This fictionalized account of the birth of modern skateboarding doesn't have half the spontaneity and maverick spirit of the vivid, kinetic, crowd-pleasing documentary that inspired it. 2002's Dogtown and Z-Boys (VL-7/02) was an adrenaline-rush history of the Zephyr Skateboarding Team, a daredevil band of teenage surf bums who were the first to take wave-riding moves to the streets and empty swimming pools of drought-stricken Santa Monica in the early 1970s--in the process inventing the rebel culture of modern extreme sports. Lords of Dogtown, on the other hand, concerns itself more with fabricated love triangles, unhappy home lives, and rivalries that arose when fame came calling. Director Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen) lends the movie a low-budget, guerilla-style authenticity, and the performances of the young cast (John Robinson from Elephant, Emile Hirsch from The Girl Next Door, Victor Rasuk from Raising Victor Vargas) are multifaceted, but the documentary--with home-movie footage of the real Z-Boys literally inventing half-pipe skateboarding before your eyes--delivers 10 times the character and exhilaration of anything here. Optional. [Note: Available in either PG-13 or unrated versions, DVD extras include audio commentary (by director Catherine Hardwicke and costars John Robinson, Victor Rasuk, and Emile Hirsch), 16 Dogtown cameo segments from the original skaters (31 min.), a 30-minute “making-of” featurette, eight deleted and extended scenes (17 min.), production featurettes—“Bails & Spills,” an “Extended Pool Session,” “Of Course We Want a Skateboarding Bulldog” (with clips of same), “The Making-of Pacific Ocean Park” on the famed amusement park, and “The Ocean Washes My Hair and Make-up” music video montage of the actors and their doubles (11 min. total)—three storyboard comparisons (6 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a whopping extras package for a pale fictional imitation of a superb doc.] (R. Blackwelder)
Lords of Dogtown
Sony, 107 min., avail. in PG-13 or unrated versions, VHS: $57.99, DVD: $28.99, Sept. 27 Volume 20, Issue 5
Lords of Dogtown
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