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Kayak DVD Review: Sick Line 3 - The story unfolds.

General

At this stage I think we all know what to expect from the Sick Line series. Sick lines, and lots of them. And that's exactly what you get here. High gradient rivers around the world are paddled by high profile paddlers, and filmed by Olaf Obsommer for our viewing pleasure. Sweet!

Action

The action is all top notch, Precision boating. The filming is slick and professional, as you would expect, and the rivers are the stuff of our fantasies.

History

The film starts with some interesting archive footage of back in the day boating. Stuff which probably dates back to the fifties. There is also a little bit of a history lesson in the central Europe section which puts a nice contrast against the modern boating that follows. Perhaps an attempt by Olaf to put this whole kayaking thing into perspective?

Locations

The New Zealand section starts with a slow spinning panorama shot, which for me, is the best piece of photography I have ever seen in any kayak film.

The section that follows features the usual great boating, with the obligatory use of choppers for the shuttle. Although the boating of this section is great, I found the over-documentation of the off-the-water activities a bit much. Someone should stop those Kiwi lads watching jackass for a while. Having lived in New Zealand myself for a few years I naturally gravitated to this section for the nostalgia.

Italy plays host to some very well known boaters, including Debs Pinniger and Corran Addison. Corran gives lessons in how to run a river backwards, and this section entertains all who don't suffer from claustrophobia.

Norway. What can be said about Norway that hasn't been said already? Nothing really. Here you get it, well paddled and perfectly filmed. All those huge falls and super steep runs make me want to start robbing banks just so I can afford to live here.

Now, as if all this were not enough, Olaf has kindly put THREE other films on here as bonus features. You get Sick Line 1 and 2. You also get a short freestyle film. Now that's what I call value for money!

Conclusion

Overall I found this to be a great film, worthy of a place in anybody's DVD collection. The filming style is good, yet Olaf has defiantly got his own style of film making, which is no bad thing in this day and age when every film seems the same. His use of the fish eye lens is interesting, as is the underwater camera angles and on boater mounted camera.

I could go on, but all you need to know is this is a great film. Simple as that.

- For Playak, tao