Friday, May 10

Ultimate X Hits IMAX

By Sal Masekela
EXPN.com

Hollywood has a pretty shaky history when it comes to doing action sports justice. The motto has usually been, "Look kids… do your tricks, get your check, beat it and be happy your sorry asses are in our film." Because of this attitude things like editing of tricks and integrity to the culture have been mostly ignored. The result - Point Break, In God's Hands, and that Saturday morning blunder called Skate on NBC. It makes me cringe every time I see a movie with a skate clip, because I know the chances of it being legit are slim.

Sal and Verne Troyer cold kickin it live.

This summer may be remembered as the year Hollywood got it right; first with Dogtown and Z-Boys and now with the new IMAX banger, Ultimate X. Some of you are saying, "Sal's just gassin' up this flick so he can catch a little shine and look good to the folks signing his checks." Of course I am. But it also happens to be that the movie is on point. It is obvious from the get go that the producers of this movie did the one thing that many before them failed to do - listen. They employed cinematographers from within the action sports community to actually shoot with the IMAX cameras. The editing is tight, showing the whole trick, executed form start to finish, on a sixty foot screen. The Moto stuff is unbelievable. If you don't realize how ill these guys are as athletes after this, you must be sleepin. The IMAX camera even makes dirt look cool. And the sound is definitely on par with something as good as The Matrix. Every ollie, every engine whine, every spin of a wheel sounds absolutely incredible.

Hart, Jerry and Nastazio giving some love to the camera at the Ultimate X premier.

The slam section is gnar. You will have a hard time actually keeping your eyes open through Cary Hart's crash. For a second it doesn't even seem real… until impact. For all the action, the movie balances itself by using very candid interviews with the athletes and personalities that make the X Games what they are. Whether you walk into this film a knowledgeable fan, or someone who got sucked in by the commercials one thing is for sure, you will be entertained. It will be one of the rare times you walk out of a flick happy you spent the dough. Oh yeah, the soundtrack is hot too.

The only negative things I have to say are that there is one street luge section too many, and they saved all the street skating footage for the end credits. Watch the credits. Koston's backside noseblunt slide on the jersey barrier on a screen 6 stories tall is a thing of beauty. Plus, Jason Ellis has the quote of the movie, "That's why I'm not a rock star, cause you can't get hurt playin' guitar" Oy.

Jason Ellis just found out the screen is 6 stories tall.

Needless to say the Los Angeles premiere at the Universal City Walk IMAX theatre was nuts. Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood were there with mad paparazzi in the areas. The red carpet was visited by Verne Troyer (Mini-Me), Jack Ozbourne (rich), and Gabrielle Reese (Hot) to name a few. Athlete wise Bob Burnquist, Ryan Nyquist, Nasty Nas Nastazio, Bucky Lasek, Carey Hart, Jason Ellis and Brian Deegan, complete with requisite Mulisha representation, were also on hand. Every one of them had big grins on there faces when they walked out of that theatre. I don't need to tell you that those are some hard dudes to please.

What is a movie of this proportion going to mean for action sports? Big things, even if it's just the size of the screen.

And don't forget for an exclusive look behind the scenes of the premiere, complete with the red carpet stroll, check out the May 17th air of EXPN 2 Day.