I did this for NWD6, so I figured I might as well write another honest, comprehensive view for the anticipated Roam. This review is not designed to cause controversy, nor is it politically influenced. It is just what I feel about the movie and my thoughts on the different segments.
If you find it too long, just skip to the end for the conclusion.
Sections-
Intro- Very collective esque. Lots of discovery channel scenery, and an incredibly cheesy "there is no destination" line.
Claw/Shore- Segment starts with Darren building a ladder, it's rather nice how they tied that in to the shot of him riding it. Recognize the music from a snowboarding movie. Nice shot of Darren brutally casing an easy step-up, I have no clue why that shot is in the movie. I'm pretty sure if Darren can 3 a road gap he can do a 4 foot step up with ease. This theme of "why the hell didn't they just reshoot that" will be a reoccurring them in the movie, and subsequently, in this review. The segment does well at showing what an amazing rider Darren is. Some of the lines are very sketchy and tight, and he manages to trick most of them with a lot of style, take for example, his three off a ladder to tight landing with an imposing tree a foot away from the landing. Many guys would be sketched out just riding it. There were complaints that Darren did nothing new in this segment, and it is rather true. This man is something that helps to sell a movie, and although the segment showed off the incredible talent and techincal abilities of Darren, it is always good to have a memorable banger to keep the groms happy. Also, the segment felt quite rushed, which is a pity, because, as I said, Darren's name on a cover helps sell the movie. A lot. The makers should've recognized this and given him a lot more justice.
Whistler- I don't know why everyone is so in love with this segment. I guess it's because much of it is 2 riders riding in tandem down a-line. Probably brings out the "yah bro let's shred a-line together and slam a beer at the GLC later" feeling. Gnar. The segment does well at showing off the speed of the riders, which is good. A lot of the shooting is very fancy, and at times, over-fancy. After a while it gets annoying. Much more helmet cam footage would've helped, especially to bring out the true speed that these guys are travelling at.
Ryan Leech- HUGE deja-vu of a discovery channel travelling program. Then all of a sudden there is Ryan Leech hitting some rather tech lines. I have to say, it's not terribly impressive. Some of his lines are creative, especially the one of him riding the high-consequence gate, but other than that, a lot of them are quite silly. Take for example Ryan's manual on flat ground, that ended nowhere, after which he hopped up a curb. The producers tried spicing up the section with some post-production trickery, but it didn't really add much to the section. Might I also note, Ryan has started bitch hopping again. What happened to the manifesto? It was one of the things that made his riding a lot more enjoyable to watch. Compared to this section, I'd rather see British guys like Neil Tunnicliffe ride in boring places filmed with an amateur handy-cam. The riding should speak for itself.
Moab (pronounced MOH-AB, as I have learnt)- Song is very collective-esque and good feeling. Thank god, something uplifting finally. Every clip is pretty much a long sweeping drawn out shot. Once again, I feel like I'm watching a discovery channel travel program that for some reason has a rider riding in the background ruining the otherwise picturesque shot. Wade Simmons does an incredibly impressive line. The ledge is about a metre wide with a few hundred feet on his right. Very nice. Jordie does an absolutely massive gap, elevating the overall riding in the segment and acting as a memorable banger. Overall, the segment is pretty good. The most feel-good one so far.
Lunn's backyard- There is something about watching dirt jumping (or any type of riding, but especially dj) without the riding sounds, it irks the crap out of me. It's so unnatural. The song doesn't really match the riding that well either. What follows is a lot of decently good riding, what one would expect from the likes of mccaul, lunn, and kasprick. Good style and big trick.s. Unfortunately, nothing we haven't already seen before. Tons of cable cam footage, most of it unneccesary. There is this one particular shot that stands out to me about this segment, cam Mccaul's no-can tailwhip. It's played in very slow slow motion and is very zoomed in, does well to show off Cam's impressive style, but there is one problem. HE DOESN'T LAND IT. His pedal lands up in HIS SHIN. What are the editors doing putting an unlanded shot into a movie, ZOOMED IN and in SUPER SLOW MOTION?! Either reshoot or don't use the shot at all, DON'T BUTCHER THE RIDER'S REPUTATION LIKE THAT!!!
Peat/Shandro- Lots of fast footage, lots of footage without riding sounds. Overall the segment is nicely shot and has good music, but it doesn't really do much for me. Maybe because everything is shot in too fancy a style. This is a place that I will never be able to ride, and I also will never be able to ride that fast. The helmet cam footage stood out to me because it put me in the place of the rider and made me feel like I was going as fast as him. The last bits of footage pick up the steam where the beginning left off and help improve the section though. Overall, it's nice to see peaty hit some fast singletrack, but frankly, I would've rather watched him kill it in some good race footage.
