There’s something about extreme sports films like this one that transport you back to the earliest days of the medium, what film studies academics call “the cinema of attraction”. Narrative isn’t the point here. Instead, the imagery itself is the draw, the footage of crazy-ass athletes doing nutso stuff such as jumping out of helicopters in nylon wingsuits like flying squirrels, free-diving among sharks or surfing waves of unimaginable proportions.
Director Thierry Donard is a dab hand at all this, and knows how the package the thrill ride-alongs with synth-heavy music of wonder and little talking-head snippets of reflection from the athletes. There are times when it almost risks turning into a big advert for GoPro cameras and the participants’ egos, and you may need to stifle thoughts about the essential pointlessness of it all in order to enjoy the trip, but as sheer spectacle it’s undoubtedly impressive stuff.
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