Alright. I know you've seen tons of reviews, but I havent really seen any covering areas from a view I prefer so I'm just going to write one myself anyway incase there are any likewise minded riders out there.
Here's the history of trials, Hans Rey fathered it, the Europeans got godly at it, Ryan's just destroyed everything we knew as the norm. "Revolutionised", however bastardised and cliched the term may be now, is what Ryan's done to trialsin, unthinkably removing correction hops altogether.
Riding - And you thought the coustellier brothers were smooth. Even the hardest and most intricate natural sections are attacked with unparalleled fluidity. Every_single_trick is linked, every move is millimetre perfect, it's as if Ryan would be more comfortable on a bike than on his feet. Absolutely stunning.
Music - Finally something fresh and unique. The music links well with the riding and style, covering many different genres and with differnt rythms and speeds. I'm pretty fussy with music and if you dont notice it, then it's doing it's job right. I was pleasantly surprised to find classical music in it too (albeit with a twist.) Often at times the music gave a fantastic effect of making a section feel epic and majestic, particularly in chapter 4.
Editing - It's a welcome change to have the rider featured in a video edit it himself. It allows the video to be viewed from the perspective of the rider and how the lines worked out, instead of having the editing just make the video look "cool" and flashy (x-games). Having the double-takes shown on some tricks only proves this even more. What some feel would be the most amazing section in the video, the traintracks, was nicely done. However, I feel that the PIP (Picture In Picture) effect was distracting and took you away from the riding whilst trying to focus on 2 shots at a time (esp when shown at different speeds). Chapter 5 had a very nice sureal feel to it, partly to play with the great music choice and also shooting locations. Demo sections are usually incredibly difficult to make entertaining and fortunately ryan saw fit to get rid of repition (my greatest pet peeve) and vary locations with the timeless ff windy roads effect. The rock section, Chapter 7, probably has the most fitting song choice in the entire video. You've gotta see it for yourself =] . Chapter 8 flowed very nicely with the music - as ryan said - abundant drawn out smooth moves and a huge array of shooting locations (damn is that castle (quebec?) sequence nice) complimenting Ryan's manifesto. Overall, the editing in the video may not be perfect and possibly a very slight tad overdone in some places, but it was an extremely fine effort from a non-dedicated videographer. Definately one of the best Mtn. Biking media has seen, Ryan could easily make a living out of being just an editor.
Locations - As covered above, the video was shot all over the place. From castles with beautiful back drops to a typical vancouver-rainy day. Fresh, eh
Extras - Wow :shock: . The money's worth the history section alone, check Ryan progressing in style from 1997 to present. Tons and tons of footage from different places shot in different styles and edited by different professionals. Informative commentry was elegantly done. Excellent.
Replayability - Well, this video isnt the best if you'd like to watch it multiple times in one day (or hour or insert-timelength-here). Mostly because there's only one discipline of riding and only one rider. Does this make anything worst? No. It's just the purpose and way the video's done (who can ride like ryan anyway?!). A year on in life, I'm sure those of us who might still be riding trials would've watched this in numbers well into the 100s. I know I will.
Final - Throwing 30 Cdn on anything else other than this video (yes, food's included) is to sin. Awe is to be found in it, coupled with an unthinkable manifesto, you'll never swear so much at a screen in your life. Just wait for the riders who start adopting his style. Cant wait till the europeans get hold of this
