Ensofter
Overrated and overhyped
Gurlyndrobb
While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
Fatma Suarez
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
Charles Delacroix
First, I am *not* in the least bit knowledgeable about snowboarding or any of the related sports (surfing, skateboarding, skiing). And I was myself fearful that this movie would include so much "technical" or "advanced" material that a mere mortal wouldn't be able to follow it. "Documentaries" can be very specialized, after all.I need not have feared finding myself out of my depth and neither should *you* if you're not yourself in the center of the "scene" and yet are thinking about seeing this film.Because this is really in the spirit of The Lords of Dogtown and ... and ... well, there was a Surfing quasi-documentary from last summer, I can't think of the name ... but it had the same flavor. The flavor was a special sort of humanistic excitement that for me arises from combining both (a) great footage of the Action; and (b) great narrative and interviews with the People involved.I liked the sort of back and forth from Present (a sort of Reality Movie type expedition to Alaska with 5 top boarders) and Past (History of Snowboarding).The scenery from Alaska was simply breathtaking, the descents gripping and exciting and full of vicarious adrenalin rushes.The interviews with Terje and Shaun and Hannah and Farm and Shawn were wonderfully engaging: fresh and convincing and sincere enough that I as viewer felt like I got a real sense of who these fascinating and delightful persons were.The history painted the whole Snowboarding Phenomenon with a vivid and appealing personality as well.The way that the entire film built toward what truly was a blazing, satisfying completion, was just delightful. In fact the sort of sustained baseline of excitement was modulated by a kind of rhythm back and forth from whiteknuckling action back to a little narrative or interviewing to let me catch my breath.Great job everyone ... and *thanks* for giving a viewer like me a little glimpse into a gripping and exciting and wonderfully human world.
tony_tbone
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It puts you in a great mood. There is one amazing scene after another of snowboarders doing insane freestyle and big mountain riding. The mix of the new generation riders (Shaun White, Hannah Teeter, and Travis Rice) with Terje from the 90's and Shawn Farmer from the early days of snowboarding (late 70's through 80's) gives you the full spectrum of different riding styles. The movie jumps back and forth from these 5 big names doing a trip together in Alaska searching for some back country riding to the documenting of snowboarding's history. I feel the two different focuses kept it more interesting and made the movie more enjoyable. I don't think the movie was too over the top in its effort to promote snowboarding nor do I think it exaggerated its impact on the ski resorts or the world. It seemed balanced, realistic and factual from my own knowledge of snowboarding which dates back to the early 90s. If you're a soccer mom that watches Oprah and soaps most of the time this may not be very exciting to you but if you have a love for sports, the outdoors and some excitement you should be able to enjoy this very easily like I did.
RRFrankie
This movie is, like, totally rad! Like, totally! I think Porky Pig look-alike and snowboarding muffer Hannah Teter puts it best when she says "...like, whoa, we've never done this before. Like, what if I die up there? Not bugging out about it. But, being like, I don't know. Feeling a little stressed on it. You know, I want to be safe. I still want to learn a lot. I want to learn about back country riding. And I want to progress, you know?" You said it, Hannah! If retards could snowboard I'm sure they'd be in this movie. Hey, wait a minute! Now I get it. Retards can snowboard - and they are in this movie. How wonderfully retarded.
jdesando
From skate board to snowboard, the evolution of the latter into Olympic contender has been inspiring. The documentary about the history of snowboarding called "First Descent" is at times as breathtaking as the long Alaskan runs five of the world's best take in the film, which cuts in historical footage of the sport with modern helicopter shots that both magnify and reduce the colossal feats these young and not so young boarders perform.With only the limited vocabulary of voice overs of the snowboarders, repeating "gnarly" enough to make me forget arthritic joints, the film misses opportunities to describe technicals like acrobatics and boards in informative ways. I am not asking for inane commentary readily available for televised college and professional football; I just would like a deeper look at the details of the sport rather than repetitious exclamations of awe accompanied by sequences that begin to look alike from a birds-eye perspective.The film does capture the natural rhythms of descent and diction endemic to an uncomplicated sport—for that I am gratified and forever respect the brave souls who traverse Alaskan peaks rather than leisurely hike the lowlands as I did a few years ago. The feats of the very young Shaun White and very seasoned Terje Haakonsen give both a visual feast and a verifiable history of the sport embodied in the two famous boarders.In no way, however, could I see the pure white mountains as the helicopter does so many times giving an IMAX experience without IMAX. The cinematography is the major reason to see this slight documentary, unless, of course, you are a boardhead.
