Straight from Tribeca: ‘Birth of Big Air’ Review

“If you know anything about BMX, you know who Mat Hoffman is. Maybe that’s all you know.”

Prophetic early words from skateboarding legend Tony Hawk that do their share in making “Birth of Big Air” a compelling documentary and one that you will remember for years to come, regardless of how much you happen to care about BMX riding or extreme sports.

Fueled by passion and urged by a body and mind that can deal with absurd amounts of pain and torture, Hoffman turned the BMX world upside down in late ’80s and kept it alive through the later part of the next decade, when no one else cared about the sport and the few that did couldn’t even come close to competing with him.

A true pioneer in the sport, even to this day, Hoffman has inspired countless riders and athletes that have been told they don’t have what it takes to succeed.

An ESPN Films documentary appearing at the Tribeca Film Festival, “Birth of Big Air,” directed by Jeff Tremaine and produced by Tremaine and Johnny Knoxville, tells the unlikely story of Hoffman, who rose up from the heartland of the country [The last place anyone would expect you to come from in BMX back then] to become the best BMX rider of all time. Like all greats, it seems that Hoffman has a gift and can do things on a bike that no other mortal can. However, through the course of this film, it becomes painfully obvious, both literally and figuratively, that Hoffman has paid the price for all of his accomplishments. Breaking every bone in his body, in some type of violent manner, Hoffman’s ways even put fear into the eyes of legendary daredevil Evel Knievel.

Through the interviews of people like Knievel, Hawk and countless BMX riders and pro skaters, “Birth of Big Air” does an excellent job of putting Hoffman’s legendary career together. Taking us from his amateur days to his near-decade reign at the top of the sport, you’ll see first hand how untouchable he was.

Nevertheless, the interviews with his friends, family and wife add a human element to the film and shows another side of Hoffman that puts this entire production into perspective.

Giving up nearly everything he had for what he loved, Hoffman carried the cross for a sport and ended up making a living at it. Destroying his body in the process, he was forced to slow down for the sake of his family and be the father and husband they needed. Being able to show this type of emotion and still be endearing, funny and action-packed, all at the same time, makes “Birth of Big Air” a winner.

When it’s all said and done, Hoffman’s story isn’t just one of pain, suffering and success, it’s one that proves the American dream is still alive and strong; as long as you want it bad enough.

And you’re willing to break and bones and extremities in the process.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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