CW: race, gender

How completely unexpected.

A film about a skateboarding punk from 1989 should not have this much to say about race. It's not a sterling, complex view of race, certainly, but it exceeds all expectations by having even a little nuance. Racism is called out when it's overt! In-character and by the film's perceptions! The villains are anti-communist?! A funeral for a Vietnamese kid raised by white people acknowledges cultural differences for his funeral. Sure, there's still problems here--white cops abusing Vietnamese suspects' rights, for one thing, and a brief subplot that doesn't explicitly use the phrase "reverse racism" but is sympathetic to that ridiculous canard--but it's far more than I expected from what I thought would be…

20-year-old Christian Slater skates his way through the whole movie as this 16-year-old kid investigates the death of his adopted Vietnamese brother. As with every thriller like this, there are some twists and turns, some bad guys, some good guys, a romance, and a lot of skating. They apparently had a skating technical advisor and a few big names from the scene.

The film has its moments and I guess the skating stuff is okay and somewhat original. It ain’t nowhere near close to what RAD did for BMX; it could have definitely used more campiness as its tonally uneven. Slater does his best to bring some charm, but honestly, that wasn’t enough. The soundtrack was good.

All in all,…

Teen skateboarder/political thriller crossover is very much a product of its time—strip malls, Pizza Hut, gnarly boards, Christian Slater, skate ramps, pool skating, palm tree silhouettes with an orange sun sparkling behind it, murder, communism, intrigue, and a Vietnamese weapons smuggling ring with a video store as a front.

This movie was pretty awesome but before I get into that I gotta throw this out there... I don’t really like bmx bikes or bmx movies... there’s a part in this movie when Slater ‘cleans up his act’ and leaves behind his scummy skater punk look for a clean cut preppie style and starts riding a bike (before switching back to the board) and although his character was cool that whole…

Skatin ramps. Skatin pools. Skatin chases. Skatin dudes down Kung-fu style. Skatin on the back of cars. Skatin over cars. Skatin down freeways. Skatin to Pizza Hut. Christian Slater looking cool as hell in a Cramps shirt? Hell yeah. 

When you think you’re getting a chill skate hangout, well you get so much more! Murder, intrigue, crime, communism, capitalism. There’s definitely a prerequisite of liking or relating to the culture before jumping on. This has seventh grade all over it like finding NOFX for the first time. It’s both great and not good, but it’s exactly what your little thirteen year old converse feet need. 🎶Don’t call me white 🎶 Also, If you don’t wanna date or BE Slater then walk away,…