Hollywood Snowboarding – Extreme Ops

This is a movie that was released in 2002 and I’m amazed that I’d never heard of it until recently - It is epic. Set in the brilliantly named Karawanken Range in

Austria

and featuring Pete Sampras’ wife, normally reliable actor Rufus Sewell, and some bloke who used to be in EastEnders, it’s a budget version of Cliffhanger with going-down-mountains replacing the going-up-mountains format. The working tile was “The Extremists” but due to other events at the time that had to be dropped rapidly...

Here’s the trailer...

It’s a hectic trailer and its very representative of what the full movie is like. It’s an hour and a half of stunts and explosions based around a pretty weak plot. It was interesting to watch from a snowboarding perspective though and here’s a few of the things I learned.

10 things I learned about snowboarding…

1. Sean White is shit. One of the guys in the movie pulls off a 2160 Triple McTwist…twice…over eight years ago…in step-in bindings. He has also mastered the same trick on a skateboard jumping between the carriages of a moving train.

2. Step-in bindings are awesome.

3. It is possible to jump from a four story tall building onto bar top when you are drunk.

Fact

4. If you are in the Alps, at a high altitude, there is a small window of opportunity at about 3am in the morning when there is enough ambient light to snowboard and it is warm enough for you to be able to wear ripped jeans and a woolen jumper.

5. Perspective is a strange thing when snowboarding. When filmed at distance you will appear to be awesome at snowboarding. However if you are filmed in a close up shot it will make it look like you are either very bad at snowboarding or that you have a completely different face.

6. If you find yourself being chased by baddies in a helicopter, launch your snowboard at them and you will be able to spear one out of the sky no problem.

Fact

7. You can safely outrun an avalanche and have enough time to film yourself doing it.

8. Two people on a single snowboard can ride as fast as a normal snowboarder.

9. You can land comfortably if forced to make an impromptu 100m jump from a ski lift.

10. When your friends start tow-rope snowboarding behind a train make sure that you film the action while hanging upside down underneath the train.

Fact

***Spoiler Alert***

Despite the terrorists best efforts the team manages to film a commercial and take it back to the client who is mildly happy with the results.

It’s available to buy on iTunes if you fancy watching it.

Bonus Movie Review – Hot Tub Time Machine

I also saw this movie the other day. After watching Extreme Ops it is possible that the whole concept was derived from just a small part of that awesome movie.

A bit like Snakes on a Plane, you know what you are getting before you watch the movie. Unfortunately there is only a little bit of snowboarding by a fat lad who dresses entirely in the colour of depression.