In the 1993 sports-themed adventure-comedy/fish-out-of-water teen-comedy story "Airborne," California-born-and-bred teenage surfer/in-line skater Mitchell Goosen (Shane McDermott, in his only big-screen film role) learns that there are some things in life that are worth fighting for - like the love of his dream girl and the respect of his sworn enemy (who also happens to be the brother of his dream girl).
Things get underway in "Airborne" when Mitchell's zoologist parents get a research grant that will whisk them away to Australia to study wombats for six months. Because Mitchell cannot be out of school for that long, they instead ship him off to live with his goofy, nerdy, working-class aunt and uncle in Cincinnati, Ohio - which might as well as be the Land Down Under to him, anyway. His only real friend becomes their son, his misfit cousin Wiley (Seth Green).
Right away, Mitchell butts heads with the local hockey-playing meat-head jocks, whom he irritates with his affability and California-borne surfer-bum mellow attitude, and the fact that he's flirting with, and getting all the attention, of the girls - their girls. "Don't mess with other people's property," Mitchell is warned. A botched hockey game later, Mitchell and Wiley later become the targets of cruel pranks and verbal harassment by their school's toughs, who are led by Jack (Chris Conrad) and his number-two Augie (a pre-fame Jack Black).
Things start looking up for Mitchell when he eyes the tall, blonde-haired high school beauty Nikki (Brittney Powell), who, of course - and not really spoiling anything here - later turns out to be Jack's sister. But throughout it all, Mitchell never breaks his cool: a reformed surfer hooligan himself who never once hesitated to throw the first punch, he now counts Popeye and Gandhi amongst his personal heroes, the latter of whom he has even co-opted his core philosophy of non-violence and passive resistance as his own (hence, Mitchell's never backing down even when confronted with physical harm by his adversaries). Later inspired by a dream involving a tidal wave and a Spanish-speaking shark named "Pepe," Mitchell eventually manages to find an appropriate middle ground where he can readily resolve his conflicts - while not always addressing his own needs in return, exactly - without compromising his values. In other words, he learns to go after what he really wants, and he also comes to discover that there ARE some things in life that are worth fighting for.
Mitchell and Wiley's battles with Jack and his goons are set amongst the backdrop of a simmering conflict between Jack's gang of working-class toughs, and a group of cackling, uber-wealthy, upper-crust elites from a rival high school who have been continually putting them down and besting them at pretty much everything they do. It all culminates in a spectacularly choreographed - by professional in-line skater Chris Edwards and his Team Rollerblade - 10-minute, no-holds-barred, all-or-nothing, downhill in-line skating race where pretty much everything is at stake. But, will Mitchell save the day with his finely-tuned rollerblading skills, after he gets asked to join his former bullies-turned-allies in the race? Will he get Nikki, the girl of his dreams? Will he finally be able to call his nemesis Jack his friend in the end?
Directed by Rob Bowman, in his feature-film directorial debut, "Airborne" was one of my favorite movies when I was a young kid growing up in the early to mid-1990s, and it still is. It was a perpetual go-to movie to watch on lazy weekend afternoons or in the early mornings before I went to school.
Of course, what struck my interest in the film were the deftly choreographed in-line skating sequences. Having grown up a casual neighborhood rollerblader myself, it was nice to see a movie where in-line skating was one of the central subjects of the film ("Airborne" may just be one of the only mainstream Hollywood films to address rollerblading as a valid sports pastime, and was a few years before the booming popularity of professional skateboarder Tony Hawk). And of course, for me, "Airborne's" major draw is the climatic final race, which is as thrilling as it is staged and executed by the film's actors and legion of professional stunt performers. (In a funny aside, when I was growing up in the mid-'90s and whenever "Airborne" came on television, I always somehow or another came across the final racing sequence. I don't know how or why that was, but call it one of my fondest memories from my childhood.)
I still can't believe that "Airborne" will be turning 30 on September 17.
My, how time flies.
10/10.
Things get underway in "Airborne" when Mitchell's zoologist parents get a research grant that will whisk them away to Australia to study wombats for six months. Because Mitchell cannot be out of school for that long, they instead ship him off to live with his goofy, nerdy, working-class aunt and uncle in Cincinnati, Ohio - which might as well as be the Land Down Under to him, anyway. His only real friend becomes their son, his misfit cousin Wiley (Seth Green).
Right away, Mitchell butts heads with the local hockey-playing meat-head jocks, whom he irritates with his affability and California-borne surfer-bum mellow attitude, and the fact that he's flirting with, and getting all the attention, of the girls - their girls. "Don't mess with other people's property," Mitchell is warned. A botched hockey game later, Mitchell and Wiley later become the targets of cruel pranks and verbal harassment by their school's toughs, who are led by Jack (Chris Conrad) and his number-two Augie (a pre-fame Jack Black).
Things start looking up for Mitchell when he eyes the tall, blonde-haired high school beauty Nikki (Brittney Powell), who, of course - and not really spoiling anything here - later turns out to be Jack's sister. But throughout it all, Mitchell never breaks his cool: a reformed surfer hooligan himself who never once hesitated to throw the first punch, he now counts Popeye and Gandhi amongst his personal heroes, the latter of whom he has even co-opted his core philosophy of non-violence and passive resistance as his own (hence, Mitchell's never backing down even when confronted with physical harm by his adversaries). Later inspired by a dream involving a tidal wave and a Spanish-speaking shark named "Pepe," Mitchell eventually manages to find an appropriate middle ground where he can readily resolve his conflicts - while not always addressing his own needs in return, exactly - without compromising his values. In other words, he learns to go after what he really wants, and he also comes to discover that there ARE some things in life that are worth fighting for.
Mitchell and Wiley's battles with Jack and his goons are set amongst the backdrop of a simmering conflict between Jack's gang of working-class toughs, and a group of cackling, uber-wealthy, upper-crust elites from a rival high school who have been continually putting them down and besting them at pretty much everything they do. It all culminates in a spectacularly choreographed - by professional in-line skater Chris Edwards and his Team Rollerblade - 10-minute, no-holds-barred, all-or-nothing, downhill in-line skating race where pretty much everything is at stake. But, will Mitchell save the day with his finely-tuned rollerblading skills, after he gets asked to join his former bullies-turned-allies in the race? Will he get Nikki, the girl of his dreams? Will he finally be able to call his nemesis Jack his friend in the end?
Directed by Rob Bowman, in his feature-film directorial debut, "Airborne" was one of my favorite movies when I was a young kid growing up in the early to mid-1990s, and it still is. It was a perpetual go-to movie to watch on lazy weekend afternoons or in the early mornings before I went to school.
Of course, what struck my interest in the film were the deftly choreographed in-line skating sequences. Having grown up a casual neighborhood rollerblader myself, it was nice to see a movie where in-line skating was one of the central subjects of the film ("Airborne" may just be one of the only mainstream Hollywood films to address rollerblading as a valid sports pastime, and was a few years before the booming popularity of professional skateboarder Tony Hawk). And of course, for me, "Airborne's" major draw is the climatic final race, which is as thrilling as it is staged and executed by the film's actors and legion of professional stunt performers. (In a funny aside, when I was growing up in the mid-'90s and whenever "Airborne" came on television, I always somehow or another came across the final racing sequence. I don't know how or why that was, but call it one of my fondest memories from my childhood.)
I still can't believe that "Airborne" will be turning 30 on September 17.
My, how time flies.
10/10.