Catch the thrills of skateboarding with this new documentary on Tony Hawk

Tony Hawk performs a trick at an event in Copenhagen in 2015. Pics Courtesy/Youtube; Wikimedia Commons

"If gymnastics has Nadia Comăneci, we have Tony Hawk," declared the announcers at the 1999 X Games in San Francisco. Twenty-five years later, the 56-year-old, who once entertained fans with jaw-dropping flips and spins, will cheer on a new generation of skateboarders at the upcoming Paris Summer Olympics 2024. Tony Hawk: Until The Wheels Fall Off is a deep-dive not only into the sporting icon's life, but the journey of the sport to mainstream attention. In that, it makes for an essential viewing.

In the two-hour-long documentary, Hawk's idols, including Steve Caballero and Stacy Peralta, revisit how a lanky boy from California carved out a space for himself amidst the rise fall, and resurrection of the skating culture in the USA. "He would fall, break a bone, and dust himself off for another run. We couldn't do that," states Peralta in a scene, aptly summarising the skateboarding spirit.

Tony Hawk

In a parallel narrative, narrated by Hawk himself, he unveils the loneliness, self-doubt, and criticism that came with the fame. The pressure leading up to his iconic 900-degree spin trick in 1999 in San Francisco, his tryst with quick money as a teenager, confessions of infidelity, and the health consequences from past injuries, all keep us at the edge of our seat throughout the runtime.

Hidden in these narratives are foresights about the sport's future. Be it Hawk's father's last words predicting "better days for the sport" or his family's view that skateboarding might not really be a sport fit for the Olympics, these Easter eggs make for an engaging watch in hindsight. Skateboarding fan or not, we suggest you add the documentary to your watchlist because as Hawk put it in an official Olympics interview last month, "Skating has finally come of age… it's been long overdue."

Available Jio Cinema