BENNETT INVENTORY : That Moment

Airborne -- The Devil's Backbone

What was the most intense sequence to come out of 1993 Cinema? The T.Rex attack in Jurassic Park? The alien abduction in Fire in the Sky? The opening scene of Cliffahnger? Nothing but turkey shoots with extra tryptophan when compared to the climax of the Rollerblading Epic Airborne. If you think I'm joking it's because you haven't seen it, and if you have it's time to face the facts. 

The plot is mechanical and tedious. Very quickly: High Schooler Mitchell is forced to leave behind his gnarly California lifestyle and move in with his aunt and uncle in grey Ohio. All the Midwestern kids hate him and bully him for reasons that are poorly explained. Differences are set aside when Mitchell and his tormentors join forces for an inline skating race against a whole other set of bullies: rollerblading through residential and city streets on a route they've named The Devil's Backbone. 

The race isn't only the singular set piece of the movie, it's clearly the reason the whole movie was made: We wanna shoot this incredible extravaganza of stunts, so we need to build a story around it. The film has other choreographed moments of conflict and action and comedy, but in those moments you're just witnessing the by-the-book screenwriting you see in a lotta Action and Comic Book movies. Fortunately in this case, this sorta "filler" (which occupies nearly the entire picture) translates into a sharply accurate pastiche of its time; it's the most 1993 movie there ever was. You can enjoy it for that, no apologies, and it'll certainly help you get through to the absolutely astonishing final 15 minutes. 

Unlike the aforementioned movies I mentioned (as well as just about every other movie ever) this sequence is completely on-camera athletics: no digital animation, no blue screen, no organized fighting, no death proof cars, just helmets and kneepads and balls. Think along the lines of Evel Knievel or Jackass but shot & cut with more panache and perseverance. No suspension of disbelief is required, because 1. the movie doesn't leave any room to become emotionally invested in the point of the outcome, 2. you really can't tell which skater is which character in the midst of the action, and 3. stars or stunt people, what you're seeing is real. The feats are performed in real time and flirt along the borders of magic tricks, but it's the wipeouts and collisions and accidents that cause you to bring your hand to your mouth and audibly gasp. I continue to have zero interest skating - watching or participating - but that's because this works on a different level; these are practical effects writ large and extreme. 

- Paul