Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off
Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off is showing on HBOMax at the time of publication.
STORY: A
This is not just a story of Tony Hawk’s life. It dives deep into every force that shapes Hawk into who he is. We get a lesson in the history of skateboarding, post-1980. We get an intimate look into his family life. We get a masterclass on the two prices of greatness - the cost of getting it and the price it charges once you’ve got it. There’s enough depth in each of these strands to fill an entire movie. Cramming all these layers into one movie, the documentary completely captivates us.
SUBJECT: A-
I’m not 53. I’m close. It’s not the ideal age to catapult yourself skyward on a thin wooden plank with wheels on a regular basis.
Tony Hawk is 53. He’s been the best at what he does for 40 years. Dude’s got a business card that reads, “Better at Skateboarding than Anything You’ve Ever Done.” And he can legitimately hand that card to Tiger, Kobe, Brady, or Beyonce. And it would be true.
He’s been so good for so long we imagine his greatness as one unbroken, horizontal line flowing across an axis of awesomeness. This film shows that line has been anything but. Hawk’s career - and more importantly, his life - cannot be reduced to one simple sentence. Hawk seems willing, if not always eager, to lay everything on the table. That allows the movie to illuminate every one of Hawk’s McTwists and turns magnificently.
CRAFT: B+
This documentary is built as solidly as the Animal Chin halfpipe. The opening sequence shows Tony falling again and again and again. We can listen to Hawk (or Tiger or Kobe or Brady or Beyonce, etc.) tell us how hard they’ve worked to become who they are. But a voice in our head comforts us, “Yeah, he works. But he’s Tony flippin’ Hawk! Guy’s a genetic freak. He’s just always been great.” Watching the endless scroll of fails silences that voice. the notion of “working hard” ceases to be vague and slippery. You see what it is right off the bat and carry it with you the rest of the film. If you’re lucky, you carry it with you after the film’s over, too.
The choice to go with a large amount of interviews pays off. The number of people is impressive, but the variety is what makes it work. We meet family, mentors, peers, and more. It paints an incredibly full picture of the man.
The soundtrack is perfection. I hope you’re inspired to check out some of this classic music. You may hate a bunch of it, but you might just uncover a gem or two. Since I was there rocking out at the time, I’d recommend starting with either New Order or The Buzzcocks.
NOSTALGIA: A+
If a filmmaker is going to use nostalgia, they need to use it like vanilla extract. Pouring in too much of it ruins things. I recently watched Apollo 10 ½, which was nothing but nostalgia. I’m close enough to the right age to have fond memories of nearly everything that happens in that film, but it came off as preachy and self-righteous. There was no point to it other than nostalgia. Forrest Gump uses nostalgia in a less direct or pushy way (I hear some people intensely disagreeing with me … you all have a point). It winds up working much better, like a stack of pancakes with just a few drops of vanilla.
Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off may have cracked the code on how to best use nostalgia - it completely ignores it. Not once do you feel the filmmakers include something simply for nostalgia’s sake. They drop you into the moment of a man and his time. You can grab a slice of nostalgia if you like at your leisure. It’s glorious.
FINAL COMMENTS:
Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off tells an utterly engaging story of a man, a time, a phenomenon, and a cultural identity. What is going to stick with me is its meditation on greatness. You may wonder after watching it if the price of greatness is worth it. According to the long line of pro skaters we meet, that might be a moot question. The way they explain it, maybe they never had a choice in starting down the path and paying that price. Destroying your body as a profession seems stupid on paper. But as Rodney Mullen says, “If only I could explain the intangibles to you.” He can’t. Hawk can’t. Perhaps no one can. But it’s a blast to watch them blaze through their lives while we dream up our own dreams alongside theirs. It makes our dreams seem downright possible.