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3000 Miles DVD Review
3000 Miles DVD Credits:
3000 Miles Directed by:
Maximillion Cooper
3000 Miles Written by:
Not available at this time
3000 Miles Cast:
Tony Hawk Bam Margera Ryan Dunn Mike Escamilla
3000 Miles Released by:
Not available at this time
Region:
1
3000 Miles DVD Release Date:
12th October 2007
Our Rating: Extras Rating:

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3000 Miles Synopsis:

120 luxury cars race around the world, over 3 continents, in 8 days.

3000 Miles DVD Review:

Imagine 120 cars ranging from a 60’s VW Mini Bus to a Rolls Royce Phantom (1 of only 3000 manufactured, and valued at $500,000) driving 3,000 miles, across 3 continents, from London to Los Angeles, in only 8 days. Now, imagine traversing that distance with Ryan Dunn and Bam Margera, in Bam’s purple Lamborghini Murcielago, and that is 3000 MILES, which portrays the Gumball 3000 Rally.

The Gumball 3000 was created as a road rally and not an actual race in the tradition of the original Gumball Rally and the Cannonball. Its founder, Maximillion Cooper, wanted to revive the spirit of these celebrations of driving and of course partying at night. The rally has found success with the media and A-List celebrities alike.

3000 MILES is a documentary made up of several consumer grade MiniDV cameras operated by several of the participants as well as a few chase cars, as they make their way through the 2006 Gumball 3000 course. The film is cut in a 1970s style with split screens reminiscent of so many “road” movies of the time and an interesting score comprised of a pseudo funk rock sound.

Rally participants include Tony Hawk, Mike Escamilla, Bam Margera and Ryan Dunn of JACKASS and VIVA LA BAM fame. With an all-star cast of X-Game miscreants in a race of super rich playboys driving some of the world’s greatest super cars, antics are sure to ensue. Before they are even out of London, several “Gumballers” end up being pulled over for speeding. In Belgium, Bam pulls over, and several racers skateboard a 4-foot wide “half-pipe” formed by the legs of a bridge. After a harrowing drive through the over crowded streets of Vienna, Bam tells Dunn that if the crowds are worse in Budapest, he would jump off of the Budapest bridge. Once in Budapest, the crowds are monumentally worse than they were in Vienna, and in an almost out-of-character fashion, Bam does in fact leap from the bridge with little to no whining or renegotiating.

The fun does not stop there. In Serbia, while loading the millions of dollars worth of cars onto an airplane, one of the race porters takes Bam’s Lamborghini out and does cookies with it on the tarmac, causing $17,000 worth of damage to the gear box. This damage causes the bulk of the drama for the second half of the film, as the documentary follows Bam’s troubles as he crosses Asia and Southwest America.

3000 MILES is an interesting melding of a road race with low-tech documentary filmmaking consistent with homemade skateboard movies. The so-called drama surrounding Bam’s transmission problems ends up over-powering the bulk of the film. This can be expected of course, after all the damage done costs more than what many Americans spend on their entire car. However, the filmmakers insistence upon recycling the same 20 second clip as a reminder each and every time that Bam brings up his car trouble, becomes cumbersome. The low quality camera work and the consumer grade medium make for a poor picture that is difficult to follow. Sadly the highlight of the film ends up being the crashing of the half-million price tagged Rolls Royce Phantom on a desolate road in the Eastern European countryside.

Fans of Bam Margera or his shows may find 3000 MILES entertaining, but the majority of its viewers will most likely find his constant whining a difficult pill to swallow. The film does have its entertaining moments, but they tend to be few and far between, while the bulk of what the Gumball 3000 is and stands for seems to be lost. There is little to no coverage of the raucous parties that are said to occur at the check-points, nor are many of the other vehicles featured. 3000 MILES could stand for a good, unbiased re-cut, one that stays true to the rally it allegedly represents.

The 3000 MILES DVD is presented in Widescreen with both a stereo and a 5.1 surround audio track. The special features include a photo montage, Tony Hawk’s diary and an extended sequence of the revenge that Bam exacts on the guy who took his Lamborghini for a test drive, resulting in the nearly $20,000 in damages.

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3000 Miles DVD review written by: Andrew Mattson

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