Reel Critics

Terri Simonis, Derek Ruhland, Sean Ruhland

The action in Touchstone Pictures’ ESPN’s “Ultimate X” was fast. Too

fast. When the movie ended just 30 quick minutes after it started, I

stared at my $9 ticket stub and shook my head. It was a thrill ride and

it had an E-ticket price.

Directors of photography, Reed Smoot, Rodney Taylor and C. Mitchell

Amundsen were able to capture and transmit the exhilaration of a

firsthand experience of ESPN’s Summer X Games in Philadelphia to the

giant screen.

The BMX bikes seemed to leap off the screen over my head. I felt as if

I were on a street luge twisting and turning down a hay-bale lined hill

at breakneck speed. I had to close my eyes because I got dizzy.

When motocrosser, Carey Hart missed his back flip and landed hard, I

hurt. It was punishing to watch skateboarder, Tony Hawk practice and

miss, practice and miss again his 900 and electrifying to watch him land

it successfully in competition. Interviews with the competitors and the

fans had me wondering whether it is a prerequisite to be thick-tongued

and half-witted in order to be a competitive stunt athlete. And when

motocross riders, Travis Pastrana and Mat Hoffman started counting their

history of broken bones, internal bleeding and concussions in voice-over

to clips of falls and crashes, I knew that the athletes had to be

recklessly committed to continue competing and to claim it’s worth it. If

you are willing to pay the price for this roller coaster, you’ll enjoy

the ride, however I want more for my money.

From Sean, 12: “Ultimate X” lacked substance. If the movie were

longer, it would have been way better. They could easily have expanded

the movie to include some of the other X game sports, like surfing and

all the winter sports instead of limiting it to skateboarding, BMX

biking, motocross and street luge. They should have named it “Ultimate X”

-- Summer.

Derek, 14: By all accounts “Ultimate X” was absolutely not worth the

money. It is action packed until it ends abruptly leaving you asking,

“That’s it?” This so-called “Extreme sports documentary” had unsatisfying

interviews and would have had a more accurate title if they called it an

“Extreme sport video clip procession” or an “Advertisement for the X

games.” The clips of the motocross were somewhat satisfying; and the

suspense of wondering “Is Tony Hawk going to land his 900?” was attention

grabbing, but again, only lasted for three minutes.

* SEAN RUHLAND, 12, is a seventh-grader at Marine View Middle School,

DEREK RUHLAND, 14, is a freshman at Huntington Beach High School, and

TERI SIMONIS, 41, is an office assistant for the city of Huntington

Beach.