Bodyboarding
By Greg Ambrose
across an ocean
of animation
Special to the Star-BulletinIN the year 2071, pollution and global warming have turned the oceans into lifeless septic tanks. In this bleak world, humans have realized too late the enormity of their wasteful practices and must escape the dismal existence they have created through high technology.
Through mindlinks, they are able to revisit their ravaged planet in happier times. When one young mind voyager stumbles onto the lost sport of bodyboarding, he is immediately hooked by the sight of Hawaii's top riders frolicking in translucent blue waves.
Bodyboarder/animator John DeTemple's clever graphics, videographer Tom Boyle's steady lens work and Chris Won's riding and guidance combine to create "Recon," a cautionary parable that will stoke movie-going audiences with relentless animation and live action while providing food for thought about what we all stand to lose if we don't help protect the ocean from abuse.
Age-appropriate metal, thrash and hip-hop music propels Hawaii bodyboarders Kyle Maligro, Jacky Buder, Mike Stewart and an international cast through slammin', jammin' aerials, barrel rolls and undefinable maneuvers in Hawaii's best waves as well as surf breaking on distant, exotic reefs.
"Recon" is an intriguing departure in an era when most surf videos are merely advertisements for sponsors who hire cameramen to display their team riders. The sport's top bodyboarders paid Boyle a salary to follow them to the world's top surf spots, and all of them will share in the profits from this video.
But the real motive was to remind an industry that has abandoned bodyboarding in its pursuit of the extreme-sports craze, that bodyboarding was one of the original extreme sports.
"Recon's" visual nonstop barrel-fest of maneuvers that traditional surfers can only dream of, makes a convincing case that should have sponsors flocking back to bodyboarding.
On screen
"Recon": By EyeSpy; video $29.95
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