Lack of good storyline.

Crappy film

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

No doubt, First Descent is definitely one of the most versatile snowboard movies out on record BUT unfortunately the movie is very "American". Sure, the idea of the sport was basically mainly developed in the states but the other continents made a valuable contribution to the heart and soul as well.The movie features four US and one European rider and the title would promise that you are about to see an American conquering untouched mountains. In fact, the ONLY first descent in this film is being accomplished by an European, Terje Haakonsen. The rest of the riding activities can rather be considered as a training and comparison camp for pioneers and pro boarders from very different sections of the sport which is very neat to watch, no question, but the documentary parts lack heavily in essential information about the full (r)evolution. Europe and Japan are almost being demonized and pointed at for destroying the spirit that snowboarding stood up with to lay itself down.Protocolling each move, statement and achievement is rather pathetic at some points and appears like "time fillers" to me. "(S)He's so great", "We are so cool" and "Oh, incredible what we just did" are statements that really miss the point in my opinion. Some of the shots are very nice and "expensive" and definitely offer never-seen-before perspectives of the activities that these athletes are experiencing but it could have been less stagy.After all it is an interesting summary of the US opinion on the history of something that has obviously not reached its climax yet.

I never thought much about the attraction of snowboarding over skiing until I seen this documentary. Now I understand. The film is an exploration of the creation and history of snowboarding and it's explosion into popular culture. The basic setup is a trip to Alaska by three young snowboarders to "conquer" the mountains. The footage of these snowboarders down these mountains is absolutely incredible.While I naturally enjoyed meeting the snowboarders and getting to know them a little I loved the older footage. You probably thought snowboarding grew out of the Southern California Surfer screen but you would be wrong. It actually grew out of the skateboard craze of the late 70's. If you every watch a skateboard competition some of the same moves are used in snowboarding.Since there is no plot this documentary is all about attitude so casting (or selection) was critical for the young snowboarders and the film certainly picked right. Two of the young snowboarders, Shaun White and Hannah Teter won Olympic Gold Medals at Torino in 2006 (in addition to being enormously appealing). None of them seem to have a bit of fear; no matter how hairy the run down the mountain.I love films that present something I have never seen before and seeing these guys get dropped off at the top of the mountain and go down for miles is unbelievable. Quite a film - See it. and my highest recommendation.

very redundant and just flat out boring. not a knock against snowboarding, just not a very entertaining film. it doesn't compare at all to a warren miller. there are some pretty sweet tricks done, and it was nice to see someone from Vermont on the screen,but i just thought it was really slow. they could have cut some stuff out to make it go by a little quicker and keep our attention onto the screen. i found myself kind of "day dreaming" through a few of the scenes because it was pretty much a a shot of the same thing over and over again. it was cool to see how it all began and how everybody got down when the sport was emerging, but after about an hour of it, i thought it was time to move on.

I gave this movie an excellent rating not because I'm just some snowboard loving freak ( though I might just be ) but I think that they deserve it, if you've seen the movie ( heres the spoiler )terje goes down a freaking huge mountain, and this isn't Hollywood stuff, these are real people doing real stuff that could easily kill them, especially that mountain he went down... that thing was HUGE. And there wasn't really any dull moment, I enjoyed the whole movie, and I hope it did a lot better in other places than it did in central Illinois because it was only me and 2 of my friends seeing it on opening night... it was fun just hanging out with them and talking about it as loud as we wanted, but that movies needs to been seen. were all now Seriously planning a road trip to Alaska this summer... all I can say is, watch the movie, what them go down those mountains, putting their lives on the line the whole time, realize that it isn't fake at all, and try to tell my they deserve anything less than at least a 9