'Lords of' Letdown

Spending countless hours ollieing and doing 360s on a crappy skateboard in my driveway during early adolescence and seeing documentarian Stacy Peralta's "Dogtown and Z-Boys" a few years back served as a worthwhile primer to "Lords of Dogtown," a dramatized account of the aforementioned non-fiction film.\nChronicling the mid-1970s advent of skateboarding, "Dogtown" focuses on three teenagers: Jay Adams (Emile Hirsch), Tony Alva (Victor Rasuk) and Peralta himself (John Robinson), and their roles in pioneering and extending the sport beyond its infancy. Aiding the kids in their conquest is Skip Engblom (Heath Ledger, who seems like he's impersonating Val Kilmer impersonating Jim Morrison), a skate and surf shop owner who sponsors each boy on his Zephyr Skate Team (hence, "Z-Boys"). As the sport's popularity increases, so does each boy's fame, resulting in swaying alliances to Engblom and one another.\nAs directed by Catherine Hardwicke, who made her feature debut in 2003 with the R-rated 'Afterschool Special' "Thirteen," "Dogtown" has energy to spare. The skateboarding sequences are the best fictitious ones ever to be laid down on celluloid. Hirsch, Rasuk and Robinson endured three months of skate and surf training under the tutelage of Alva and Peralta, lending the boarding bits authenticity as viewers can actually see the actors' faces while they're skating. Hardwicke's decision to continue the hand-held, documentary-esque style she established on "Thirteen" also pays dividends, as much of the thrashing is caught by a skateboard-riding cameraman -- upping the visceral kick.\nWhile the look, feel and soundtrack (consisting of Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, Rod Stewart, Iggy Pop and David Bowie among many others) of "Dogtown" feels right, the film is not without its problems. Peralta's script doesn't so much tell a story as it sets up a series of foggy vignettes. Obviously, the man's strengths lie in documentary filmmaking (he also made the great big wave surfing doc "Riding Giants") as opposed to feature screenwriting.\nThe acting quality is also divergent. Ledger and Hirsch both do wonders in their roles, but they're given the most to work with. Rasuk is neither good nor bad, but rather somewhere in between. Robinson lacks the screen presence of his co-stars and often gives the same line reading for fluctuating emotional states. Worse yet is Michael Angarano as Sid, the boys' cancer-ridden friend, who often seems as if he stumbled into the wrong movie.\nWhile entertaining and visually appealing, "Lords of Dogtown" is ultimately a letdown. Viewers would be better served by revisiting "Dogtown and Z-Boys" or seeing it for the first time.