After a few years of hearing nothing but good things I decided to finally give ‘Rad’ a try. I figured that kids films can be kind of hit or miss, but with enough positive endorsements, I put this one expecting a pretty cheesy but enjoyable time…and thats pretty much what I got. No more, No less.
Its a basic tween/teen plotline…In a world in which bikes and stunt biking IS the be all and end all of living, a local business man with alterior motives sets up a 10k biking challenge to anyone who fancies themselves a winner. inviting several pro cyclists to take part in the challenge. But when a plucky local boy whos SO good at BMX’ing rocks up and wants to take part, well the powers that be will try everything in their powers to stop bikey man from biking a bike to win 10k to spend on a bike…or something.
Basically, the long and short of this movie is, if you’ve seen anything like ‘Footloose’, or ‘The Wizard’…you’ve seen this movie. The scripts SUPER 80’s fueled and hits every teen ‘team sports’ movie trope its possible to hit in a 90(ish) minute runtime. Its evenly paced, slows down a little bit in the middle, but is ultimately just a fairly by the numbers team drama movie made interesting and eccentric by the bike gimmick.
It’s technically proficient on the direction and cine front, it has a mixed ability cast who range from ‘barely able to string some sentences together’ through to full blown hamtastic electric performances…It’s got a really killer soundtrack…
I dunno, I wish I kind of had more to say about this one really, I was expecting something as OTT and nutty AS movies like ‘The Wizard’ or ‘Robot in the Family’ and it just…isnt…it’s actually kind of flat all things considered…perfect riffing fodder for sure if you want to get some beers and a few friends around for a screening. But it’s not as colourful or lively as other schlocky titles like ‘Miami Connection’ outside of the biking motif, it isnt as enthralling as many other weird films from this time. I didnt hate it by any stretch…I just kind of thought it was passably okay.
I honestly dont really know what I was expecting, maybe that it’d have been a bit more styalized, or had a bit more weirdness going on, or some stranger performances…or just…something a bit more bombastic than what was presented. But as it stands…I’d absolutely check this thing out again, and if you havent seen it i’d wholeheartedly recommend it. But temper your expectations. A lot of people have billed his as ‘one of the greats’ in terms of cheesy 80s b-movies…and I feel thats a bit of a stretch. I dont really feel this thing broke new ground.
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