Nitro Circus: The Movie

A group of men jump off ramps on motorcycles, on skateboards, on a tricycle and on anything else that can be thought of. Travis Pastrana is a motocross champion and is at the centre of the group. The programme is simple: they have an idea, they prepare the machine, they jump, and usually they crash. The film watches this. A swing goes off a huge ramp, a sofa is launched, a jump is made in a wheelbarrow. There are serious injuries among them. Then the next idea comes and nobody stops. Gregg Godfrey directs with Jeremy Rawle. Travis Pastrana, Jolene Van Vugt and the rest of the crew are in it. It is an American production, shot in three dimensions. Nitro Circus became known first through online videos and a television programme; the film is that work carried to the cinema. The narrative builds no story; the sections are ordered by stunt. Real accidents happen during the filming and the film shows them. There are short passages about the relations between the crew but they do not go deep. The film was made for the audience of these shows and gives no context to anyone outside it. The three dimensions were chosen to show the height of the stunts. Its limit is structure; there is no narrative, the sections repeat, and the ending is only another display. Who it is for: viewers who like extreme sports shows and stunt videos. Who it is not for: it has no story, it repeats, and it makes dangerous behaviour look inviting.