Looks like it came out a few weeks ago, and given its super limited theatrical release I dont know if many actually got to see it.
Have at it boys and girls. I’m about half way through, but let me know what you guys think after.
Rented it on amazon a few months back. Damn… should’ve waited.
Really enjoyed the narration by Micky Rourke. Overall a really nice production documenting the lives of the top bodybuilders in the world. Really puts it into an appreciated perspective. Been waiting a while for something like this.
If I remember correctly, I think there was one scene where branch warren was talking about being safe and not being stupid to get yourself injured, then he rides away on his horse and gets bucked off of it lol. The irony was classic.
I think it may be time for an encore.
I watched it the other week. I think it was well done and pretty good for what it was, showing bodybuilding as a legit sport that’s more than just meatheads in speedos on stage, but the entire time I couldn’t help but compare it with Pumping Iron (which is also on Netflix Streaming right now. Would make for a good double feature).
Comparing the two, you really see how the sport has grown but also how things have changed with how the guys interact with each other. Back in the day, there was very visible camaraderie or at least, more of an appearance of it. Can you imagine Kai having breakfast the morning of the Olympia with Heath and his wife like Arnold did with Louie and his folks?
Or imagine any of the guys training together? I feel like they almost made too much of a point to show such diverse personalities (Roelly and Grandma compared to Ben Pak compared to Branch compared to Heath compared to Kai) that it gave the impression that they guys have zero in common other than all being bodybuilders.
[quote]steez wrote:
If I remember correctly, I think there was one scene where branch warren was talking about being safe and not being stupid to get yourself injured, then he rides away on his horse and gets bucked off of it lol. The irony was classic.[/quote]
He swears it was a legit accident that just happened to occur seconds after he talked about his injuries only happening outside the gym. But, I don’t know, it just seems like a too perfect “Have you seen my t-shirt?”-moment of ‘scripted reality’.
I enjoyed the film very much, although I couldn’t help but notice all the WWE style smack talking involved throughout much of the film. That must bring in more viewers, but it’s not my thing.
Couple of thoughts:
-
Cool seeing the guys in relatively high quality video. Previously all I had seen was the low qual stream from BB.com
-
I thought the Voice Over by Rourke was a bit heavy handed and over the top. Not a detriment to the film, but it felt like they were taking themselves way too seriously with the words they had him use and the weight they had him say the stuff with.
-
All the Ben Pak stuff was really annoying to me. I can’t imagine he actually trains with guys wearing white lab coats yelling at him like that. He also had a sort of undeserved arrogance in my opinion, Anyone with any sort of eye for this stuff can tell he is well outclassed by the likes of Phil and Kai
-
Man Phil just has a phenomenal Look. Kai is a little bit bigger, and arguable “better” from a development standpoint … But Phil just has “the look” and his physique just Pops, its interesting being in the future now and knowing that Kai has still yet to topple to king.
-
As others have mentioned, the camaraderie seems dead. Or at least the movie portrayed it that way. It was very much an every-man-for-himself portrayal of the relationships. I think back in the day you couldn’t hope to make a living as a BBer so the contest wasn’t as live or die, but now there is so much competition and so few slots to make money essentially being a gym rat that everyone is so protective and it breeds that rivalry mindset.
This may have everything to do with the film though and the guys knowing they are on camera, and the film maker creating a more compelling story.
-
Branch falling off the horse was a gift from the documentary Gods… Being in film in the little way that I am, I know that on set that was both a “Is he okay!?” and a “I am so glad we got that on tape” kind of moment.
-
And on a personal note, I cant BELIEVE I used to want to be at that level before. I still like the sport and the insane physiques, but its not for me anymore.
Overall its an entertaining look into the world of the BBers, I can’t imagine if you are a fan of BBing you wouldn’t enjoy it.
[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
Overall its an entertaining look into the world of the BBers, I can’t imagine if you are a fan of BBing you wouldn’t enjoy it. [/quote]
I didn’t particularly enjoy this film. I loved Pumping Iron though, for reasons you and Chris have already touched on. If I had to sum it up, I’d say that nobody in Generation Iron seemed to be having any fun at all.
