I'm gonna be totally honest, I liked this movie a lot, but it wasn't quite what I expected - or what I hoped for. First Descent's biggest problem is that it can't decide whether or not it's a history of snowboarding, or a movie focusing on six snowboarders, including legend Shaun Farmer and current superstar Shaun White, going freeboarding in the Alaskan mountains. It's footage is spectacular, particularly that of former world champ Travis Rice as he races to outrun an avalanche he's accidentally triggered, but I guess I had hoped to learn more about the boarders and their motivations than I did. The history was truncated more than just a little bit, but was enough to whet the appetite a bit.
My experience in seeing it was marred by a middle aged couple sitting across the isle from my fiancée and I, talking loudly and being generally obnoxious. They seemed either drunk or high, or both, but it was very distracting.
As a huge fan of Senor Blanco (and others), I definitely enjoyed the movie enough to recommend it to other boarders or boarding fans (I fall into the latter category), and will most certainly pick up the DVD when it's released. I enjoyed the glimpse into the way White thinks, even though I would have liked more of that part of the movie and less of the "history". If you're not a snowboard fan, however, you may find yourself bored to the max. The movie slows to a crawl at times. Overall, though, it wasn't a bad little film, and I can recommend it for fans of the sport.
On my Popcorn scale, it gets 3 1/2 out of five popcorn boxes, and a medium salt rating for action and language.
My experience in seeing it was marred by a middle aged couple sitting across the isle from my fiancée and I, talking loudly and being generally obnoxious. They seemed either drunk or high, or both, but it was very distracting.
As a huge fan of Senor Blanco (and others), I definitely enjoyed the movie enough to recommend it to other boarders or boarding fans (I fall into the latter category), and will most certainly pick up the DVD when it's released. I enjoyed the glimpse into the way White thinks, even though I would have liked more of that part of the movie and less of the "history". If you're not a snowboard fan, however, you may find yourself bored to the max. The movie slows to a crawl at times. Overall, though, it wasn't a bad little film, and I can recommend it for fans of the sport.
On my Popcorn scale, it gets 3 1/2 out of five popcorn boxes, and a medium salt rating for action and language.