|
TT3D: Closer to the Edge
| Released |
20 April 2011 |
| Director |
Richard De Aragues |
Starring
|
Guy Martin, Ian Hutchinson, John McGuinness, Michael Dunlop, Conor Cummins |
| Narrator |
Jared Leto |
Producer(s)
|
Steve Christian,
Marc Samuelson |
| Origin |
United Kingdom |
| Running Time |
103 minutes |
| Genre |
Documentary |
| Rating |
15A |
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Not just for gearheads.
The TT road race on the Isle of Man is one of the most famous and dangerous motorbike races in the world. Hardly a year goes by without at least one fatality. So what makes the competitors come back year after year, risking their lives? Richard de Aragues’s compelling documentary seeks to answer that question.
The film focuses on the build-up to the 2010 TT races. It introduces some of the main competitors who will be in contention. There’s the current champion John McGuinness, the young pretender Ian Hutchinson, and Isle of Man born Conor Cummins. Northern Ireland’s Michael Dunlop is also featured. His presence brings home the danger of the sport and he lost both his father Robert and his uncle, the legendary Joey, to crashes in road races.
There’s no doubt the star of the show though is England’s Guy Martin. When initially introduced as a humble lorry mechanic, you wonder who this scruffy oddball with the mutton-chop sideburns is. He looks and sounds like a member of ‘70s band Slade. It turns out that he’s a rising star in the TT world. With his blunt northern charm, he quickly emerges as a very charismatic, rebellious figure and you’ll soon be rooting for him.
The clock counts down to the races and shows all aspects of the sport. It shows the competitors and their families at home and how they live with the constant danger involved. It also shows the engine tuners and the teams who provide the backup to the riders. It also highlights the beauty of the Isle of Man itself and examines how tough the course is.
The tone takes a dark turn halfway through though when the narrator, actor and musician Jared Leto, reveals that some riders will die in the forthcoming races. TT enthusiasts will already know what has happened, but for viewers unfamiliar with the actual 2010 races, it makes the second half of the documentary a real exercise in suspense. Now the film-makers may be accused of exploiting the tragedies involved but there’s no doubt it makes it exciting and perhaps informs people as to why the competitors take the risks they do. The narrative becomes less focused on the races and more on whether the main protagonists will survive them.
This is an excellent documentary that really brings you into the world of the racers, without ignoring the serious issues that the sport faces. Motor-racing enthusiasts or “gearheads” will love looking at how engines are put together and at the 3D coverage of the racing itself. Indeed, one jaw-dropping crash is captured so beautifully that it looks like something John Woo would be proud of.
It’s up to the non-racing enthusiasts to judge whether these people are mad to take the risks they do or whether they’re getting the most from life, which is their justification.
However there’s no doubting that this is a fine piece of work and could well be the sort of break-out documentary which actually raises the profile of the TT races.
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Jim O’Connor |
