Unrated much better than theatrical

Rating: 8/10 (28 January 2006)

First and foremost this movie is much better while watching the unrated version rather than the theatrical version. The main cast includes, Heath Ledger(Skip), Emil Hersch(Jay), Viktor Rasuk(Tony) ,and John Robinson(Stacy). Cathrine Hardwicke directed lords and it Stacy Peralta(original Z boy and director) wrote the screenplay. This is a story version of some of the forefathers of modern skating. The z-boys revolutionized skateboarding with there aggressive style and attitude. Cathrine Hardwicke does a great job of taking maybe 10 years and combining them into 2 or 3. The unrated version of lords shows all the stuff that woulda help make it the movie it should have been. The dialogue is better to say the least. A couple of the major flaws in Lords is the fact that many years had to be crammed into a short few. You aren't able to delve as deep into some of the characters stories as you might like. In my case some of the other z boys stories. Stacy, Jay, and Tony are clearly the best and most exciting but it would be nice to know more about the others. The Stars of this movie were the killer soundtrack, Heath ledger, and Emil Hersch. The soundtrack had the sound of Venice California in the 70's and was a integral part of the movie. Heath was absolutely amazing as skip. His feeling as a drunk surfer with more things on his plate than he knew what to do with was perfect. He did enough to cement himself in the industry for at least another decade or two. Emil Hersch portrayed Jay Adams as most people could have wanted him to. You got more emotion and feeling from his eyes than from his dialect in some instances. He is a rising actor that will be a great actor of the future. Lords of Dogtown did enough to satisfy the skate crowd and the masses. The acting and soundtrack does enough to keep people watching.