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Extreme Days
Spartan Home Entertainment // PG // February 5, 2002
List Price: $29.95 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
If the word 'extreme' is used in a movie title, it's invariably either hardcore porn or sports for the Mountain Dew generation. Extreme Days is a Christianity-tinged flick, so it's obviously not going to be the former. Younger members of the church-going public have been crying out for years -- "for the love of You, please package together Christianity and extreme sports!" -- and a higher power has finally answered their prayers. No, not God...an executive at Providence Entertainment, one of the distributors of The Omega Code stateside, again dipping its feet into the Godsploitation genre. Writer/director Eric Hannah apparently wasn't satisfied by Providence's best known project, eschewing its faux-dramatic action and the very presence of Casper Van Dien. No, he wouldn't settle for anything less than...EXTREME!
Two aspects of my personal life should be apparent to those who continually subject themselves to my semi-coherent DVD rants. First, I hate sports with a passion. Even when I was a young, impressionable lad and spent every waking hour outdoors, I avoided picking up, tossing, kicking, or catching a ball whenever possible. I don't think I've watched a complete game of any sport since 1996. Extreme sports I avoid with extreme caution. I lack anything approximating coordination, and I haven't stepped foot on a skateboard since the tender age of 9. (Despite the childish quality of many of my reviews, I haven't been nine for quite some time now.) Anyway, second, I'm agnostic. I have no interest in religion whatsoever, aside from the camp value of keeping on TBN for the occasional glimpse of well-coiffed überhottie Jan Crouch. All of this, it should go without saying, undoubtedly makes me the natural choice to review a movie blending Christianity and extreme sports.
Extreme Days features four lifelong friends -- Corey (Dante Brasco), Bryan (Ryan Browning), Will (A.J. Buckley), and Matt (Derek Hamilton) -- who have finished up an extended stint at a junior college. Since childhood, they'd dreamed of going on a road trip to take in some of the EXTREME sights North America has to offer. After spending a summer to get the required cash, the four friends pool their money and set out in their "Joyota" for the sand and surf of Mexico. While there, Corey gets a phone call from his stepfather, cutting their trip short with the news that his grandfather has passed away. Grandfather Gee was like a godfather to the group, and they all decide to head up to Washington to pay their respects. Their enthusiasm isn't deflated by Corey's stepfather mentioning that a considerable amount of money was set aside for his favorite grandson. Even though they don't have enough dough for a round-trip, cash shouldn't be an issue once they arrive in The Evergreen State. While making a pit stop, Bryan spots a lovely girl in a pickle with her broken-down truck and insufficient funds. Even the gallant fellow, he offers to give her a ride and is quickly shot down. It's revealed that she's Matt's cousin (along with all the grease monkeys), and the similarly-Washington-bound Jessie (Cassidy Rae) joins the group as the obligatory female love interest. The usual road trip mainstays -- comedy, action, romance, and just a (sniffles!) hint of drama -- are all present as the five of them make their way north, stopping occasionally for some EXTREME sports excitement.
I'm sure that I've overexaggerated the Christian elements of Extreme Days somewhat in this review. I had pre-conceived notions about the film, which was produced by a company called Truth Soul Armor, if that's any indication. Extreme Day is undoubtedly a Christian movie, though those elements are more thematic and rarely come in the way of preaching by its primary characters. God is only mentioned outright twice that I can recall -- once when Jessie tells Corey how she dealt with grief years earlier, and again in a doughnut shop when Bryan talks about how God ignored his cries for help when his older sister was on her deathbed. The doughnut shop scene is the most blatant indicator of its religious origins, though even then it wasn't in the expected "as we learned from Someguy in Whatever 4:13..." sort of way. The Bible isn't mentioned at all, and references to the Man Upstairs are few. It may be too much for those who tend to avoid such material, yet too little for religious teenagers looking for more secular entertainment. Extreme Days pushes Christian values and morals far more than religion specifically, though again not in too heavy-handed a manner. To name a few, there's talk of respecting one's convictions, why God would let good people suffer, pre-marital sex, and giving to those less fortunate. These portions aren't excessively corny, but I couldn't help but laugh at one point where Corey doles food out to a down-on-their-luck family sitting outside a grocery store. He stars with pudding (?), taking items out one by one before giving them the whole bag and triumphantly making his way back to the Joyota. Mmm-hmm.
