Lords of Dogtown

When I first heard this film was being made, I was very excited because, despite being about 10 years too late, grew up inspired by the Z-Boys through the writings and photographs of C.R. Stecyk and Glen E. Friedman. Adams, Alva and Peralta are the three most important skateboarders ever. Heck... I have a Jay Adams tattoo portrait.

Then I had second thoughts fearing the Hollywood-ization of their story. I thought the drama of their tough lives in Venice would likely be glamorized and exploited with much of the truth unbelievably stretched. But I wasn't their to witness it, so I asked someone who was part of the Dogtown skate scene and friends with those the film is about, and he said that is exactly what the movie.

He also told me that if you're familiar with the true story or have even just seen the documentary (Dogtown & the Z-Boys), then the movie will just come off corny. But if you go into not expecting an intelligent film and just a fun movie, you may get just that. So I saw it today think it would be just that, and it was.

The skate scenes were all right, but excited me by striking up thoughts of the truth of it all. The aggressiveness of Ledger's portrayal of Skip Enblom seemed cheesy and over the top. The kids who played Peralta and Alva weren't terrible, too, but Emile Hirsch did a good job as Jay Adams. And I'm confused at who this Chino guy is. I'm guessing it's supposed to be Zephyr shop owner Jeff Ho who wouldn't have anything to do with the film.

It was funny to see cameos by Alva, Adams, Peralta, Skip and Bob Biniak. Tony Hawk's cameo was uncalled for. But overall, the film was enjoyable, especially by all everyone else in the theater, considering I was the only one above the age of 17 it seemed. And it's great to see the legend of these guys be spread to new generations, especially with skateboarding as popular than ever. I think all new skaters should recognize their roots.

I just hope people will make the effort to at least see the documentary and hopefully pick up Stecyk and Friedman's "Dogtown - The Legend of the Z-Boys" book and read all the original Skateboarder magazine stories and images. That can't be beat.

I will start out by saying that I really do love this movie, but I'm not here to rant and rave about it. This movie is fascinating to me because I do love the skate culture and seeing a movie about characters who started modern skating was, as I said, fascinating. However, I realize that most of the world doesn't think that. With that in mind, I will continue. This movie is not a documentary about skating!!! If you want a documentary then check out Dogtown and Z-Boys directed by a Z-boy himself. It is full of stories about how the Zephyr team came to be and the way life was in Venice Beach at the time. I personally love the documentary as well, but Lords of Dogtown is not meant to be a Hollywood representation of the documentary. If you are looking for that, DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE!!! Lords of Dogtown is meant to be a story about the characters that fills in the gaps the documentary leaves about how these people felt, mainly Jay Adams, Stacy Peralta, and Tony Alva. The camera angles are not straightforward, the cinematography is rough, and its not a cookie cutter film. But that, in my opinion, is why it works so well. A lot of the Z-Boys themselves were on staff for this movie and helped to make it as authentic as it could be while still holding the attention of movie-goers. These guys were very impressed with the way the film was produced and, for the most part, were very pleased with how it represented the time. If you love skate culture then chances are you will fall in love with this movie like I did. Even my parents, who are definitely not into the skate culture or the 70's, still enjoyed this movie and were interested about the documentary afterwards. This movie definitely made me more interested in what skating was all about and I can't get enough about these guys now. I highly recommend this movie as well as Dogtown and Z-Boys.

This film charts the rise of the legendary "Z-Boys" of California: Tony Alva (Victor Rasuk), Stacy Peralta (John Robinson), and Jay Adams (Emile Hirsch). After they go to work for board designer Skip Engblom (Heath Ledger), they pioneer a new style of skateboarding that wins them lots of success and acclaim. Of course, as is often the case, this fame is not without some costs. Stacy (who wrote the screenplay) emerges as the most even-keeled of the trio, while Tony gets a fairly swelled head.

"Lords of Dogtown" will surely resonate most for those people who came of age and forged their friendships in the 1970s, as well as all aficionados of the sport of skateboarding. For this viewer, it took a while to really grab hold, because it suffered from some excess. There's more footage than is really necessary of characters indulging in various forms of bad behaviour. Fortunately, as we actually see some humanity and humility from some of the principals, the story becomes more engaging. The hyperactive camera-work and quick cuts are distracting at first, but it's hard to argue with a soundtrack as cool as this one. There's one great rock song of the era after another. The moves performed by the actors' stunt doubles do provide some pretty good thrills.

The cast is fine and full of familiar faces: Rasuk, Robinson, and Hirsch are very well supported by Ledger, whose colourful performance is most welcome, and performers such as Rebecca De Mornay (always nice to see her in anything), Johnny Knoxville, William Mapother, Julio Oscar Mechoso, Nikki Reed, Pablo Schreiber, Elden Henson, Michael Angarano, Mitch Hedberg, America Ferrera, Sofia Vergara, Charles Napier, Bai Ling, Shea Whigham, Joel McHale, and Alexis Arquette. The real Tony Alva, Stacy Peralta, and Jay Adams have cameos, as does Tony Hawk; Jeremy Renner appears unbilled.

Overall, a decent snapshot of the L.A. skateboarding and surfing scene throughout the 1970s, with text at the end telling us what became of the principals.

Peralta also directed the documentary feature "Dogtown and Z-Boys".

Seven out of 10.

It was the seventies Sam. Materialism was making a comeback. For poor kids this was a way out of the dead end they saw in their future, so many of them jumped at the chance for a corporate sponsor. Watch the documentary. These were real people. Most of the events happened in some fashion to the team members, but to make it a more cohesive story, Peralta put it into one year and focused on the three main characters for the movie. Put the Dogtown and Z-boys documentary on and watch for how well they all match the mannerisms of the real people they are portraying. They also had to be convincing skating and in some scenes surfing. Watch the movie again with Peralta and Alva's commentary running and you will see and hear how close they got it to the real life these guys had. How can you say Emile Hirsch is one dimensional? John Robinson does most of his own skating. Peralta himself doubles for the multiple 360s in the Delmar contest scene. The real Alva does some as well. I've never even skated, but I lived through the seventies and I thought it was like stepping back into the past. Very convincing. The only thing I would have done differently would be to develop Wentzle's character more-he is a hoot in the documentary.

I grew up in California and this movie REALLY brought me back to the 70's and what was happening in the skateboard world. The actors were totally on mark with their portrayals of these guys and how things were back then in California at that time. I'm a girl and I was into skateboarding at that time. I saved my own money to buy my own boards. I even remember my mom came home one day and gave me an article from a magazine about Alva. I met him later in the 80's and he's a very down to earth guy. If you grew up in Cali at this time, you will LOVE this movie and if you didn't you will get the true idea of what it was like then. Awesome job guys on this film! A definite classic!