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I’ve never been a skateboarder, but I’ve always been jealous of them. With a just a board and four wheels they can fly through the air and push the limits of what we think is possible. So when I saw this trailer about a couple of brazen Aussies who come to America, tear up the skateboarding world and go on a tragic journey in the process, I was hooked.

Tas and Ben Pappas are brothers who grew up watching American skateboarding movies and dream of going to America to compete. The difference between them and most, is that they put in the time and had the drive and talent to do it. Tas is the older brother who is kind of a determined work horse and Ben is the younger brother who is a little more easy going and seems to be a natural. They begin competing, do very well and start to pick up some sponsorships.

As soon as Tas finishes school and saves enough money, he heads to America. Immediately he hooks up with some of the biggest names in professional skateboarding and and his abilities explode. Unfortunately his partying really takes off at this point as well. Soon after, his brother comes to America and they work their way up to through the ranks to become the NUMBER 1 AND 2 RANKED SKATERS IN THE WORLD. Tas is injured during a competition in which he beats Tony Hawk and is told to take some time off. However, instead of laying at home in bed he ramps up his parting even further. Due to hard living and the brash personality of Tas, things begin to slowly fall apart for the brothers.

Ben who had seemed to be the more level headed of the two, slips up and is caught at the airport trying to take cocaine back into Australia. This is kind of the beginning of the end of the fairytale for these two. Because of the drug charge, Ben is not allowed to travel back to America, and the brothers who always had each others back are now separated. After this event the brothers face a series of tragedies mostly surrounding drug abuse. In the end, there is some redemption but the message is clear – drugs destroyed great potential.

This movie was both compelling and heartbreaking. It was also very interesting to see Tas’ take on the whole skate scene including the X-Games and in particular Tony Hawk who is played as sort of a villain. I read up a little bit on this and it definitely may have been exaggerated by Tas’ but as he says at the beginning of the movie “There are three sides to every story, my side, your side and the truth.”

I would recommend this movie to anyone interested in skate culture and people driven documentaries.

Reviewed by: Phillip Lane on September 5, 2015