On a strictly mechanical level, even skateboard fanatics likely will find it embarrassingly self-congratulatory.
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08/21/03
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Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator (2003)
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Reviews Counted:47
Fresh:37
Rotten:10
Average Rating:6.6/10
Consensus: The harder they come, the harder they fall -- this film shows, in raw, gripping detail, that even skater dudes can't resist the life of the rich and famous. It's more poignant than hard-core, and gives us a portrait of a life run over by the whims of the entertainment industry.
Theatrical Release:Aug 22, 2003 Limited
Synopsis: STOKED: THE RISE AND FALL OF GATOR, is a biographical film about Mark "Gator" Rogowski, a legendary 1980s skateboarder. Beginning with the shocking news of Gator's demise--he brutally raped and... [More]
Starring: Mark "Gator" Rogowski, Jason Jessee, Tony Hawk, Lance Mountain
Director: Helen Stickler
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Reviews for Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator
Top Critican excellent snapshot of the passion and mania of skateboarding in the 1980s.
08/25/03
[An] unflinching documentary.
09/11/03
Top CriticBy focusing on the self-immolation of the thoroughly despicable skateboarding star Mark "Gator" Rogowski, Stoked makes us all question the eternal chase for popularity and acceptance that takes up so much of daily life.
09/26/03
Top CriticThe calculus of a craze's honest genesis, heady peak, exploitation, and burnout is so familiar by now as to be numbing, but Stoked makes it fresh because it has the primary sources at hand.
09/05/03
Top CriticTells a fascinating and very sad story ... and gives us lots of cool skateboard action along the way
03/22/04
A vertical, high-flying rush of a movie.
06/24/03
An account of an entire generation’s loss of innocence -- a more streetwise variant on Stacy Peralta's fine Dogtown and Z-Boys.
08/27/03
Top CriticWithout letting Rogowski off the hook, filmmaker Helen Stickler intelligently explores the sad tragedy of Rogowski's life through a series of interviews with those who knew him best.
08/21/03
A fascinating study of the '80s not merely captivated by leg warmers and shoulder pads, but by the tenor of our cultural obsessions at the time.
12/15/03
It's fascinating to see the process by which skateboarding, in all its concrete grittiness, was transformed into a mainstream activity of consumer cool.
08/06/08
Top CriticServes up a gripping look at skate history through an investigation of one of its darker moments.
08/19/03
Top CriticExcels as both a tragedy and a celebration of skateboarding, showing how mass marketing legitimized the sport while fueling Gator's demise.
08/29/03
Top Critic[Stickler] does such a fine job of depicting the skill and thrill of skateboarding, she also helps us understand that Gator's downfall really came about because he hit the top of his sport at the exact moment it was about to change into something else.
11/14/03
A skillfully organized account of Mr. Rogowski's life and of the sport's boom period.
08/21/03
Top CriticDespite Stickler's best efforts at putting his crimes into psychological and sociocultural context, Gator never emerges as anything but a blatant and outspoken -- and virulently brutal -- jerk.
09/05/03
Top CriticAn exhilarating and terrifying journey through youth-culture hell.
08/06/08
Top CriticUnlike Stacy Peralta's romantically nostalgic '70s skate-umentary Dogtown & Z Boys, Stickler delves into the dirty details, even showing the decomposed remains of his victim.
04/01/04
Works effectively as a comprehensive biopic and as a cautionary tale, with wider applications, about the dangers of going too far too fast.
08/21/03
Top CriticA decent enough documentary albeit one about an appalling person.
08/06/08
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