If being deposited atop a steep mountaintop with only a snowboard under your arm is your idea of fun, then “First Descent” will provide two hours of enjoyment. Mixed with sheer terror.
I guess this documentary wants to do for snowboarding what “Endless Summer” did for surfing and “Dogtown and Z-Boys” did for skateboarding. It fails to reach the classic status of those docs, but it does provide some heart-stopping shots of snow-crazed lunatics seeking thrills.
| Too ambitious: A documentary about snowboarding that has some amazing footage but tries to do too much, cramming in the history of the sport alongside a daredevil trip to the Alaskan backcountry.
Rated: PG-13 rating is for language Now showing: Loews at Alderwood, Meridian |
It begins with a group of people deposited atop a steep mountaintop, with only snowboards under their arms. Well, it had to, right? We then jump back to find out how they got there.
The filmmakers induced a group of the world’s most prominent snowboarders to invade the backcountry of Alaska (their base is Valdez). This pilgrimage includes elder statesmen such as 40-year-old Shawn Farmer, whose wild youthful antics have given way to the dazed glaze of the aging surfer dude, and Norwegian legend Terje Haakonsen. Terje is held in considerable awe by the others, at least as much for his steely personality as his fearlessness on the slopes.
If Haakonsen is the Clint Eastwood of the group, taciturn and narrow-eyed, then 18-year-old Shaun White is their Leo DiCaprio, the young hotshot and new poster boy for the sport. He’s joined in youthful ditzyness by Hannah Teter, the only female member of the group.
The film provides biographical flashbacks for each of its participants. And if that weren’t enough flashing back, it also provides a history of snowboarding.
The history traces boarding from an annoyance to serious skiers in the 1980s, when snowboarding was still banned at many ski resorts, to its great boom in the ’90s (after resort owners realized snowboarding was creating a whole new consumer base and higher revenues).
Snowboarding joined the Olympic Games in 1998, although Haakonsen declined to participate, citing his disapproval of countries in competition. But given the popularity of the event in 2002 in Salt Lake, it looks like it’s here to stay.
All these flashbacks are too much. “First Descent” keeps jerking us away from the daredevil Alaska story, losing momentum and padding out its running time to 110 minutes.
There’s also the grind of spending time with people whose vocabulary consists mostly of variations on the word “gnarly.” However, I was interested in the adjective “avalanche-y,” which is probably one of those words you never want to hear in the mountains.
The footage redeems some of it. There are many amazing jumps, and one stunning overhead shot of a boarder hitting a slope and having an avalanche begin beneath his feet. And that, my friends, is gnarly.
Triple world champion Terje Haakonsen blazes a ridge trail in the sports documentary “First Descent.”
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