Ultimate X - The Movie

The X Games has become a phenomenon worldwide in the last few years. taking extreme sports and putting them into the public eye. The first ever X Games contained sports such as bungee jumping, skateboarding and mountain biking. The sports were not really recognised as such at the time, but captured the viewing public’s imagination, mainly because of the mishaps. Since its humble beginnings it has gone on to establish itself as one of the most watched sporting events on television. Names such as skateboarder Tony Hawk and BMX rider Dave Mirra have become household names and now make a huge income from endorsements and computer games, becoming the idols of many youngsters.

"Gnarly!"

Made by the U.S. cable network ESPN, this feature captures the events of the 2001 X Games. Sports covered here include skateboarding, BMX, street luge and Moto X. There are also small segments on inline skating, but these are minimal. The biggest names in each sport are here, there’s Tony Hawk, Bob Burnquist and Bucky Lasek from skateboarding, David Rogers from street luge, Dave Mirra from BMX and Travis Pastrana from Moto X, to name but a few.

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Although skateboarding may be classed as the most popular of sports covered here, the highlight for me is the Moto X. To see these guys go a hundred feet in the air, let go of the motorbike, remount it and land safely is an amazing feat of skill and ability. This is not to underestimate the skill and ability of the other sports, simply a personal preference. To also see Tony Hawk attempt and finally achieve the 900 trick is just awesome.

Those who like thrills and spills will not be disappointed with this release. Along with the many successful attempts at tricks there are plenty of crashes. Many of the competitors recount their injuries with numerous broken bones. This would be enough to put many off continuing, but these guys seem to have no fear and eventually achieve their goals.

The main feature has a rather brief running time of only 37:40, but don’t let that put you off. It has an alternate version along with a ton of extras to make this a worthy purchase for those who love the X Games concept. Extreme sports are exciting and require a lot of talent and practice to perform. This release features the best there is in the specified sports and is great entertainment. Even those who love the spills and thrills on home video shows should find enough enjoyment here to warrant a rental.

Picture for this release is supplied in full frame and quite a nice one it is, too. There is occasional evidence of grain, but nothing too major. Colours are strong throughout and look natural. Shadow detail is also quite strong and there is no major sign of edge enhancement. Aliasing is rare and doesn’t cause any major problems. There are a swag of subtitles supplied and these are reasonably accurate to what occurs on screen.

A choice of four audio options are supplied with this release, English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and DTS 5.1 surround are backed by Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks in Czech and Hungarian. Both English tracks were sampled and both sound terrific. Apart from interviews with the stars of the feature, all the action is backed by some pumping music and this sounds wonderful. Music is supplied by artists such as Pennywise, The Full Nine and 3rd Strike to name but a few and although they may not be household names to everyone, their music suits this feature very well. Dialogue is clear at all times with no synch problems to speak of. Surround use is extensive with some great use to emphasise the music as well as directional effect. The subwoofer gets a solid workout on both surround tracks, but again the preferred choice would have to be the DTS one, offering a very solid soundtrack.

Quite a few extras accompany this release, many of which are footage from the main feature but placed here for easy selection.

Ultimate Interactive Version
Selecting this option simply allows the viewer to watch the normal feature with icons appearing intermittently. When these icons appear you simply click to be taken to additional footage relating to the part of the feature you are watching. These extras are informative and entertaining and give the main feature a new angle.

The remaining extras are broken up into four categories. Here goes...

Skateboarding
In this section there are features on three of the world’s best known skateboarders. Each has their own selection of featurettes as listed below and each contains interviews and footage with the relevant star.

Tony Hawk
This section contains the featurettes Profile, Medal Moment, Medal Moment: Hawk & MacDonald and 1999 X Games Skateboarding Best Trick. This last feature show Hawk’s several attempts and final success at completing the 900.

Bob Burnquist
This section contains the featurettes Profile, Medal Moment, Bucky & Bob and Trick Breakouts. The highlight here is Bob’s “in the zone� run where he scored a 9.85.

Bucky Lasek
This section contains the featurettes Profile, Medal Moment, Bucky & Bob and Trick Breakouts. Much the same as the previous selection of featurettes, this collection offers more skateboarding prowess.

Easter Egg
To access this feature entitled Wrecks-Tra, please refer to our Easter Egg page.

Moto-X
In this section there are features on three of the world’s best moto-x riders. Each has their own selection of featurettes as listed below and each contains interviews and footage with the relevant star.

Travis Pastrana
This section contains the featurettes Profile, Medal Moment and Undefeated.

Brian Deegan
This section contains the featurettes Profile and Medal Moment.

Carey Hart
This section contains the featurettes Profile and Backflip.

Easter Egg
To access this feature entitled Wrecks-Tra, please refer to our Easter Egg page.

BMX
In this section there are features on three of the world’s best BMX riders. Each has their own selection of featurettes as listed below and each contains interviews and footage with the relevant star.

Cory Nastazio
This section contains the featurette Profile.

T.J Lavin
This section contains the featurettes Profile and Medal Moment.

Ryan Nyquist
This section contains the featurettes Profile, Medal Moment and Trick Breakouts.

Stephen Murray
This section contains the featurette Profile.

Dave Mirra
This section contains the featurettes Profile, Medal Moment and Trick Breakouts.

BMX-Tras
This section contains the featurettes 2001 Downhill Finals, BMX Dirt Stunt and BMX Legends.

Easter Egg
To access this feature entitled Wrecks-Tra, please refer to our Easter Egg page.

Street Luge
In this section there is one feature on the world’s best street luger. There is a featurette as listed below that contains interviews and footage with the star.

David Rogers
This section contains the featurettes Profile, Medal Moment, Street Luge and Vuja De.

X-Gallery Mega Mix
This section contains a collection of music tracks backing various sports elements. The track listing is;

Old School
This featurette takes a look at where it all began and has a running time of 4:34.

Hits and Misses
As the title suggests, this featurette looks at the highs and lows of extreme sports.

Broken Bones
Extreme sports get their name for being dangerous, this featurette looks at the many broken bones that can be attained through the competitor’s bravery – or should that be stupidity?

Girls of the Games
This is not a look at scantily clad girls who go to watch the boys, this is about the girls that compete. They show they can match it with the boys in this featurette that runs for 3:37.

Bonus Material Song List
Contained here are five text pages of songs. It is a good reference for any song you may have heard during the feature and would like to add to the collection.

Lastly there is a hidden DVD Credits page. This doesn’t really qualify as an Easter Egg so no need to venture to the Easter Egg page for this one.

Great entertainment! This is a must for fans of the sports contained and well worth a look for those with a passing interest. The action is non-stop and although the running time is brief, there is a multitude of extras to make it worth adding to the collection. The picture and sound quality are very strong so check it out!