Saturday, June 27, 2020

RAD [1986]

If it were possible for a movie to wear an electric pink fluorescent headband, RAD would wear it! 


The time-honoured tale of a kid torn between taking his SATs or qualifying for the BMX event of the year: Helltrack! A soundtrack that sounds more 80's than ANY 80's film soundtrack ever recorded; even managing to sandwich Real Life's classic "Send Me An Angel" in between John Farnham's pulsating 80's rock songs!
Quite a few instances of questionable acting and a screenplay so cheesy that I was bound up for a week after watching RAD. A whole lot of totally rad BMX bike stunts. Plus -- the movie that made "ass-sliding" a thing! All of this should add up to a really bad movie -- and RAD IS a bad movie -- but somehow all this stuff actually adds up to a hell of a good time and a fun . . . well . . . really rad movie! I can't tell you how much this film took me back to the mid-1980's. I never owned (nor even rode) a BMX but the vibe of this movie was soooooooo mid-80's, it gave me a rush of nostalgia which I don't usually get. If I had been 10 years old when RAD came out, I probably would've thought it was the best movie ever made! Not the greatest BMX movie ever made (that honour goes to the immortal BMX BANDITS) but this surprise Vinegar Syndrome blu-ray/4K release with the combo lenticular/holographic slipcover for their Halfway-To-Black Friday sale made my day!!!

No comments: