You don’t have to be a skateboarder to know the name Tony Hawk and HBO has clearly recognized his influence in their decision to make a documentary about him. In fact, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes shows that the title has received a perfect score of 100% from the critics.
Tony Hawk: Until The Wheels Fall Off is an in-depth look at the famed skateboarding icon, focusing on intimate interviews with the man himself and panning out into on-screen talks with prominent figures such as his peers from the 1980s. For example, fans can expect to see interviews with a number of Stacey Peralta’s Bones Brigade, including Rodney Mullen, Mike McGill and Lance Mountain.
The trailer shows Hawk saying: "I always felt a little displaced…but I found this thing that I loved and I had so much more to prove." He describes how critical the crowds used to be and how hard he had to work, describing himself as "becoming a machine" in order to raise himself up and achieve recognition in the industry. When he did make it, he says that he never expected to be thrust into the public eye.
Early reviews from critics indicate it’s well worth checking out.
- Douglas Davidson from Elements of Madness was impressed with the tone of the documentary: “... the unabashed warmth, affection, and frankness with which Hawk as a person is explored exceeds any kind of expectation one might have.”
- Collider’s Ross Bonaime was pulled into the thrill of skateboarding after watching it:: “Jones…creates a captivating, edge-of-your-seat documentary that manages to make the idea of landing a trick a genuinely moving scenario.”
- Cheyenne Roundtree from The Daily Beast praised it by saying: “Jones set out to tell an intimate and raw story of Hawk’s journey, his relationship to skateboarding, and the all-too-real consequences of deeply loving something that could spell your end but soldiering on with reckless abandon.”
Viewers in the US can tune in to HBO at 9 pm ET on 5 April to watch the documentary and streamers can load up HBO Max from this date to watch it also.
Viewers in the UK will have to wait until 11 April, when it will be showing on Sky Showcase at 10 pm. It will also be available to view on-demand on Sky.com.
This isn’t Hawk’s first time on-screen, as he first appeared in the 1986 movie Thrashin’ as a skater double and featured skateboarder for Josh Brolin. Since then, he has appeared in movies such as Jackass: The Movie, Lords of Dogtown and the animated feature Tony Hawk in Boom Boom Sabotage where he voiced himself.
