Warning, may contain spoilers!
CAPiTA‘s Defenders of Awesome 2: STAY BAD ASS will be out and available for your viewing pleasure tomorrow, but this afternoon Team WL had the honour of being able to catch a screening 24 hours in advance to bring you this review.
After the Goliath that was the first instalment in the CAPiTA cinema canon anticipation was very, very high indeed, so with trembling fingers we inserted the DVD and pressed play…
How Cocard grew the balls to step up to that last feature we’ll never know
And BAM! Like that Brandon Cocard was flying round our screens, flitting between urban and powder and back again. To put in in the CAPiTA language, he DEVOURS all. Why he hasn’t registered on the average snowboarder’s radar the last few years we’ll never know, but his well-mannered ways contrasted with his absolute hammer tricks deservedly gave him the opener here. How on God’s earth he grew the balls to step up to that last feature we’ll never know.
That feeling of watching a Scott Stevens part for the first time never gets old – it’s one of our favourite annual events – and this didn’t disappoint. This one slowly bubbles throughout to a crescendo finish, the last few shots hitting your mind so fast it actually slows down time. May we hasten to add using The Damned for the soundtrack was a fine touch.
Johnny O’Connor‘s part was perhaps the best surprise of the whole film, seeing someone hit features with that much gnarl factor whilst looking so nonchalant was a joy. In fact pretty much the whole team looked as casual as James Dean leaning on a car bonnet, just having way more fun. O’Connor also does the best boardslide the world has ever seen, the only park shot in the movie, but it’s better seen than described.
We also learn he know owns a cat, a good choice of pet, just as much as Moonage Daydream is an outstanding choice of song
Not so long ago Jess Kimura was setting the standard for women’s street riding, whether that’s still true after Desiree’s part last year is up for debate, but what’s not is that she’s still killing it here. Dustin Craven‘s part is just as wild, years of experience channelled into some monster drops and canyon sized backcountry booters. We also learn he know owns a cat – a good choice of pet – just as much as Moonage Daydream is an outstanding choice of song. Hats off to the guy.
Mike Rav‘s own take on snowboarding looks just as good featured in a full part as it does crammed into a Mt Hood edit, though it’s likely he’ll never truly be contained by the rigid dimensions of a screen. Hot stuff from the Ravlesnake though, fiery even… This leads neatly into the Brendan Gerard (think son of Thrashmore)/Dylan Gamache (Yawgoon extraordinaire) double part – both too short by any account. We’d have loved to see more of Gerard’s Rowley-inspired handrail antics and, to be honest, more original footage of Gamache: between the Yawgoon series and his teaser, most of it felt familiar already.
Not so Dan Brisse – his wild man street antics were put to an abrupt halt this year, but somehow he still came up with some of the craziest urban antics we’ve seen in ages. Plus, finding out he’s into flatland BMX was maybe the biggest surprise ever, a million miles away from his scaled up idea of street features. Fuck yeah this part was rad!
Cale Zima and Phil Jaques back-to-back was like peaches and cream – though Zima’s song choice felt like it had been put in to prevent the film from coming across too serious – leaving only Kazu Kokubu to close out the movie.
What. An. Ender.
For this part alone you should track down a copy when it comes out tomorrow. Nothing revealed here, but this is backcountry at its finest. Without a hat. Staggering.
In summary, if you liked the first CAPiTA movie, you’ll love this. It carries on the same swaggering, stoner rock style without skipping a beat. The editing is on point with only the best shots making it through (only limited superfluous chat here, yes!), the music has balls and the riding on display will push this next season forward into the stratosphere.
Lastly – and this was same with the last movie – it was so good to watch a traditional team movie in place of the now ubiquitous web edits, a whole forty minutes put aside to watch one of the most bad ass teams go to town. Awesome defended.
Awesome defended.
