All This Mayhem Review - ON IN LONDON

I like skate films (I count Dogtown and Z-boys as one of my favorite documentary films of all time), I love biographical films and I spent many weekends lusting after skater boys on the Southbank as a teen so as you can imagine, I was very keen to watch this highly anticipated Vice film. In my opinion it did not disappoint.

All This Mayhem is a documentary offering a never before seen account of the meteoric rise and plummeting fall of two of skateboarding’s most infamous stars. Chances are unless you were involved in the skating scene of the 90’s, you will never have heard of the Pappas brothers, however they changed professional skating forever and their turbulent life story is so scandalous it will make you wonder how they ever went un-noticed.

In a nutshell, Tas and Ben Pappas were two young, mouthy, ‘bogen’ brothers from the suburbs of Melbourne. Discovered as raw talent in their early teens by a skate label we would later know as Globe, the two boys set off on a tour of Australia. After tasting the rock and roll life style that goes hand in hand with professional skateboarding, the brothers soon find themselves living the dream, both on and off the ramp.

With world domination in mind, aged just 16 the inseparable pair make the leap to the states. Pushing the boundaries of vertical skateboarding with revolutionary stunts, in a whirlwind the brothers are sitting at the top of the international leader board and propelled to stardom. This culminates with Tas beating American skateboarding legend Tony Hawk to be crowned International World Champion.

But, as is so often the way, too much money, fame and fun at such a young age comes at a price and it is not long before self-destruction sets in and their lives spiral out of control. Way, way out of control.

The sub culture of skateboarding insists that much of the extreme lifestyle is documented on film, be that capturing new tricks on a half pipe or silly boyish behavior at home. (This is the scene that brought us Jackass after-all.) The director, Eddie Martin, skated with Tas and Ben as a teen and became fascinated by their story. Reaching out to the skate community he managed to source over 350 hours of Pappas brothers footage in order to give us a first hand look at the darker world of pro skating. And this is about as dark as it can get!

Whilst I would thoroughly recommend watching All This Mayhem both for entertainment value and as something of an education there were a few things that I felt they missed and that may have completely skewed our perception of the Pappas’s. Firstly Tony Hawk, who is cast as the corporate –sellout bad guy never actually has a voice. We hear insightful interviews from various faces in the skate world, but never the man himself. Why did he not want to comment? Secondly, they were brutally dropped from their team due to their fathers supposed embezzlement of sponsorship money. Evidently this was a key factor in their demise but was glossed over within about 2 minutes of film. I would have liked to explore that in more detail however that said, this story still has way more layers than your average skate documentary and more twists than a helter-skelter.