Hakeems Lords of Dogtown Movie Review

After the award winning Dogtown and Z-Boys documentary, Stacy Peralta continues the mythology of his younger days surfing and skating in Venice, California. Directed by Dogtown resident Catherine Hardwicke who directed Thirteen a few years ago, she now brings that same energy and teen realism Lords of Dogtown. It's tough to follow up the excellent documentary, but the movie succeeds following the same events but adding a lot to the relationships between the legendary Z-Boys.

We follow the story Tony Alva, Jay Adams and Stacy Peralta himself, as well as their somewhat of a mentor and Zephyr Team founder Skip Engblom, who saw a chance to take skating to the next level (and make money) thanks to the kids impressive and inventive abilities. There were 12 Z-Boys, but we concentrate in the 3 most talented, who went on to rule and revolutionize the skateboarding world in the 70s way before Tony Hawk made it the ultra popular sport it is now.

We see the kids first riding the waves at the locals only Pacific Ocean Park Pier, and then after the team is created, make their way to the at that point ballet-like Skating Competitions, causing chaos with their manners and never before seen style. After that, and thanks to the drought that affected California in the 70s, the boys take their skating to the huge pools in rich people's houses.
Played by Victor Rasuk, Tony was the arrogant kid who wanted it all, and so when the opportunity came to get a sponsor and leave the Z-Boys, he was the first to take it. The rest of the kids followed his steps, with Stacy (played by John Robinson), the quite and most intelligent of the boys staying until the end but finally leaving too when Skip's Zephyr Store went downhill causing the end of the Zephyr Team. Skip is played by Heath Ledger in a perfect performance, totally nailing the real Skip's mannerisms and way of speaking.

Tony and Stacy went on to win the Skating World championships at the end of the 70s, skating around the world, making money and even having their own brands of skateboards. The tragic story is of Jay Adams (played by Emile Hirsch), the best skater and pioneer of the revolutionary styles, whose troubles at home hurt him and led him to a disastrous selection of sponsors that never helped him, ending up alone and a delinquent, totally wasting his huge talent. The movie ends like the documentary, with the boys going back to Dogtown and reuniting for the DogBowl, thanks to one of their own's sickness.

The weak point of the movie is the addition of a girl to the mix, in this case Tony's sister Kathy (played by Thirteen star and co-writer Nikki Reid). Since Stacy himself wrote the movie, I guess she was there during the times, but in the movie all she does is get between Jay and Stacy's friendship.

Just like the documentary too, the movie is enriched by its soundtrack, with rock classics that were part of the skater era from Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple, David Bowie, Ted Nugent and the Allman Brothers. With great performances and an amazing recreation of the period and its locations, Lords of Dogtown is the perfect way to complement Dogtown and Z-Boys, a story of revolution but also of kids growing up in the 70s doing what they wanted and loved to do, skate.