Pretending I'm a Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story

Scott Hardie: “It was ok.”

A few years ago, I contributed to the crowdfunding for this little indie documentary about the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater game series, and now I'm pleased to see the final result. The games were so much fun, and I have so many fond memories of playing them, and it's neat to hear a few stories about how they came together and to see some very rough early demos. But this is not exactly a deep and captivating topic, and even an abundance of B-roll footage of skateboarders doing impressive tricks is not enough to sustain the film, which strains to exceed 70 minutes even with an overlong history of the sport at the beginning. The best part of the film is probably at the end, as today's generation of skaters talk about how they were inspired to take up the sport by these games, particularly the black and female skaters who saw themselves represented for the first time when they turned on the first THPS. I can't recommend this movie because it's of no use to anyone who doesn't love the series, but I did, and I was happy to revisit it for an afternoon. It doesn't inspire me to skate, but it does inspire me to find the old games and play them again for a bit.

− August 22, 2020 • more by Scott • log in or create an account to reply