer, and watch Shralpdown here.
Believe.
review by Smilie & Wilz
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