Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

Supercross Blu-ray Movie Review

Cross this one off the "to watch" list.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 7, 2015

Supercross gets by not by the skin of its teeth but rather the dirt under its tires, the flips through the air, the thrill of speed, and the adulation that comes with victory. That's good, because it certainly doesn't thrive on dramatic creativity. Supercross is, dramatically, one of the stalest and most trite movies ever made, recycling every single angle under the sun: brotherly competition on and off the track, personal and career ups and downs, parallel love interests, and so on and so forth. The movie's entire being off the track depends on the audience caring enough about the racing to sit through the recycled rubbish to get to the good stuff that's only exciting and never spectacular, at least not in the same way something like On Any Sunday: The Next Chapter can be labeled "spectacular." This is a Supercross action highlight reel forced into a stale plot that doesn't matter and accomplishes nothing other than allow the filmmakers to call this a "movie" rather than a "sports video."

Zoom zoom.

Brothers Trip (Mike Vogel) and K.C. (Steve Howey) grew up on the track. They clean pools by day but dream of a career in racing and becoming champions at Supercross. Trip is more of a risk taker on the bike while K.C. plays it more conservatively. But it's K.C.'s skills that attract a corporate sponsor. He's signed on to race for an up-and-coming bike company but is essentially forced to ride as support for the company's longstanding superstar, meaning that he can never win while wearing their uniform. Unsurprisingly, he's none too thrilled with the prospect of playing second fiddle but at the same time sees the career opportunities of big sponsorship. Meanwhile, he develops a relationship with one of his pool cleaning clients, Zoe Lang (Sophia Bush). Trip, disappointed that he's been left behind, finds solace in the arms of his new girlfriend Piper Cole (Cameron Richardson) and finds an independent sponsor allowing him to ride as a "privateer." Will he and his brother clash on the track or will fate make them work together to reach Supercross glory?

Ho-hum. Supercross earns a barely passing grade for its technical proficiency and motorcycle racing excitement, but it's a black hole as far as everything else is concerned, a completely empty, vapid, totally unoriginal movie that's not distinctive in any way. Whether the sibling rivalry, the burgeoning romances, or the way Trip and K.C.'s suddenly disparate but destined-for-closeness careers maneuver to reach the end, the film lacks even a sliver of creativity and leans on tired cliché after tired cliché to build a story in between bike action. If there's anything good to come out of the movie, it's that there's a decent chemistry between Vogel and Howey and Vogel and Richardson, making the sibling rivalry believable and the "aw shucks" attitude with Piper a satisfying means of building up a little sexual chemistry between them. Otherwise, the movie is devoid of anything meaningful outside of the races, which are, fortunately, well done.

On the track, Supercross generally impresses with its ability to capture the races both intimately and on a more general, broader scale. The film does a fine job of showcasing the speed, agility, and competition of the race, whether on the biggest stage and featuring the best competitors or out in the country for a little sibling or friendly rivalry. There are plenty of big air jumps and flips and slow motion footage galore that may not capture the raw intimacy and detail viewers saw in the aforementioned On Any Sunday, but the movie does well enough to capture the spectacle, grandeur, speed, and danger of the races, not to mention the skill of the drivers. There's additionally good variety to the photography, capturing the action from various on- and near-track perspectives and wider distance shots alike that help to create a fuller sense of the scale of each race. It's a shame the movie couldn't build a more intriguing story around the racing, because it's nearly worth the price of admission on its own.

Supercross Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Supercross zooms onto Blu-ray with a superficially decent-to-good, but ultimately middling, 1080p transfer. There's a nice undercoat here where natural grain, strong colors, and quality filmic details reside. The picture can, and often does, produce a vivid array of natural hues on bikes and driver uniforms while also showcasing earthy dirt terrains with distinction and accuracy. Those same dirt tracks often enjoy good, solid textures, as do faces, clothes, and bikes. But there's plenty of other things going on, too. Grain can go excessively sharp and details can smooth out and go soft. Compression artifacts and noise are frequent intrusions. Flesh tones can push warm and colors frequently appear washed out. Minor speckling and wear are evident. All of these little maladies add up and often negate the picture's better qualities, resulting in a frustrating, but hardly disastrous, presentation.

Supercross Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Supercross' Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack gets the job, and sometimes even with some mild flair. Surrounds are used fully for both music and effects; the former easily blends into the back and the latter, largely in the way of revving engines and racing bikes, rides through the backs with regularity. General clarity and attention to detail suffice across the board, be that instrumental music or the many sounds of racing. The track captures a good bit of ambience throughout, whether crowd applause or ringing phones and coughing in a hospital. All of the support effects enjoy natural placement and, like everything else, healthy surround usage. Dialogue is even and accurate with a consistent center channel placement.

Supercross Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Supercross contains no supplements, and no menu of any kind is included. Movie playback begins immediately upon disc insertion. Subtitles must be accessed in-film via the "subtitle" button on the remote.

Supercross Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Supercross should satisfy hardcore bike racing fans with its many well crafted action scenes, but anyone else looking for something to balance out the bikes will walk away completely disappointed. The movie's story is paper-thin and built entirely on tired, overused cliché. It's essentially a vessel that can carry the bike racing and offer something to the audience for those interludes when the engines need a cool-down. The sum total then is disappointing; there are other, better racing movies and documentaries available that don't insult the audience with the most unoriginal story in the book. Anchor Bay's featureless Blu-ray offers decent video and audio. Skip it.