Lords of Dogtown [M]

Stacy Peralta, Tony Alva, and Jay Adams are three ragtag teenage surfers from California. As well as riding the waves, the boys love pounding the pavement on their skateboards and soon make it into a skate team to compete in real competitions. Not conforming to the regular by-the book norm at their first competition, the boys display their street style of skateboarding: a fusion of surfing and skating and soon they reinvent the sport and turn it into a worldwide craze. But with the onslaught of fame and glory soon upon them, their friendship and loyalty to one another starts to crumble. 

I’ve a friend who was rather epically shocked to learn that I had never seen this movie before, so to calm her down I watched it. The truth is that this movie never held any interest for me whatsoever. I’m not a grungy type, I’m not a sporting type, and I’m definitely not the skating type like my friend and brother are so, for all the reasons why they love this movie, I was not sold. To really love it, you’ve got to be interested in the subject matter, like Moneyball. Having said that, Lords of Dogtown is not without its charms. 

Stacy Peralta, Tony Alva, and Jay Adams are three ragtag teenage surfers from California. As well as riding the waves, the boys love pounding the pavement on their skateboards and soon make it into a skate team to compete in real competitions. Not conforming to the regular by-the book norm at their first competition, the boys display their street style of skateboarding: a fusion of surfing and skating and soon they reinvent the sport and turn it into a worldwide craze. But with the onslaught of fame and glory soon upon them, their friendship and loyalty to one another starts to crumble. 

Based on the true story of the legendary Z-Boys, Lord of Dogtown has quite a few things going for it. Firstly, the cinematography is great. The slightly darker, grungy, sports coverage style in which the movie is filmed really conveys the passion and the love that these boys feel for the sport. Even if you’re not into the whole skating craze, like me, you cannot help but keep your eyes on the screen, completely mesmerised by the way the camera, the soundtrack, and the script capture the feeling of living in squalor and absolutely relishing in it. By extension on that note, the movie is very inclusive because it lets the audience feel what the characters feel. 

As to the performances, they were all brilliant. This movie is packed with heaps of mature themes and messages about life, loyalty, and corruption and every single member of the cast delivered memorable and dramatic performances that made it all the more difficult to remove your eyes from the screen. 

Starring Emile Hirsch, Victor Rasuk, John Robinson, Michael Angarano, Heath Ledger, and Johnny Knoxville, Lord of Dogtown is great film packed with shredding extreme sports, drama, and friendship. The whole subject matter may not be my thing, but that didn’t put a damper on my appreciation and opinion of this movie.