Review of Jump London

Introduction

Gadzooks! Men leaping from building to building in a single bound! Crawling like spiders up bare walls! Balancing precariously on a balcony rail twenty stories up - and then leaping to the floor below! This is the stuff of super-heroes - and by rights this should provide a bigger kick than Spiderman! Hmmmm. Why doesn`t it then?
Now that`s a tough one to answer.

This video, featuring the build up to a series of `London Jumps` and the actual `jumps` themselves, is all about `Free Running` - or as the French originators have termed it, `Le Parkour`.

It starts off with a fairly good run through of the relatively brief history of `Le Parkour` from its humble origins in the urban Parisian suburb of Lisses. Featuring an interview with one of the sports originators, Sebastian Foucan, who remains one of it`s highest profile practitioners, we get much in the way of almost eastern style philosophy. `It`s about being free in cities and towns designed to contain them…`.

The sport is really about running through urban landscapes with complete freedom - leaping across fences and walls, over rooftops in particular and through the streets, unhindered by the standard obstacles of modern city life. And they`re damned good at it too, making light work of what appear to be dangerous daredevil stunts by any other name.

The conceit of this programme, originally commissioned by Channel 4, was to get permission for this trio of practitioners, led by Foucan, to `freerun` through (and over) classic monuments and landmarks of London. Amazingly, despite the usual misgivings about health and safety issues, many London landmarks gave permission for the runs to take place. Much of the documentary is then given over to the build up to the big day.

When the big day arrives, our expectations are extremely high. The list of locations includes the roofs of the The Royal Albert Hall, the Tate Modern, The Royal National Theatre, The City of London Schools, as well as the surface and turrets of HMS Belfast, the buildings that make up Wardour Street, The Mall and Trafalgar Square.

Unfortunately, when the run finally starts, some 44 minutes into the 55-minute programme, it is (sadly) less exhilarating than one might hope. Certainly there are some spectacular jumps, and amazing feats. And frankly, some of the camera moves are spectacular too - lending the film an almost choreographed feel. But the overall effect is one of anti-climax. Less good than one might hope.

Video

Nicely shot on Digi-Beta and 16mm film, a great deal of attention has been paid to the look and feel of the programme. It`s a flawless reproduction here, but as this is such a recent programme one wouldn`t expect anything less.

Audio

Much is made in the `Making of` featurette about the importance of the music in this documentary. It`s a strange brew of urban trip-hop that works extremely well with the slo-mo and sped up visuals, often lending the programme a dream-like quality. This works particularly well when contrasting the `freedom` of the runners with the drudgery of everyday city-life.

Features

There`s a Director`s commentary with Mike Christie (Director) and Mike Smith (Producer) pontificating about their approach. They come across as rather portly, middle-aged TV types in stark contrast to their ultra-cool subjects in this particular documentary. This adds nothing to the excitement of the run.

There`s also a `making of` featurette that goes even further in removing whatever magic was in the movie, detailing the painstaking planning that went into the run, belying the carefree `free-run` philosophy that supposedly underpins the sport. Even more disappointing are the mattresses that are placed below every dangerous jump. I guess the Health and safety executive insisted on it, and it was cleverly excluded from the final edit - so why show it here?

There are a couple of split screen jumps that add little to the affair, and some multi-angle jumps that may be informative to those wishing to emulate these real-life heroes.

Conclusion

No one could deny that the Free-Runners featured in `Jump London` are amazing athletes. They`re also incredible stuntmen who`s skills (just) outweigh their sense of adventure, and there are thrills to be had in this expertly crafted documentary. However, by the time the London runs begin, it all proves to be something of an anti-climax, following, as they do, one of the biggest drum-rolls ever committed to video tape. Clocking in at under an hour, and having already been broadcast on Channel 4, it`s difficult to imagine who will buy this tape. Certainly there are some diverting extras, but not enough to justify the outlay.