Stoked The Rise and Fall of Gator

[Kimberly]

Maybe it was becuase I remember going with my brother and a few of his friends to the Swatch Impact Tour... or maybe it's because it brought back memories of being a sophomore/junior in high school, hanging out at "the block" in the back of Consumers with the guys... listening to DK and Suicidal Tendencies watching them skate...

Whatever it was I really enjoyed this movie. They nailed the look and feeling of the skating heyday (yeah, yeah I know it's still really popular and stuff). Tons of skaters are interviewed (Tony Hawk, Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero, and a bunch of others) about the rise to superstardum of Mark Gator Rogowski and the fall from turning into a total corporate whore and the growing popularity of street skating. From being loved and adored one day and the next day it's all gone... apparently it's too much for a young kid to handle. So, he goes and kills his former gf's friend (sexually assaults her, wacks her with The Club and dumps her). He then goes to the police... confesses... goes to jail... then changes his plea... no wait then says yeah I did do it.

The film is narrated by Gator via answering machine messages left for the director (CA law prohibits on camera interviews of convicts).

I know the director wanted to give an "outsiders" view of what happened, someone who wasn't in or into the skating scene. Mike Vallely says in one of the extras on the disc (which there's lots of extras) who wants to see a movie about skating by skaters... it's better to have an "outsiders" view of what happened (or something to that effect). So with that...

My opinion...

He was everywhere at the height of his popularity... fame is gone... so he turns to God, which to me was an attempt to say hey look at me... same goes for his killing of that girl... same goes for his detailed confession to the police... same goes for his changing his plea... same goes for his changing his mind again... all the way down to his prison narration... to me it ALL comes off as him wanting attention.

Really good movie...