Extreme Days may run for 93 minutes, but it seems more like an hour movie padded to feature length. Much of the group's journey goes something like, "...and then we stopped in [well-known city associated with a particular extreme sport] and some people [extreme sport activity in the form of a verb]." The majority of the footage of surfing, biking, skating, and snowboarding isn't of the primary characters. Most of the surfing shots, despite what's said on the commentary, don't appear to be from the past fifteen years. These segments run excessively long and don't feel like they belong in the final product in this form. There is also a fair amount of camcorder footage, which director Eric Hannah states was done to give the film a more authentic, natural feel. That may have been the reasoning behind its inclusion, but it seems improvised, random, and superfluous. These moments don't offer character development, humor, sports action, or really much of anything other than kids walking around and laughing.
The film is constantly winking at the audience, well-aware that it's a campfest. There is even one drawn-out sequence where the kids fight another group for the use of a campground, complete with Sunday afternoon kung-fu dubbing and exaggerated sound effects accompanying every punch and kick. For a movie that's pushing Christian values, having people fight to resolve a somewhat meaningless conflict seems strange, even if it's played for laughs. The more dramatic moments, which includes a She's All That-style bet with more of a sexual twist, fall flat, proving that Extreme Days can be funny even when unintended.
I probably sound like my opinion of Extreme Days isn't very high. I'm certainly not part of the demographic towards which it's geared, at least. There's no doubt that Extreme Days has some fundamental problems, and it doesn't accomplish everything it sets out to do. Still, this is a goofy, fun film that would've played better if not for its half-hearted stabs at drama. I wouldn't object to sitting through Extreme Days again, which may not sound like glowing praise, but that puts it significantly above many of the DVDs I've reviewed. Extreme Days is not a great movie, but it has enough going for it to make a viewing more than tolerable.
Video: Extreme Days is letterboxed to an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and it stands ot as one of the best non-anamorphic presentations I've seen in quite a while. The image is razor-sharp and sports a very high level of detail, along with excellent shadow detail and vibrant, well-saturated colors. There are a couple of bits of dust and assorted specks, but nothing distracting or really even worth mentioning. The feature looks so great, in fact, that the presence of stock footage is glaring and looks grossly out of place. Some of the surfing shots look like there were shot on 16mm in 1968, transferred to video at some point in the mid-'80s, upconverted to 35mm for Extreme Days' theatrical run, then transferred back for this DVD.
I'm not really sure why, in this day and age, a company would choose not to enhance their letterboxed product for 16x9 televisions. If I have to sit through a non-anamorphic DVD, I'd prefer that it look like Extreme Days.
Audio: Extreme Days features a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. It's not the most dynamic, exciting mix, but this disc sounds nice enough. Surrounds are used primarily to reinforce the smattering of crunchy Christian rock tunes, as well as score contributions from composer Klaus Badelt and dc Talk frontman Toby McKeehan. Aside from music, use of the rears tends to be much more subtle. I paid particular attention during one paintball sequence, and I could hear the popping of gunfire and a panning vocal effect, though at such a low volume that I probably wouldn't have noticed otherwise. There's a respectable amount of bass, again generally associated with the music, though the subwoofer provides a healthy low-end kick with each paintball shot, the collision of snowboards, and other moments much along those same lines.
There are subtitles in English and Spanish, along with an English Dolby Surround track.
Supplements: Extreme Days features a commentary track with four of film's cast members. A lot of it's just laughing, comments on how crazy some of the stunts are, how great the music is, and how every single scene seems to be someone's favorite. There are a few good notes, though, such as Eric Hannah's direction for a mock-death scene ("Die! Die! Die!"), the first hotel being a former porn palace, and one of the stuntmen in the bike sequence breaking his back after trying to jump a canyon. They're clearly having a lot of fun, and this commentary is worth a listen for those who are interested.
Pax217, a band that's also briefly featured on-screen in Extreme Days, contributes a music video for "AM". The video alternates between low-res-Avid-export-quality clips from the film and performance footage shot on-set. A 23-minute special produced by ESPN features awkward interviews with the cast, interspersed with clips and brief comments on the performances of professional athletes in Huntington Beach.
Rounding out the supplements are director and cast filmographies, a theatrical trailer, and a TV spot.
Quick Warning: Extreme Days was a bear to get to play on my Toshiba SD-3109, as it kept locking up on the forced 'Public viewing is prohibited...' warning on repeated attempts. Just as I was preparing to move my portable Audiovox player to the living room and connect that sucker up to the VVega, incessant fiddling paid off and somehow managed to get the movie to play. I wasn't able to duplicate this problem on my DVD-ROM or Audiovox DVD-1500, but those interested in Extreme Days may want to give this disc a rental first to verify that it'll play without any issues.
