The director dips a toe in the interesting pool of subject matter, then drags it out and swims in dull, conversation with hardly enough footage
Ronnie Coleman has a pretty interesting life story.. and you think putting together a documentary about his fall into being crippled with commentary from several other bodybuilders would be interesting.. but it's not. Mainly because the direction the director takes is all wrong. I feel like the director got just 20 minutes of footage, and added fillers to meet a deadline and make the film.
To make my point, there is a lot of fillers in the documentary like Ronnie asking his kids after he picked them up from daycare if they brought a jacket and having a discussion. Then there's an entire scene I skipped where the wife is talking about her life and the kids personalities. The backstory of Ronnie is told from photos that pop up while Ronnie is narrating from his house. Then all the interesting moments like the Olympia contests are skipped over or show very little footage, or quick camera shots of his metroflex gym. They also show the interviewers talking a lot to fill more time as well. Example: "I heard you have your own gym". Ronnie:"yeah wanna see it?" Interviewer" "yeah let's see it" then a minute footage of them walking to the gym.. but then 10 seconds of footage of the actual gym. The order of scenes could've been inrpoved too. You learn an important detail in the beginning of the film before the film leads up to it. The story of Ronnie is way more interesting. Here is how it could've been improved:
Focus a lot more on the surgeries and his weakness. Focus on the Olympia contests Show videos of his police station or more videos of him working on the force Show videos of his hometown or visit locations with Robbie, rather than talking about them. Ask better questions, like "did you do steroids?" Rather than learning about his supplement line business, are there any pitfalls or drama regarding this? The film steps into it but then drags it's foot out. The interviews are scattered and boring as hell.. streamline this and make it better. Add some music or something. Add footage! Show more of metroflex, machines, other people using weights, etc.
by the end of it I learned very little and felt like I wasted my time. Luckily I skipped the scenes of his wife talking about what her kids like to do for fun or what she does to spare some time. I learned what I could've learned on Wikipedia in about 5 -10 minutes.
Bonus round . Actual scene from the movie that proves it's dullness paraphrased:
Ronnie: I ate pizza at work because it was free. I got tired of eating pizza. I called up the burger place and asked if they were tired of burgers. The said yeah.. I said I was tired of pizza. I went to go work at the burger place for free burgers.. I got sick of eating burgers. I called up the chicken place next door, hey you tired of eating free chicken? Yeah I'm tired of eating free burgers. So I went to work at the chicken place.. this scene is actually much longer and dragged out.
Ronnie Coleman has a pretty interesting life story.. and you think putting together a documentary about his fall into being crippled with commentary from several other bodybuilders would be interesting.. but it's not. Mainly because the direction the director takes is all wrong. I feel like the director got just 20 minutes of footage, and added fillers to meet a deadline and make the film.
To make my point, there is a lot of fillers in the documentary like Ronnie asking his kids after he picked them up from daycare if they brought a jacket and having a discussion. Then there's an entire scene I skipped where the wife is talking about her life and the kids personalities. The backstory of Ronnie is told from photos that pop up while Ronnie is narrating from his house. Then all the interesting moments like the Olympia contests are skipped over or show very little footage, or quick camera shots of his metroflex gym. They also show the interviewers talking a lot to fill more time as well. Example: "I heard you have your own gym". Ronnie:"yeah wanna see it?" Interviewer" "yeah let's see it" then a minute footage of them walking to the gym.. but then 10 seconds of footage of the actual gym. The order of scenes could've been inrpoved too. You learn an important detail in the beginning of the film before the film leads up to it. The story of Ronnie is way more interesting. Here is how it could've been improved:
Focus a lot more on the surgeries and his weakness. Focus on the Olympia contests Show videos of his police station or more videos of him working on the force Show videos of his hometown or visit locations with Robbie, rather than talking about them. Ask better questions, like "did you do steroids?" Rather than learning about his supplement line business, are there any pitfalls or drama regarding this? The film steps into it but then drags it's foot out. The interviews are scattered and boring as hell.. streamline this and make it better. Add some music or something. Add footage! Show more of metroflex, machines, other people using weights, etc.
by the end of it I learned very little and felt like I wasted my time. Luckily I skipped the scenes of his wife talking about what her kids like to do for fun or what she does to spare some time. I learned what I could've learned on Wikipedia in about 5 -10 minutes.
Bonus round . Actual scene from the movie that proves it's dullness paraphrased:
Ronnie: I ate pizza at work because it was free. I got tired of eating pizza. I called up the burger place and asked if they were tired of burgers. The said yeah.. I said I was tired of pizza. I went to go work at the burger place for free burgers.. I got sick of eating burgers. I called up the chicken place next door, hey you tired of eating free chicken? Yeah I'm tired of eating free burgers. So I went to work at the chicken place.. this scene is actually much longer and dragged out.