Jump London (2003) (TV)

Director:

Mike Christie

Release Date:

9 September 2003 (UK)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

Having developed from a childhood game, Free Running has been given global recognition due to a series of adverts for Toyota...

Plot Keywords:

Parkour

Cast

Jerome Ben Aoues	...	Himself
Sebastien Foucan	...	Himself
Thierry Lafon	...	Himself / The mayor of Lisses
Robert Pirès	...	Himself
Johann Vigroux	...	Himself
Jason White	...	Himself

Runtime:

UK:60 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Movie Connections:

Featured in James Bond: For Real (2006) (V)

Talked to death but has some amazing shots - but too few for an hour!

Having developed from a childhood game, Free Running has been given global recognition due to a series of adverts for Toyota, Nike and the BBC to name a few. The recognised creator of the discipline, which involves running and jumping over buildings and any other obstacles, comes to London with several others to run, skip and jump across many of the famous landmarks of the city.

Heavily trailed in the media, this television film promised much but sadly left me slightly underwhelmed. Part of the problem is just how long it is and how little material there is to fill it. The first 40 minutes is full of interviews with the free-runners, looking at the history of the discipline etc. This is interesting to a point, but it has the effect of talking up the subject to the point that, when the footage actually arrives, it is not as spectacular as it has been hyped as being. This is not to say that some of it is not amazing to watch, cause it is, but there are only a handful of really amazing jumps which, in my mind, do not justify an hour long film.

The other side effect of all this talking about the `discipline' is that it gets itself all tied up in it's own self importance. It becomes more than some guys jumping around, it becomes some sort of almost spiritual journey which just comes off sounding pretentious. Founcan himself is the guiltiest party in this regard. He talks in depth about how he is freeing himself on obstacles designed to ensnare and entrap him etc, and he does come off sounding like he's just a bit too smug and full of himself. It is a shame because he is a very athletic guy. The production company don't help things by contrasting footage of the running with footage of ballet and art - suggesting that this is worthy of the same stature.

Overall if I saw this coming on TV again I would definitely watch it, but I think I would deliberately skip the first half and watch the second half which actually allows the `discipline' to speak for itself. It never got as spectacular as the media blurbs made it sound but it is still very impressive. I'd get tired climbing stairs never mind jumping across rooftops!