Conclusion: Extreme Days is 93 minutes of campy fun on a well-produced (despite sporadic player incompatibility) DVD. It'd make for an entertaining rental, though its $29.99 list price may be off-putting to many potential viewers.
Two aspects of my personal life should be apparent to those who continually subject themselves to my semi-coherent DVD rants. First, I hate sports with a passion. Even when I was a young, impressionable lad and spent every waking hour outdoors, I avoided picking up, tossing, kicking, or catching a ball whenever possible. I don't think I've watched a complete game of any sport since 1996. Extreme sports I avoid with extreme caution. I lack anything approximating coordination, and I haven't stepped foot on a skateboard since the tender age of 9. (Despite the childish quality of many of my reviews, I haven't been nine for quite some time now.) Anyway, second, I'm agnostic. I have no interest in religion whatsoever, aside from the camp value of keeping on TBN for the occasional glimpse of well-coiffed überhottie Jan Crouch. All of this, it should go without saying, undoubtedly makes me the natural choice to review a movie blending Christianity and extreme sports.
Extreme Days features four lifelong friends -- Corey (Dante Brasco), Bryan (Ryan Browning), Will (A.J. Buckley), and Matt (Derek Hamilton) -- who have finished up an extended stint at a junior college. Since childhood, they'd dreamed of going on a road trip to take in some of the EXTREME sights North America has to offer. After spending a summer to get the required cash, the four friends pool their money and set out in their "Joyota" for the sand and surf of Mexico. While there, Corey gets a phone call from his stepfather, cutting their trip short with the news that his grandfather has passed away. Grandfather Gee was like a godfather to the group, and they all decide to head up to Washington to pay their respects. Their enthusiasm isn't deflated by Corey's stepfather mentioning that a considerable amount of money was set aside for his favorite grandson. Even though they don't have enough dough for a round-trip, cash shouldn't be an issue once they arrive in The Evergreen State. While making a pit stop, Bryan spots a lovely girl in a pickle with her broken-down truck and insufficient funds. Even the gallant fellow, he offers to give her a ride and is quickly shot down. It's revealed that she's Matt's cousin (along with all the grease monkeys), and the similarly-Washington-bound Jessie (Cassidy Rae) joins the group as the obligatory female love interest. The usual road trip mainstays -- comedy, action, romance, and just a (sniffles!) hint of drama -- are all present as the five of them make their way north, stopping occasionally for some EXTREME sports excitement.
I'm sure that I've overexaggerated the Christian elements of Extreme Days somewhat in this review. I had pre-conceived notions about the film, which was produced by a company called Truth Soul Armor, if that's any indication. Extreme Day is undoubtedly a Christian movie, though those elements are more thematic and rarely come in the way of preaching by its primary characters. God is only mentioned outright twice that I can recall -- once when Jessie tells Corey how she dealt with grief years earlier, and again in a doughnut shop when Bryan talks about how God ignored his cries for help when his older sister was on her deathbed. The doughnut shop scene is the most blatant indicator of its religious origins, though even then it wasn't in the expected "as we learned from Someguy in Whatever 4:13..." sort of way. The Bible isn't mentioned at all, and references to the Man Upstairs are few. It may be too much for those who tend to avoid such material, yet too little for religious teenagers looking for more secular entertainment. Extreme Days pushes Christian values and morals far more than religion specifically, though again not in too heavy-handed a manner. To name a few, there's talk of respecting one's convictions, why God would let good people suffer, pre-marital sex, and giving to those less fortunate. These portions aren't excessively corny, but I couldn't help but laugh at one point where Corey doles food out to a down-on-their-luck family sitting outside a grocery store. He stars with pudding (?), taking items out one by one before giving them the whole bag and triumphantly making his way back to the Joyota. Mmm-hmm.
Extreme Days may run for 93 minutes, but it seems more like an hour movie padded to feature length. Much of the group's journey goes something like, "...and then we stopped in [well-known city associated with a particular extreme sport] and some people [extreme sport activity in the form of a verb]." The majority of the footage of surfing, biking, skating, and snowboarding isn't of the primary characters. Most of the surfing shots, despite what's said on the commentary, don't appear to be from the past fifteen years. These segments run excessively long and don't feel like they belong in the final product in this form. There is also a fair amount of camcorder footage, which director Eric Hannah states was done to give the film a more authentic, natural feel. That may have been the reasoning behind its inclusion, but it seems improvised, random, and superfluous. These moments don't offer character development, humor, sports action, or really much of anything other than kids walking around and laughing.
