An interesting documentary about a thrilling sport, but not necessarily a thrilling film.
I personally would have liked to have seen more skiing footage, and of a slightly different kind. Let me explain. On a bonus feature we learn how they used a remote-control camera that was powered by microwave, and how they hired a company to run a cable as they do for football games so that the camera could "track" along that line. But the results-again, to my outsider eyes-were that we saw some great footage, but then it cut off very quickly. I wanted more extended runs, and if a skier fell on a steep mountain, I didn't want the camera to cut away as it did in all but one or two cases. I also wanted more shots from the side that would best showcase the verticality. Too many of the runs were shot from a helicopter head-on, as if you were a baseball batter watching a line-drive to center field being caught. You don't get the feeling of depth or trajectory with that angle that you would if you shot from, say, right field . . . or in this case, the side of the mountain.
All of which puts this documentary in a good-but-not-great class for a general audience. And I'm guessing even avid and knowledgeable skiers might share this opinion.
Video:
There's a little more grain or noise in some of these shots than I would have liked, but let's consider the altitude and what that can do to filming conditions. Overall, the 1080p picture (MPEG-4 transfer, 1.78:1 aspect ratio) is also in the good-but-not-great class. There's a nice sense of 3-dimensionality in the exterior scenes, but nothing special about all those interior interviews. Vintage or stock footage is also combined with original footage and all of those interviews, and so the quality can vary from sequence to sequence.
Audio:
The audio also seems a bit tame, given the subject matter, and again I'd attribute this to a kind of sedateness that settles over all of the interview sequences and carries over onto the overall feeling of the film. It's the kind of soundtrack that just doesn't seem as dynamic as you'd think. When the snow rumbles and we see skiers in the midst of an avalanche, don't expect James Bond-style sonics.
Extras:
Not much here. The main bonus feature is the audio commentary with Obenhaus and skiers Ingrid Backstrom and Andrew McClean, who talk about the sport in more detail in their conversation than we really get in the film's narration--which is nice, but I found myself wondering, why not incorporate more of this stuff into the script?
In addition to a production shot and behind-the-scenes still photo slideshow that runs about 20 minutes, there's a Q&A with Obenhaus and his commentary cronies as they stand onstage at Tribeca and field questions from the audience. It's okay, but these types of situations never really produce the best Q&As. It feels more like a press conference after a sporting event.
The only other extras are a roughly 20-minute behind-the-scenes featuring, "Shooting Steep," which finds Obenhaus narrating as another slideshow of behind-the-scenes shots plays, and perhaps the most poignant feature, a brief interview with Coombs.
Bottom Line:
When Plake is on-camera, this seems like a different film than when an older Briggs is on-camera, or when we're watching footage of the actual extreme runs down slopes in France, Alaska, or the American West. Maybe it's this unevenness that makes "Steep" an interesting documentary about a thrilling sport, but not necessarily a thrilling film.
All of which puts this documentary in a good-but-not-great class for a general audience. And I'm guessing even avid and knowledgeable skiers might share this opinion.
Video:
There's a little more grain or noise in some of these shots than I would have liked, but let's consider the altitude and what that can do to filming conditions. Overall, the 1080p picture (MPEG-4 transfer, 1.78:1 aspect ratio) is also in the good-but-not-great class. There's a nice sense of 3-dimensionality in the exterior scenes, but nothing special about all those interior interviews. Vintage or stock footage is also combined with original footage and all of those interviews, and so the quality can vary from sequence to sequence.
Audio:
The audio also seems a bit tame, given the subject matter, and again I'd attribute this to a kind of sedateness that settles over all of the interview sequences and carries over onto the overall feeling of the film. It's the kind of soundtrack that just doesn't seem as dynamic as you'd think. When the snow rumbles and we see skiers in the midst of an avalanche, don't expect James Bond-style sonics.
Extras:
Not much here. The main bonus feature is the audio commentary with Obenhaus and skiers Ingrid Backstrom and Andrew McClean, who talk about the sport in more detail in their conversation than we really get in the film's narration--which is nice, but I found myself wondering, why not incorporate more of this stuff into the script?
In addition to a production shot and behind-the-scenes still photo slideshow that runs about 20 minutes, there's a Q&A with Obenhaus and his commentary cronies as they stand onstage at Tribeca and field questions from the audience. It's okay, but these types of situations never really produce the best Q&As. It feels more like a press conference after a sporting event.
The only other extras are a roughly 20-minute behind-the-scenes featuring, "Shooting Steep," which finds Obenhaus narrating as another slideshow of behind-the-scenes shots plays, and perhaps the most poignant feature, a brief interview with Coombs.
Bottom Line:
When Plake is on-camera, this seems like a different film than when an older Briggs is on-camera, or when we're watching footage of the actual extreme runs down slopes in France, Alaska, or the American West. Maybe it's this unevenness that makes "Steep" an interesting documentary about a thrilling sport, but not necessarily a thrilling film.
Average user rating (1-5):
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