Being Evel (2015)

That was an excellent one.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The acting in this movie is really good.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Released in 2015 and directed by Daniel Junge, "Being Evel" is a documentary on the rise, glory and fall of the stuntman who started the sport of motorcycle jumping and was the catalyst to widespread daredevilry of the sort.To let you know how great this documentary is, I decided to check out 15-20 minutes when it was already past my bedtime and I ended up viewing the whole film. It's THAT compelling. The movie contains interviews with every primary person linked to Robert 'Evel' Knievel, including associates, employees, relatives, reporters and those he inspired. It's such a fascinating story of a flawed man who was obsessed with success and recognition to the point he regularly risked life and limb. Family members point out that they lost Bobby Knievel to Evel Knieval as he conquered the world with his daredevilry and ensuing fame. To cope with the stress of regularly facing death and the ever-increasing pain of his multiple wounds he turned to alcohol, meds and loose sex. By the time of his Snake River Canyon jump he was so anxious he turned on the reporters, which was a bad move since they were the ground laborers that assisted his fame. After his 1977-78 conviction and six months prison sentence for assaulting the writer of his biography (which everyone involved said was accurate and, if anything, too tame), he lost most of his marketing endorsements and deals, including Harley-Davidson and Ideal Toys, which led to his bankruptcy. Despite his glaring downfall, the movie thankfully ends on a very positive note. The film runs 99 minutes. GRADE: A+

Growing up in the 1970s, Evel Knievel was an almost mythical figure -someone who took incredible risks and seemed invincible. This doco shows us the real man, and Knievel comes out of it appallingly. It's to the great credit of writer/director Daniel Junge that the story isn't sugar-coated. Quite the opposite. Knievel was a criminal as a young man, and also later, and was eventually a boor, a bully, a womaniser..he didn't consider his friends' and family's feelings when he kept doing stunts. It must have been traumatising for them to have to see him get badly injured or only just cheat death. I got the impression he thought he was immortal, that he could never die. Probably he was just very lucky. But his fans had a kind of unreal, godly image of him. He was willing to go further across the line of danger than anyone else. He was witty, audacious and outrageous. Also at times stupid, such as baiting the Hell's Angels until they attacked him. Or breaking his friend's arms for writing an authorised book about him. All his inner circle agree that the book was accurate. In any case, the assault ruined Knievel's life because he lost his sponsors and went to jail. I don't feel the movie got to the heart of what motivated him to be a stunt rider. Maybe it was to do with his parents abandoning him as a child. He did want to be rich and famous. He was clearly mentally ill -- given many of the jumps he did. He was like someone running into a burning house, not knowing what would happen to him, seemingly not caring if he died. The doco interviews just about everyone still alive who knew Evel. And they all trust Junge to tell the story. Many of them tell negative stories but also weird and funny stories. They all seem to respect Junge. I questioned why they stuck by Knievel when many of his stunts appeared suicide missions. And also when he was nasty. A fascinating film about a charismatic and (ultimately) all too human, man.

Without Evel Knievel would we've been treated to such popular events as extreme sports, such shows as Jackass/The Dudeson's and would we've had superstars like Johnny Knoxville, The Crusty Demons and a range of other noteworthy names pushing the boundaries of what's expected from performers and athletes? It's an intriguing question and one that filmmaker Daniel Junge looks to answer in his by the books but insightful examination of Robert Craig Knievel's aka "Evel Knievel" rise and fall.Produced by Jackass lynchpins Johnny Knoxville and Jeff Tremaine, Being Evel is a clear love letter from the two gentleman and in particular Knoxville who was inspired by Knievel as a child so much so that he became the household name he is today. Knoxville spends time in front of the camera speaking about Knievel's impact on his life and the admiration he has for him shines through but Junge's trump card is the amount of Knievel acquaintances he manages to round up to talk intimately about the performer who pushed himself and pushed away those he loved with a prickly, womanising demeanour that eventually drove him off the edge.Being Evel shows a clear divide between the Evel the thousands upon thousands of crowd members saw and the one that operated behind closed doors and those who believe Evel to be a lovable American flag waver will be shocked by some of the man's behavioural tendencies from an explosive temper, unfaithfulness to his loved ones and desire to push himself no matter the physical or mental costs.Utilising the talking heads with ample archival footage, Junge collates everything into a clearly decipherable manner but the documentary never strays to far from its TV like roots and there are moments throughout the film where the interest levels will waver but there always bought back around again with Evel's next outlandish actions never too far away.In the age in which boundaries are being pushed daily through professional and more Youtube like ways, Evel Knievel's antics may now seem a little "so what" but there's little point in denying that his the granddaddy of the showmanship and conceptual ideas of the modern day extreme athletes and performers. Being Evel is a must watch for Knievel fans and an insightful (if overly workmanlike) event for us bystanders.3 blinged up walking canes out of 5

Robert "Evel" Kneivel was a daredevil, a hustler, and a good-looking young man whose motorcycling jumping, attempted without any respect to what we would now call health and safety, thrilled audiences who, as he once said, "didn't want him to die, but wanted to be there if he did". He came to live his own legend, firstly by attempting insanely stupid things (for example, the Snake River "jump") because his reputation demanded it, and ultimately by coming to believe he could make his own rules (something which led him to cheat on his wife, go to prison for assault, and so on). The latter cost him his lucrative endorsements and his later life was lived in the shadow of his earlier fame. On a purely technical level, it could be said that Evel wasn't even especially talented (although his primitive equipment didn't help) - he is after all a man most famous for crashing - but in some ways, the self-promotion is the story, and for those of us who grew up in the 1970s, he remains an iconic figure, a superhero in the flesh. Consider him just a celebrity and the arc of his life, crashing to earth like the Snake River rocket-bike, makes more sense. 'Being Evel' is a fascinating exploration of a complex and iconic figure; and gives you some sympathy for the man, even though he could be a monster. There are easier ways to make a living than he did; and in some ways, simply 'Being Evel' was far harder work than any of his stunts.