[quote]twojarslave wrote:
I didn’t particularly enjoy this film. I loved Pumping Iron though, for reasons you and Chris have already touched on. If I had to sum it up, I’d say that nobody in Generation Iron seemed to be having any fun at all.
[/quote]
Now that you mention this it hits me like a ton of bricks. Everyone seems so… Desperate. It doesn’t look like any of them are having FUN.
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
I watched it the other week. I think it was well done and pretty good for what it was, showing bodybuilding as a legit sport that’s more than just meatheads in speedos on stage, but the entire time I couldn’t help but compare it with Pumping Iron (which is also on Netflix Streaming right now. Would make for a good double feature).
Comparing the two, you really see how the sport has grown but also how things have changed with how the guys interact with each other. Back in the day, there was very visible camaraderie or at least, more of an appearance of it. Can you imagine Kai having breakfast the morning of the Olympia with Heath and his wife like Arnold did with Louie and his folks?
Or imagine any of the guys training together? I feel like they almost made too much of a point to show such diverse personalities (Roelly and Grandma compared to Ben Pak compared to Branch compared to Heath compared to Kai) that it gave the impression that they guys have zero in common other than all being bodybuilders.
[quote]steez wrote:
If I remember correctly, I think there was one scene where branch warren was talking about being safe and not being stupid to get yourself injured, then he rides away on his horse and gets bucked off of it lol. The irony was classic.[/quote]
He swears it was a legit accident that just happened to occur seconds after he talked about his injuries only happening outside the gym. But, I don’t know, it just seems like a too perfect “Have you seen my t-shirt?”-moment of ‘scripted reality’.
[/quote]
Do you honestly think he would fall off his horse on purpose?
Nothing will ever compare with Pumping Iron, because as much as some of the guys (Arnold?) exaggerated things a bit to play themselves up, it was still closer to a fly on the wall piece than an actual scripted film. Yes, I know we’ve all heard that certain bits were planned to create a little tension between competitors, but all in all, I don’t think many of the guys appearing had delusions of becoming major film stars because of it.
Generation Iron just felt very very fake and manufactured to me. Sure I love watching certain pros train and do their thing, but this really tried to create them as characters as opposed to competitors. I’m sure the general concensus falling along these lines explains why the movie didn’t really do well financially.
S
[quote]eatliftsleep wrote:
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
He swears it was a legit accident that just happened to occur seconds after he talked about his injuries only happening outside the gym. But, I don’t know, it just seems like a too perfect “Have you seen my t-shirt?”-moment of ‘scripted reality’.
[/quote]
Do you honestly think he would fall off his horse on purpose?[/quote]
If I was a conspiracy theorist, and I’m not, but if I was, I’d think that falling off a horse and tearing your hamstring less than 20 seconds after saying “my last two injuries happened outside the gym, not in it”, could certainly be shenanigans. In Pumping Iron, there was the t-shirt thing, and Arnold lying about not attending his father’s funeral, just to add some drama.
Maybe he got hurt doing something else during filming and the producers thought up the whole scene for a little extra talking point and compensated Branch to take the bump. Or, like Lonnie said, it could’ve just been a documentarian’s dream shot. Again, I’m not a conspiracy theorist. If Randy Johnson can accidentally hit a bird with a pitch, a dude can accidentally fall off a horse on camera.
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
[quote]eatliftsleep wrote:
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
He swears it was a legit accident that just happened to occur seconds after he talked about his injuries only happening outside the gym. But, I don’t know, it just seems like a too perfect “Have you seen my t-shirt?”-moment of ‘scripted reality’.
[/quote]
Do you honestly think he would fall off his horse on purpose?[/quote]
If I was a conspiracy theorist, and I’m not, but if I was, I’d think that falling off a horse and tearing your hamstring less than 20 seconds after saying “my last two injuries happened outside the gym, not in it”, could certainly be shenanigans. In Pumping Iron, there was the t-shirt thing, and Arnold lying about not attending his father’s funeral, just to add some drama.
Maybe he got hurt doing something else during filming and the producers thought up the whole scene for a little extra talking point and compensated Branch to take the bump. Or, like Lonnie said, it could’ve just been a documentarian’s dream shot. Again, I’m not a conspiracy theorist. If Randy Johnson can accidentally hit a bird with a pitch, a dude can accidentally fall off a horse on camera.[/quote]
Randy Johnson did that on purpose.
