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‘Ultimate X’ film
scores only a ‘C’By Tim Ryan
tryan@starbulletin.comStunt cycling, skateboarding, biking, moto X, street luge, surfing. Apart from being extreme sports -- or in the current parlance, action sports -- these activities have another common thread: They're all making their way onto the big screen this summer.
Rated: PG ESPN's Ultimate X
Playing: at Consolidated's IMAX Waikiki Theatre, 325 Seaside Ave.
Tickets: $9 (ages 13 and up); $7 (ages 2 through 12); and $8 (seniors and military with valid ID)
Call: 923-IMAX (4629); for group tickets call 971-5033
ESPN's "Ultimate X" is the first out, hitting IMAX screens today.
The movie documents the extreme action and a few dramatic stories from ESPN's 2001 X Games in Philadelphia, presenting the athletes' mindset as they compete in the year's most important extreme sport competition, all to the pulsating rhythms of music by 3rd Strike, Grand Theft, OPM, Fatboy Slim, Guided By Voices, Pennywise, Suicide Machines, Feeder, Handsome Devil, Tricky and Moby.
The IMAX format with the right subject is truly spectacular, exaggerating the subject while providing the audience with a larger-than-life experience.
It worked in "Everest," "Rolling Stones: At the Max," "Fires of Kuwait," "T-REX: Back to the Cretaceous," and anything aerial, like Disney's "Soarin' Over California" ride at their California Adventure.
But "Ultimate X" falls short of the mark. Some of the sports featured, like street luge and biking, just don't translate well to IMAX. Another problem is the indoor venues where the competitions take place are dark and dreary, and some outdoor filming is under leaden skies, all the more dreary because of the IMAX enormity.
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Street luge is especially boring when shown in slow motion, or when the camera is mounted atop a rider's helmet. The only thrill I got during this sequence was a touch of motion sickness.The IMAX format does highlight competitors' physical dexterity as they lay flat atop the luge boards with their heads crooked upward to see where they're going, though there's little sense of speed -- a narrator claims up to 80 mph -- or the danger even when a few slam into border barriers.
Is street luge really a sport?
The most spectacular competition is moto X where fearless or just plain dumb riders hurl themselves and their motorcycles more than 50 feet in the air off dirt jumps and perform a variety of stunts -- letting go of handlebars, shifting their gyrating bodies off the seat, pushing their legs IN FRONT of the handlebars -- a nanosecond before landing.
But the IMAX format does little to enhance the stunts or the few crashes shown.
The BMX biking sequences are far less spectacular, the jumps lower, the speeds slower.
Skateboarding is the most artistic segment. The quiet sound of the acrylic wheels over polished wood of the "Half Pipe" is hypnotic as the rider slides back and forth, surfing curved walls of wood. The slow motion allows the viewer to see the intricate footwork, riders' facial expressions, and pure athleticism. But even this sequence doesn't require the IMAX format.
Interviews with the participants is enthusiastic but shallow. Moto X competitor Travis Pastrana, 19, a competitor since 1987, boasts of his 29 broken bones and nine concussions.
"Before the X Games I definitely want to have a back flip to where I'm pretty confident I'm going to land on my wheels instead of upside-down again. It scared me to death. It just doesn't make sense. You're still on your motorcycle at the height of the jump going 'this thing's not going to rotate around.' I knew it was possible. It just doesn't seem logical."
An X Games official describes X Gamers as "kinda messed up in the head."
But these competitors are worshipped by teens and 20-somethings. During the skateboarding competition, some audience members hold signs that read champ "Tony Hawk is God."
I found myself looking forward to the really awful wipeouts. But few are shown. I kept thinking about a typical surfing day at Banzai Pipeline, where many waves are ridden but only about 10 percent successfully. A more representative amount of spills would have made for a more honest film.
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