The film is constantly winking at the audience, well-aware that it's a campfest. There is even one drawn-out sequence where the kids fight another group for the use of a campground, complete with Sunday afternoon kung-fu dubbing and exaggerated sound effects accompanying every punch and kick. For a movie that's pushing Christian values, having people fight to resolve a somewhat meaningless conflict seems strange, even if it's played for laughs. The more dramatic moments, which includes a She's All That-style bet with more of a sexual twist, fall flat, proving that Extreme Days can be funny even when unintended.
I probably sound like my opinion of Extreme Days isn't very high. I'm certainly not part of the demographic towards which it's geared, at least. There's no doubt that Extreme Days has some fundamental problems, and it doesn't accomplish everything it sets out to do. Still, this is a goofy, fun film that would've played better if not for its half-hearted stabs at drama. I wouldn't object to sitting through Extreme Days again, which may not sound like glowing praise, but that puts it significantly above many of the DVDs I've reviewed. Extreme Days is not a great movie, but it has enough going for it to make a viewing more than tolerable.
Video: Extreme Days is letterboxed to an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and it stands ot as one of the best non-anamorphic presentations I've seen in quite a while. The image is razor-sharp and sports a very high level of detail, along with excellent shadow detail and vibrant, well-saturated colors. There are a couple of bits of dust and assorted specks, but nothing distracting or really even worth mentioning. The feature looks so great, in fact, that the presence of stock footage is glaring and looks grossly out of place. Some of the surfing shots look like there were shot on 16mm in 1968, transferred to video at some point in the mid-'80s, upconverted to 35mm for Extreme Days' theatrical run, then transferred back for this DVD.
I'm not really sure why, in this day and age, a company would choose not to enhance their letterboxed product for 16x9 televisions. If I have to sit through a non-anamorphic DVD, I'd prefer that it look like Extreme Days.
Audio: Extreme Days features a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. It's not the most dynamic, exciting mix, but this disc sounds nice enough. Surrounds are used primarily to reinforce the smattering of crunchy Christian rock tunes, as well as score contributions from composer Klaus Badelt and dc Talk frontman Toby McKeehan. Aside from music, use of the rears tends to be much more subtle. I paid particular attention during one paintball sequence, and I could hear the popping of gunfire and a panning vocal effect, though at such a low volume that I probably wouldn't have noticed otherwise. There's a respectable amount of bass, again generally associated with the music, though the subwoofer provides a healthy low-end kick with each paintball shot, the collision of snowboards, and other moments much along those same lines.
There are subtitles in English and Spanish, along with an English Dolby Surround track.
Supplements: Extreme Days features a commentary track with four of film's cast members. A lot of it's just laughing, comments on how crazy some of the stunts are, how great the music is, and how every single scene seems to be someone's favorite. There are a few good notes, though, such as Eric Hannah's direction for a mock-death scene ("Die! Die! Die!"), the first hotel being a former porn palace, and one of the stuntmen in the bike sequence breaking his back after trying to jump a canyon. They're clearly having a lot of fun, and this commentary is worth a listen for those who are interested.
Pax217, a band that's also briefly featured on-screen in Extreme Days, contributes a music video for "AM". The video alternates between low-res-Avid-export-quality clips from the film and performance footage shot on-set. A 23-minute special produced by ESPN features awkward interviews with the cast, interspersed with clips and brief comments on the performances of professional athletes in Huntington Beach.
Rounding out the supplements are director and cast filmographies, a theatrical trailer, and a TV spot.
Quick Warning: Extreme Days was a bear to get to play on my Toshiba SD-3109, as it kept locking up on the forced 'Public viewing is prohibited...' warning on repeated attempts. Just as I was preparing to move my portable Audiovox player to the living room and connect that sucker up to the VVega, incessant fiddling paid off and somehow managed to get the movie to play. I wasn't able to duplicate this problem on my DVD-ROM or Audiovox DVD-1500, but those interested in Extreme Days may want to give this disc a rental first to verify that it'll play without any issues.
Conclusion: Extreme Days is 93 minutes of campy fun on a well-produced (despite sporadic player incompatibility) DVD. It'd make for an entertaining rental, though its $29.99 list price may be off-putting to many potential viewers.
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