I enjoyed the movie, but:
-
It can’t compare to Pumping Iron.
-
It felt very “scripted,” for a documentary. That voiceover…
-
I thought Phil Heath came off as a bit of a dick, and Kai much more sympathetic. Unfortunately he keeps losing…
[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
Couple of thoughts:
-
Cool seeing the guys in relatively high quality video. Previously all I had seen was the low qual stream from BB.com
-
I thought the Voice Over by Rourke was a bit heavy handed and over the top. Not a detriment to the film, but it felt like they were taking themselves way too seriously with the words they had him use and the weight they had him say the stuff with.
-
All the Ben Pak stuff was really annoying to me. I can’t imagine he actually trains with guys wearing white lab coats yelling at him like that. He also had a sort of undeserved arrogance in my opinion, Anyone with any sort of eye for this stuff can tell he is well outclassed by the likes of Phil and Kai
-
Man Phil just has a phenomenal Look. Kai is a little bit bigger, and arguable “better” from a development standpoint … But Phil just has “the look” and his physique just Pops, its interesting being in the future now and knowing that Kai has still yet to topple to king.
-
As others have mentioned, the camaraderie seems dead. Or at least the movie portrayed it that way. It was very much an every-man-for-himself portrayal of the relationships. I think back in the day you couldn’t hope to make a living as a BBer so the contest wasn’t as live or die, but now there is so much competition and so few slots to make money essentially being a gym rat that everyone is so protective and it breeds that rivalry mindset.
This may have everything to do with the film though and the guys knowing they are on camera, and the film maker creating a more compelling story.
-
Branch falling off the horse was a gift from the documentary Gods… Being in film in the little way that I am, I know that on set that was both a “Is he okay!?” and a “I am so glad we got that on tape” kind of moment.
-
And on a personal note, I cant BELIEVE I used to want to be at that level before. I still like the sport and the insane physiques, but its not for me anymore.
Overall its an entertaining look into the world of the BBers, I can’t imagine if you are a fan of BBing you wouldn’t enjoy it. [/quote]
^ This exactly!! ^
[quote]craze9 wrote:
- I thought Phil Heath came off as a bit of a dick, and Kai much more sympathetic. Unfortunately he keeps losing…[/quote]
I think that was the point, and that they seriously pushed the angle. Whether it helped or hurt either is debatable.
S
They did similar things with arnold and lou also
I seriously doubt that fall was scripted. The way he fell was far from ideal or safe… and like he said, it was concrete. He’s a fucking idiot if he performed a scripted fall from a horse onto concrete.
Anyway, I’ll be watching the movie tonight.
I enjoyed this quite a bit more than Pumping Iron. Really enjoyed seeing Branch Warren fall off a horse. I’m also a bit behind in the bodybuilding world, and I had a few preconceptions of a lot of these guys and it made me rekindle my passion and respect for the athletes.
bretty gud would wathc again 8/8
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
[quote]craze9 wrote:
- I thought Phil Heath came off as a bit of a dick, and Kai much more sympathetic. Unfortunately he keeps losing…[/quote]
I think that was the point, and that they seriously pushed the angle. Whether it helped or hurt either is debatable.
S[/quote]
Out of curiosity, do you think it was an accurate portrayal (of Heath, as being arrogant and/or unlikable)? I don’t know much about him (or Kai) beyond what was in the movie and a few youtube vids.
I haven’t met either of them, but from youtube videos of Phil himself, and others talking about him, he seems like a cool guy. I think Generation Iron didn’t have an accurate view of Phil. I like both, but I like Phil more. I hate it when Kai says “keeps your gifts, I work hard” because Phil works hard too. IMO, those guys are all genetically blessed.
[quote]David98 wrote:
I haven’t met either of them, but from youtube videos of Phil himself, and others talking about him, he seems like a cool guy. I think Generation Iron didn’t have an accurate view of Phil. I like both, but I like Phil more. I hate it when Kai says “keeps your gifts, I work hard” because Phil works hard too. IMO, those guys are all genetically blessed.[/quote]
uhh yeah lol, you simply don’t walk on the olympia stage without having amazing genetics