Morocco- Discovery channel intro. Again. Honestly, if I didn't tell you this was a biking film, you would think you're watching a National Geographic special about Morocco. Then it cuts into music that sounds a lot like the song we just heard in the last section. Thankfully, the riding is pretty good. Vanderham does indeed do some of the best moto-whips on a mountain bike. I think he should just do them off everything in his Crankworx runs, they honestly are very relaxed and clicked. Hunter hits a very big road gap. It's freaking massive. He also does some very stylish tables, especially for someone on a big bike. I love one of the last shots, with the helmet cam footage of Hunter throwing a very nice table. Overall one of the better sections in the movie: Riding is good, footage is not over-fancy, and the music somewhat suits the riding.
Interior- Cheesy intro. Quite a turn off. Holy sweeping shots! Cable cam footage! There is so much of it, it's getting pretty ridiculous. Then all of a sudden we get a rogue simple shot of a bunch of guys hitting tables, not sweeping, just camera on a tripod watching some guys hit jumps. There needs to be much more of this simplicity in the movie. Again, Hunter hits a very big road gap. Bails hard, goes back up and does it again. An impressive hit and a nice insight into what the riders go through.
Interior2 (it's a long segment)- Music gives me deja-vu from Collective. Some of the booters are incredibly big and a lot of fun to watch, it's nice to see the snowboard influence creeping into mountain biking. More helmet cam footage would've helped. More riding sounds would've helped. Less slow motion would've helped. Hunter does another ridiculously huge gap. This kid is so much fun to watch, he goes so big.
Conclusion-
Soundtrack- Uninspired. It gets the job done most of the time, but it basically copies the collective formula in a half assed manner. It's a pity the producers didn't spend more time on this because it would've helped the movie a lot more. Also, more riding sounds. We are all riders, the movie is made for riders (or is it?), why aren't there more riding sounds?
Cinematography- Two words: Over done. It almost seemed like the producers looked at the budget and went "OK, how many times can we rent this equipment and use it in every occasion possible." A lot of the times the sweeping/dolly/cablecam footage was entirely unnecessary and did nothing to better the movie. The collective filming formula worked, why did they ruin it with Roam?
Bonus features- A lot of commercials, which is fine. The sponsors paid for the movie after all. The riding-related stuff is quite bad. The crash/air/singletrack sections are short and quite boring, nothing like the entertaining riding bonus sections in the Collective. The first part of Sterling Lorence's slideshow has about 15 biking photos and a lot of misc. travel photos. His biking photos are absolutely amazing as usual, but the rest of the first section is pretty boring. It's a pity because the first few minutes, having so few biking shots, makes me not want to watch the rest of the slideshow, but the shots in the 2nd part of the slideshow get a lot lot more biking oriented and far better. Make no mistake about it, there is a good reason why Sterling Lorence is one of the best biking phtographers out there. Some of this stuff is bloody amazing. I'd rather watch the 2nd part of the slideshow over some of the segments in the movie.
Riding- The rider list is good, and so is the riding, but there was almost nothing new. For example, Ryan did the same stuff as he's done before, but in a more exotic location. There is also a ton of filler footage, only helping to detract the sections. Despite the movie demonstrating the abilities of the riders, it's always good to see something new, something memorable. It's amazing how just one trick can elevate a movie and make it more talked about, the producers should really note this. PS: There was a short clip of Darren doing a 3 whip in the trailer and I was pretty stoked to see it. It wasn't anywhere in the movie. Where did I find it? In the crash section. And I had to go to the bonus features to even find the crash. That's an incredibly cheap move on the producer's part, especially in a movie made for riders in such a small market. PPS: The producers have developed an affection for including horribly unlanded shots, like Cam Mccaul's nocan tailwhip. Reshoot it or don't include it. By publishing stuff like this, all you do is butcher the rider's reputation.
Overall- I have respect for everyone involved in Roam. Filming all over the world is incredibly hard, and bikers are difficult to work with (they are damned lazy and never get stuff done). However, the producers decided they'd take the Collective and expand on it to make Roam. In probably half the time with twice the budget. The end result is not really a biking movie, but a movie about biking. The footage is purdy and the riding is quite good, but I walk away from the screen with a feeling of emptiness. There's nothing that grabs my attention, nothing that makes me remember the movie or want to talk about i with my friends. It doesn't even really get me inspired to ride. The Collective got me pretty stoked to ride, and I watched it quite a few times. The producers put a lot less passion into the sequel, and unfortunately it does show quite obviously. Instead of making a movie with good footage, good riding, and a good soundtrack, they've made a "could be a lot better" movie that doesn't know whether it wants to be a national geographic special or a biking movie. The narration tops everything off by giving a pseudo-phiosophical feel to the movie, a cheap way to give it an all-encompasing theme. Rent it to show your parents or something, but $35 is a lot of money to spend on a movie you're only gonna enjoy once. I could've bought a new tyre with that money, and I enjoy new tyres a lot more than I enjoyed Roam.
-David
