Richmond's (Aaron Doran) speed-skating promotion is doomed to be crushed by the European competition, but his son Tom (Christopher Noordman), a newly minted company executive, thinks he has the solution to all their problems, have a crack team of their win the first 24 hour skating race, held somewhere in Europe, so the spotlight is squarely on them. Problem is, the promotion doesn't have a crack team. Second problem is, due to his inexperience, Tom is partnered up with seasoned executive Vinston (Jeremy Moller), an asshole by all accounts.

Enter Mark (Samuel L. Pierce), who together with his friend Jake (Forrest Campbell) and love interest Angela (Hana Hyde) form a skating team, and they're pretty terrible, and their coach Frank (Corbin Mckay) is also terrible by his own admission. But he points the team to Danny (Doran Danielson), a former pro skater who has since lost his way but finds it again when Mark asks him to coach them. And he not only gets them to the National Championship but helps them win it - and luckily Tom and Winston are there to scout talent for the 24 hour race - and of course they end up with Mark and company in the end.

So it's off to Europe, where Mark and friends have to realize the competition is much tougher - but is this really something our heroes' passion and determination won't overcome? Maybe, but what they can't know is that Winston is actually intentionally sabotaging their chance to win in multiple ways, hoping to make a fortune in betting ...

To properly enjoy this movie, it probably helps if one's into sports dramas of the underdog variety, as it has all that makes this genre, with not only one but three underdog success stories, of course a redemption arc, plenty of training sequences, lots of inspirational talk, easily identifiable villains that get their comeuppance in the end (no spoiler here, it always happens in these movies). If that's not your cup of tea though, you'll probably still marvel at the süeed skating scenes, which look spectacular and were clearly filmed with great passion for the sport. So in all, a film that delivers exactly what it has set out to, that might not be the re-invention of the wheel but also is pretense-free but is pretty good at what it does.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

Feeling lucky? Want to search any of my partnershops yourself for more, better results? (commissions earned)

The links below will take you just there!!!

Find Off the Line at the amazons ...   amazon.com   amazon.co.uk   amazon.de Looking for imports? Find Off the Line here ...   eThaiCD.com Your shop for all things Thai

Thanks for watching !!!