Nitro Circus: The Movie

If I learned anything from Nitro Circus: The Movie, it is that it's extremely tedious to watch a bunch of guys (and one woman) drive and flip over vehicles repeatedly for 90 minutes straight. Oh sure, they change up the vehicles. They drive and flip over cars, big wheels, wheelchairs, motorcycles, tricycles, and trucks. But, no matter the set up, the end result is always the same - The vehicle crashes, the guy driving it gets banged up bad, and everybody stands around and laughs at him.

Nitro Circus is made up of some guys that the movie admits upfront never really grew up, and like to perform dangerous stunts. We learn very little about the group, other than they've been doing this for quite a while, and had a TV for a while. Now they have a movie, which chronicles the days leading up to their big live show in Las Vegas. Well, it doesn't really chronicle the events leading up to it. We just watch the guys do a bunch of random stunts over and over, while they occasionally remind us that they have a big Vegas show coming up, and that it's been their dream for years to do something like this. Okay, but just who are these guys? We know that they're daredevils, and that they like to do this stuff, because people say they can't. But, how did they get hooked on this to the point they wanted to make a living out of it? And what possessed them to want to drive random vehicles off a ramp, and have them crash into something?

We see the act of driving and crashing repeatedly, but we never really get a sense as what these guys are trying to prove. They say it's all in fun, but I wonder how much fun that one guy who ends up in the hospital after a failed stunt was having? By the way, we never do find out what happened to said guy. The stunt goes horribly wrong, they call an ambulance, we see the other members of the group dropping off some "get well" balloons at the hospital, and it's never brought up ever again. We see them fly off of buildings and over swimming pools, but we never get a firm grasp as to who these people are. What we do get are some "interviews" with celebrity guest stars like Channing Tatum and Johnny Knoxville (whose Jackass was obviously the main inspiration for Nitro Circus), who say such insightful things about the group, such as "these guys are insane". Noted, and agreed.

The movie also keeps on talking about what a big deal it is for these guys to be doing a live show in Vegas, but it doesn't go into any detail as to what it really meant to put on such a huge and risky stadium show. Was the danger greater, because there was a live audience watching? Did they have a hard time finding a stadium that would host them? If a show like this has never been attempted before in Vegas, why not actually show us what goes into the making of something that's never been attempted before? Why not show us how the group became so popular? Was it a long road to fame? Was it an overnight success? How do they pay for the multiple number of cars, boats, and trucks that they crash? The movie provides no answers, just tedious footage of the group crashing things over and over.

Nitro Circus: The Movie is obviously tailored for those who already follow the group, and probably were in the audience at the Vegas show. I was not a fan walking in, so I found the whole thing unnecessary. And since the filmmakers don't really tell us anything about the group to start with, maybe they felt the same way I did.

No Amazon info found - sorry

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