Miller film a ‘sick’ experience
Amid nearly two hours of fast-paced, high-energy, powder-slicing skiing movie action last week in the Kent Concert Hall, ski and snowboard fans were treated to a sick experience.
Not the kind of sick where someone doesn’t listen to their mother and wear their long johns outside and ends up with the sniffles. It’s also not the kind of sick where someone breaks their leg with the bone fully exposed through the skin – though that has likely happened before when making these films.
No, the experience that fans of extreme winter sports witnessed last week at Warren Miller’s new ski movie “Journey,” was just sick – meaning pretty dang awesome.
The 54th installment of Miller’s epic ski flicks did not disappoint the half-full auditorium at the Thursday showing of “Journey.” The auditorium was half-full in an optimistic sort of way, with hundreds of people rabidly awaiting the opportunity to break out their winter equipment and hit the slopes.
The temptation for many to skip school or work so they could make first tracks on the mountain was ever-increased after seeing the flips, turns and death-defying jumps that have come to define Miller’s genre over the years.
Set to a diverse soundtrack consisting of orchestral ballads, ’80s hits, alternative power and everything in between, the movie set a unique mood for every scene giving the viewers the feeling that every picture was irreplaceable in the total scope of the film.
The journey the film went on traveled quickly around the world. From Portillo, Chile and Chamonix, France to Morocco and The Canyons, Utah, “Journey” found every inch of snow in the world and filmed someone skiing on it.
Winter enthusiasts young and old turned out to see Thursday’s showing of the movie. Although the majority of the audience did look of the younger persuasion, some more experienced Miller movie viewers were in attendance.
“We’ve seen all of Warren’s movies and this one might be the best,” said 75-year-old Herm Rawlins and his wife Gayle.
Gayle said she liked the movie a lot because the music selection was more appropriate than in years past. She said each song seemed to have a meaning to the film while past movies have had music that was “just a lot of noise.”
The movie found many ways to break away from just skiing and snowboarding footage, often showing the athletes interaction with their environments as a way to mix up the footage.
One scene at No-Wake Lake in Helena, Mont. saw the athletes driving a snowmobile – on the water. Towed behind the snowmobile was a water skier using his feet for skis.
Other scenes saw the athletes fishing in Alaska and catching Saint Bernard-sized salmon and one scene from Verbier, Switzerland saw athlete Loic-Jean Albert jumping out of a helicopter and with his wing suit, literally flying down the mountain at 80 miles an hour.
Perhaps the largest applause of the night came during the only scene filmed in Utah at The Canyons ski resort.
The scene featured skiers coming down the mountain and skimming across a large puddle of water from melted snow. Most of the athletes who attempted to make it across the mini-lake fell into the water, including the man who attempted the stunt in just his underwear.
In the end, the movie provided a little something for everyone, leaving many waiting for more snowfall so some of the movie’s exploits could be tried first-hand.
“Great movie, it’s always a great movie, these guys just do some wicked stuff on those mountains,” said USU student Nate Janes, an undeclared sophomore.
Janes said his favorite part of the movie was the snowmobiles driving on the water.
Asked to sum up the movie in one word, Janes did not say it was cool, gnarly, rad or neat – he said, “It was sick.”
-str@cc.usu.edu