X Games 3D: The Review

You wouldn’t think a giant corporation such as ESPN would be able to create a movie that succinctly sums up the passions involved in action sports. A 90-minute experience that could make anyone understand exactly why we all got into them in the first place. And you know what? You’d be right. X Games 3D: The Movie was so far from being about action sports it’s hard to believe they were even a part of it.

The film follows several of the X Games’s “stars” through their journey to perform on the self-proclaimed biggest and most important stage in the world, two years ago. The only thing more prevalent than Taco Bell logos was the manufactured drama, intensified to bring the viewer into the journey of Shaun White, Ricky Charmichael, Travis Pastrana, Kyle Loza, Bob Burnquist and Danny Way (who were grouped into one mega skate segment.) And maybe, if you didn’t know anything about action sports or care about them, it would work. Maybe.

Like the events and shows themselves, this movie was obviously not created for enthusiasts of the included sports. The belief of the X Games itself is enthusiasts will watch anyway; it’s more important to grab the NASCAR or NFL fan as they are flipping through. The way they do this is to create stories around who will beat who, and other things action sports really have little to do with. Like it or not, 15 years later, it seems to be working. But in the movie this overboard drama was taken one step further, to a point where it was almost unreal.

Now obviously, for the top athletes at the X Games, the action sports experience is different than for say, you and I. And competition, winning, and being the best does play a large role in it. But even for the Shaun White’s and Danny Way’s of the world, these are activities that are done for fun. The film gets so caught up in trying to tell these dramatic tales of the importance of X Games victory, it forgets to put across this message at all, and this is one of its greatest failings. It makes all the sports look like a great activity for jocks, and lord know we don’t need anymore of those around!

But X Games 3D’s greatest offense is that it is at least 80% recycled X Games footage. You know, the stuff they showed live on TV, two years ago. Add in some dramatic and cheesy voiceovers, do a 3D effect so everyone gets a headache, and you have this movie. While there were a few really cool behind the scenes shots at the riders’ training facilities, and a handful of times the 3D was really visually exciting, over all I left feeling like I’d just watched the X Games, and not been able to turn off the TV.

X Games 3D: The Movie is only in theatres for one week, starting August 21^nd, so the good news is, you won’t even have to try that hard to miss it.