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Skateboard DVD Video Reviews:Lakai’s Beware The Flare

Director: Ty Evans
Studio:
Released: June 2002
Rating: 2 Stars

Staring:
Brandon Biebel, Mike Carroll, Rick Howard, Marc Johnson, Scott Johnston, Anthony Pappalardo, Lucas Puig, J.J. Rousseau, Rob Welsh, Cairo Foster, Danny Garcia, Jeff Lonoce.

There’s an unwritten law of sk8 videos - shoe companies must make excellent videos. The general standard for excellence is quite high these days. Crappy videos just don’t cut it. Shoe companies have had a history of raising the bar with each film. Think about Osiris’ “The Storm*” or DVS’ “Skate More”. These films completely raised the bar, setting it so high that other industry greats had to scramble to attempt to keep up.

Lakai’s Beware The Flare is a tour video (not a favorite theme for me) which is a difficult format for making a good video. Obviously, the skaters were stoked to be on a European tour, but filming them on the same obstacles in a variety of foreign cities is kind of bland.

The allure of filming foreign tours are the exotic locations and spots that haven’t appeared in every other video out there. We’ve all seen California - nice weather, great beaches and stunning blondes. But the scene has been done - repeatedly. So, seeing a new spot or some cool architecture in the background is quite appealing.

During the three weeks between March 28 and April 15 of 2002, the Lakai Limited Footwear team toured Europe. Ty Evans and Dan Wolfe documented the tour in an attempt to bring you a video that gives the feeling of being on the road with the team. Well, I didn’t really feel it. Seeing skaters get on and off planes doesn’t give me a feeling of being with ‘em. The tagline to the video is, “A Documentary in the Making”. My advice is don’t stop now. Keep documenting until some exciting footage is captured.

Don’t get me wrong - the skating is very good, but these days that’s not enough. These pros are all tops in their own right and each one of them killed. My issue is with the bland - boring - editing. Being in Europe for 3 weeks CAN’T be boring! It’s too bad that Carroll banged his foot early on and didn’t get too much footy. At one point, they take a launch ramp to a cement park and use it to launch up the quarterpipe for a session. That made for some good film.

Beware The Flare’s Tour Stops

Germany: Ulm and Stuttgart
France: Paris and Toulouse
Spain: Barcelona and Madrid
Portugal: Lisbon

In Paris the team had to admit that no one knew the origin of the Eiffel Tower (aka: La Tour Eiffel). At 1,000 feet high, the tower was built for the International Exhibition of Paris of 1889 commemorating the centenary of the French Revolution.

It was later rededicated as the only symbol of France that any brainless kook would recognize in Hollywood films. It is used as a film backdrop (seen from every window) to any location that needs to be designated as “being in France”. Unfortunately, very few windows look out at the tower due to the nature of building in Paris.

Essentially, It’s best use has been its appearance on postcards.

There’s an unwritten law of sk8 videos - shoe companies must make excellent fucking videos. The general standard for excellence is quite high these days. Shitty videos just don’t cut it. Shoe companies have had a history of raising the bar with each film. Think about Osiris’ “The Storm*” or DVS’ “Skate More”. These films completely raised the fucking bar, setting it so high that other industry greats had to scramble to attempt to keep up.

The allure of filming foreign tours are the exotic locations and spots that haven’t appeared in every other video out there. We’ve all seen California - nice weather, great beaches and stunningly fuckable blondes. But the scene has been done - repeatedly. So, seeing a new spot or some cool architecture in the background is quite appealing.

During the three weeks between March 28 and April 15 of 2002, the Lakai Limited Footwear team toured Europe. Ty Evans and Dan Wolfe documented the tour in an attempt to bring you a video that gives the feeling of being on the road with the team. Well, I didn’t really feel it. Seeing skaters get on and off fucking planes doesn’t give me a feeling of being with ‘em. The tagline to the video is, “A Documentary in the Making”. My advice is don’t stop now. Keep documenting until some exciting footage is captured.

Don’t get me wrong - the skating is very good, but these days that’s not enough. These pros are all tops in their own right and each one of them fucking killed. My issue is with the bland - boring - editing. Being in Europe for 3 weeks CAN’T be fucking boring! It’s too bad that Carroll banged his foot early on and didn’t get too much footy. At one point, they take a launch ramp to a cement park and use it to launch up the quarterpipe for a session. That made for some good film.

Beware The Flare’s Tour Stops

Germany: Ulm and Stuttgart
France: Paris and Toulouse
Spain: Barcelona and Madrid
Portugal: Lisbon

In Paris the team had to admit that no one knew the origin of the fucking Eiffel Tower (aka: La Tour Eiffel). At 1,000 feet high, the tower was built for the International Exhibition of Paris of 1889 commemorating the centenary of the French Revolution.

It was later rededicated as the only symbol of France that any brainless hump would recognize in Hollywood films. It is used as a film backdrop (seen from every fucking window) to any location that needs to be designated as “being in France”. Unfortunately, very few windows look out at the tower due to the nature of building in Paris.

Essentially, It’s best use has been its appearance on fucking postcards.

Lakai’s Company Background

Lakai is a footwear company based in Torrance, California that creates shoes designed for and inspired by skateboarding. Lakai was founded by pro skaters and Girl Skateboard’s co-founders Mike Carroll and Rick Howard in 1999. The company was formed after both riders left DC Shoes. On May 1, 2006, Eric Koston officially signed with Lakai after leaving éS Footwear at the end of 2005 after choosing not to renew his contract when éS owners Pierre André and Don Brown declined to give Koston part ownership in the company.

Beware The Flare’s Soundtrack

Part: England
Plaid, The Hwicci Song

Part: Germany
DJ Mink, Hey! Hey! Can You Relate?

Part: France
Xploding Plastix, Treat Me Mean, I Need the Reputation

Part: Spain
Static Revenger, Happy People

Part: Team
Ram Squad, Ballers (Instrumental)

Part: Credits
Orbital, Illuminate

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