At rideSFO, we watch a ton of mountain bike videos because we sell MOST of them. To help you with your video selection, we would like to share our thoughts about one of the new releases … expect more to come …
NWD 9: Never Enough Review by Daniel Mabe
You have to hand it to Derek Westerlund and the New World Disorder crew. After nine films, they’re still consistently cranking out high quality, stoke-worthy DVDs that can elicit “no f*cking way” responses from casual observers and die-hard riders alike.
Unlike Hollywood flicks, MTB movie sequels usually get better with each passing year
(I don’t recall Police Academy 9: Assignment Fire Island being nearly as funny as the original). The stable of riders seems to grow a bit each season and might have reached maximum density with their latest installment, fittingly subtitled “Never Enough”.
The NWD series is notable for its thematic elements that attempt to tie the segments together with a loose story. I dusted off my copy of the very first New World Disorder to refresh my memory. If anyone has a clue as to what the hell that one was about, I’d love to hear it. As far as I can tell, it’s the feel-good story of a van-driving priest and cute, shotgun-wielding nuns who steal a coveted ‘99 Kona Stinky frame from the Cove Bike Shop. Apparently, the clergy doesn’t pay as well as we’ve been led to believe.
This time around, the storyline thread is a Mega Avalanche-type race to the bottom of Whistler Mountain between the 144 riders featured in the film. Actually, there’s not 144, it’s more like 20. But at times it feels like a few less riders would have given some of the segments a bit more breathing room.
After a teaser piece with Robbie Bourdon, Disorder staple Paul Basagoitia kicks things off with a solid segment, followed by a session in the Red Bull Dirt Pipe with a lot of super slow-mo and some nifty CGI zooms that most other filmmakers would kill to have the budget for.
As usual, Cam McCaul doesn’t disappoint. Maybe it’s a NorCal bias, but for my money he’s the funniest, most consistent, most versatile pro on a bike right now. This segues nicely into the film’s most Collective-esque moment: a fascinating trip with McCaul and Darren Berrecloth to China’s Gobi Desert. Finding virgin territory for mountain biking in this day and age isn’t easy, and these guys not only found it, they destroyed it (figuratively speaking, of course. We’ll let the Chinese destroy their own desert). Darren then gets his solo turn in Utah and delivers some solid riding.
Sadly, I can’t continue to discuss each riders segment in too much detail or you would be reading well into tomorrow afternoon. I’ll just try and hit the high points.
- Cedric Gracia rides for about 15 seconds before helping the Swedish Bikini Team (AKA: 5 chicks that the crew were trying to bone) change a flat tire.
- Aaron Chase introduces us to some weird Red Bull-sponsored rope-pulling
contraption that some viewer will buy, use 5 times, then put on eBay.
- Adam Hauck pisses off some skaters and BMXers (probably) by riding the
famous Brooklyn Banks.
From there, we learn that the NWD production crew knows that the fickle MTB pendulum is swinging back toward the DH circuit as we watch the Atherton clan conquer the World Cup world at the UCI Championships. Then, primary sponsor Nissan gets some quality logo exposure with coverage of the Qashqai events. Here’s a few more highlights:
- Kirt Vories shreds what appear to be his local trails. It’s good enough that it had
me checking real estate prices for Bend, Oregon.
- Wayne Goss continues to evolve as a rider and tears his arm a new mouth in the
process.
- Red Bull Rampage winner Brendan Semenuk shows why he’s America’s Next
Top Freerider (hosted by Tyra Banks).
- The Lacondeguy brothers rip their newly built hometown jumps.
- Contest footage galore, including the U.S’s own Crankworx Colorado.
- Robbie Bourdon stomps that flat spin he was trying an hour ago.
Overall, this is an impressive entry into the NWD collection. Personally, I thought the musical choices in this one were not as strong as in years past, but keep in mind that I’m pushing 35, and a few of the riders are obviously there just to fulfill contractual obligations from their sponsors. As a result of that, some of the segments felt a little crowded, and this year’s storyline was not among the series’ strongest (spoiler alert: a chick wins the race). As always, the cinematography is top-notch (though not as “pretty” as Seasons) and I’ll be damned if I can spot the difference between High-Def and 16mm film anymore. It was telling to note that this is the first Disorder film in recent memory without godfather(s) Wade Simmons and Richey Schley. As JFK would say, “…the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans (and Canadians, and Norwegians, and Spanish, and English, and French). Bottom line, buy it don’t burn it. Help make sure these dudes can continue to travel the world, drink beer, meet beautiful women and ride the most amazing trails on the planet.
God, I hate these guys.
To purchase NWD 9, click on the DVD cover below.
