Have you seen it yet? If not, read this review. Looking for the soundtrack? It’s at the bottom. Here’s the review…
The riding is sick
First up, the snowboarding. With riders like Travis Rice, Nicholas Muller, Jake Blauvelt, and John Jackson, to name some of them, you’d expect the level of riding to be high. And it is.
As you’ll read further down, Travis Rice does display awesome snowboarding, but he’s not the only one. For example, there are a couple of really good sections with John Jackson – he didn’t get Rider of the Year for nothing.
Favourites parts? Hard to pick… I really like the opening section, “So Far Gone” and there are some awesome lines in “Revelstoked”. But my favourite is probably “The Wizard”. Good tune (“No Way”), great locations and build-up, with excellent riding mixed in.
The filming is very high quality
Breath taking locations. Wow factor. It really does contribute to the overall impressiveness of the film. You can get a good indication from the trailer below…
OK, there might be a few too many slow-mo shots of helicopters for my liking, but as far as criticisms go, that’s not a bad one.
Brain Farm – The Art of Flight Trailer.
The Travis Rice show?
Since watching That’s It, That’s All, and things in-between, I was worried that this film would have an annoying, macho element. In the build up to The Art of Flight, you can’t escape the fact that it’s Travis Rice’s snowboard movie…
But it didn’t. Not for me. If it was there at all, it was slight enough that it didn’t put me off.
Documentary style parts?
They’re there. After all, it is an hour and twenty minutes long. You get a look at down days, chasing winter down to South America, the trip to Patagonia, what it’s like to ride in places like Alaska and the risks that come with it…
Personally I think it adds to the movie. This isn’t supposed to be your regular, banger-filled, rider by rider, snowboard film. The journey, the environment, nature and great snowboarding. All mixed together.
Travis Rice is an excellent snowboarder
One of the absolute truths about this film is that Travis Rice is an awesome snowboarder. If you want to see insane snowboarding, in great locations, filmed at a precedent-setting quality, you should watch this film.
Consider this quote from Jeremy Jones in the closing scene:
“Get out of town… you have gotta be kidding me. That is the future and the future is now. Ridiculous.”
Travis just dropped a backside 180 melon in gnarly terrain. It’s not even the most impressive line in the film – but it’s a great example of how other riders view his ability.
Bottom line, you don’t have to be a Travis Rice fan to appreciate the riding in The Art of Flight. It’s unquestionable.
Where to buy?
It’s not hard to find the DVD or Blu-Ray version of The Art of Flight. A quick google search will reveal loads of options. If you want a link, you can get it from Dogfunk (USA), Bucks Boarding (UK) and Blue-Tomato (Europe).
However, my preferred option is to download it from iTunes, as long as you’ve got something good to watch it on. I like the fact that it’s cheaper and more convenient:
- The Art of Flight – iTunes UK
- The Art of Flight – iTunes USA
- The Art of Flight – iTunes Canada
- The Art of Flight – iTunes Germany
- The Art of Flight – iTunes France
Soundtrack to The Art of Flight
The soundtrack worked for me, which is always a plus. These days, having watched so many snowboard movies, along with the free and easy availability of good quality, fresh snowboard footage, you have to like the soundtrack. It’s not worth watching something with a sound you don’t like. Some of my favourites: Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff | No Way | Young Blood.
If you want the song listing, here is it (with iTunes links):
- Defrag: “Element L1” – iTunes UK, iTunes USA
- M83: “Outro” – iTunes UK, iTunes USA
- Hendrickson/Dick/Harry: “Before the Storm”
- Deadmau5: “Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff (Nero Remix)” – iTunes UK, iTunes USA
- Oswin Mackintosh: “Passion Victim”
- The Naked and Famous: “No Way” – iTunes UK, iTunes USA
- Apparat: “Ash/Black Veil” – iTunes UK, iTunes USA
- Klaus Badelt: “Nowhere to Run” – iTunes UK, iTunes USA
- Blockhead: “Sunday Seance” – iTunes UK, iTunes USA
- The Album Leaf: “Another Day” – iTunes UK
- The Naked and Famous: “Young Blood” – iTunes UK, iTunes USA
- Mel Wesson: “Motional Rescue_Pulse”
- Mel Wesson: “Stark Light”
- Sigur Rós: “Untitled 6 (E-bow)” – iTunes UK
- M83: “Intro” – iTunes UK, iTunes USA
- Hum: “Iron Clad Lou” – iTunes UK, iTunes USA
- The Black Angels: “Young Men Dead” – iTunes UK, iTunes USA
- M83: “My Tears Are Becoming A Sea” – iTunes UK, iTunes USA
- Okkervil River: “Westfall” – iTunes UK, iTunes USA
- We Are Augustines: “Chapel Song” – iTunes UK, iTunes USA
This song is awesome:
The Naked and Famous: “Young Blood”
