Bones Brigade (Peralta and Powell, 2011): U.S.A.

Reviewed by Jose De Anda. Viewed at the SBIFF 2012.

This film is a documentary about a skating crew known as the Bones Brigade. Members of the crew include legends like Steve Caballero, Tony Hawk and Rodney Mullen. These guys revolutionized and basically created the sport of skating. The film follows the story of how Powell and Peralta recruit and integrate the Bones Brigade.

The crew consisted of Lance Mountain, Mike Vallely, Bucky Lasek, Andy Macdonald, Hawk, Caballero and Rodney Mullen as well as many more. Each rider was interesting especially Lance Mountain.

Lance Mountain was on the team for one reason, because he truly loved the sport not because he was a top skater. This in itself is a very valuable lesson that is later in the movie further developed by Rodney Mullen and Tony Hawk. The lesson is do things because you love them, not to be good at it.

This lesson is revisited when it covers the low point in the careers of Tony Hawk and Rodney Mullen. These are two of the greatest skaters of all time. Guys that never lost. Then they started losing. This was a very valuable lesson. Both of them said they quit skating when they couldn’t win anymore. They later got back on the board and said they enjoyed it even more when they stopped doing it to compete, but that they were just riding for fun, for the love of the sport.

The story told through Hawk and Mullen of what to do in the face of adversity is awesome. They also taught the lesson of what to do in the face of failure and adversity and the answer was beautifully simple just get back on the freaking board.

I really liked this film, it was inspiring. I loved watching guys I grew up watching just tell the story of how they created the sport loved my so many people, especially around these parts of the country. I would watch this movie again anytime.