The Crash Reel (2013)

Review of The Crash Reel

If you were to ask me about snowboarding as a sport I would not be able to tell you much about it. I know that involves a lot of tricks and if I had to name a famous snowboarder the only one I could tell you would be Shaun White (and that’s because he had a game that was named after him). He might be the most famous now, but a few years ago he often became second after Kevin Pearce.

They were initially close but their friendship started falling apart and a rivalry started to form. In order to stay on top the tricks they were doing had to get more complex. Red Bull built a half-pipe just for White to practise with a special pit filled with soft foam to try out new moves. Seeing this Kevin Pearce needed to follow suit. He had a half-pipe built and learned new tricks with the help of a safety cushion. When he got the confidence he started doing the things he just learned and during one of his runs everything went horribly wrong. This documentary opens with that moment and the consequences it has on the rest of his life. Continue reading