Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with an early look at LORDS OF DOGTOWN, the period skater flick directed by Catherine Hardwick. The trailer, while not mind-blowing, has a nice ALMOST FAMOUSy feel to it. I'm hoping for the best and after reading the below review I may get what I hope for. Enjoy!
I just saw "Lords of Dogtown" in Vancouver. Brought to town by the Vancouver Museum and Skull Skates (they have an amazing exhibit right now called Skateboarding Vancouver), this was a chance for local skaters and skate industry types to check this film out more than a month before its release.
A lot of people (myself included) really weren't expecting much. Hollywood has never really gone beyond the realm of exploitation when it comes to the subject of skateboarding and early indications (a really lame casting call posted to the internet; Fred Durst to direct; Heath Ledger to star; Catherine Hardwick to direct; a lame trailer with lame music) didn't bode well for this take on the story of Dogtown.
Anyway, just about any attempt to recreate this pivotal era in skateboarding is going to have some cringe-inducing moments. I didn't like the lines seemingly written for the trailer where characters make grand statements that sum up the film into a marketing catchphrase like "Were going to be on summer vacation for the next twenty years."
Overall, however, this movie worked for me. Focusing most closely on the stories of Stacy Peralta (John Robinson), Tony Alva (Victor Rasuk), Jay Adams (Emile Hirsch) and Skip Engblom (Heath Ledger), "Lords of Dogtown" does a nice job of striking that balance between broad-stroke storytelling and real character development. They all do a nice job (even Heath Ledger through awful false teeth), but the nicest surprise for me was Hirsch's portrayal of Jay Adams. Hirsch is lost in the role of Adams. That guy you saw in "The Girl Next Door" is not in this film. He becomes the Jay Adams we know from "Dogtown and Z-Boys". This would have been the easiest character to screw up, to make into a cliché, but Hirsch has done an admirable job of holding on to the complexity of the film's spiritual hero.
The skating is also great. It must have been tricky for the skaters to unlearn the contemporary tricks and styles and adapt to the seventies equipment and flow (there's nary an "ollie" to be seen) but it pays off. Also, for the most part, you can't tell if the actors or stunt skaters are doing the riding. (An interesting aside: I heard that the actual Alva ended up donning a wig and doing some of his own pool riding for the film.)
To sum it up, "Lords of Dogtown" is probably the best dramatic portrayal of skating ever (although competition is slim). The music is great and the story, solid. In a theatre full of cynical skaters it garnered a hefty applause.
P.S.
Watch out for cameos from Jay Adams, Tony Hawk and the late Mitch Hedberg.
Call me HANZO STEEL
