The Zephyr surf shop in Venice, California, run by Skip Engblom (Heath Ledger), turns out the Z-Boys-Jay Adams (Emile Hirsch), Stacy Peralta (John Robinson), and Victor Alva (Victor Rasuk) among them-the pioneers of professional skateboarders in the mid-'70s. Fame and personal struggles separate and unite them.

CRITIQUE

Dogtown is Venice, California and that west coast culture spawned a group of young men who were to become some of the best in a national craze. Building on the documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys and with a script by Stacy Peralta himself, Catherine Hardwicke does something unusual: becomes a female director adept at presenting a male world. In this case, skateboarding. Hardwicke's assured direction and the excellent performances from the cast combine with exciting skating sequences for a solid Lords of Dogtown.

The atmosphere of '70s California surf culture is recreated with style by Hardwicke in the first minutes of the film with yellow and green tones dominating the brief sequence introducing the three main characters and their home lives as they head to the beach. Blues come into the palette in the surfing scene, then the action moves quickly to the Zephyr shop, center of it all. Here, Heath Ledger really gets to kick his performance as Engblom into greatness. He had already firmly established his screen charisma, but here that is twisted with flamboyance as he makes Skip a little seedy, a little permanently stoned, but always interesting. As the film progresses, an unexpected melancholy touches the character, too. This is a stand out performance.

Hardwicke also shows adept at using the camera, wrangling some exceptional footage with a "skate cam," a skater acting as a camera man and doing the skating along with the actors for a "you are there" feel. She also understands the use of reaction shots, particularly in shaping character, particularly Jay and Tony. Jay is portrayed as the troubled genius of the group, the first to do moves that are now important. In Emile Hirsch's hands, the solo scenes, like destroying the surfboard of the dad who's left or shaving his head, take on powerful quality they're supposed to have. Tony, on the other hand, is the fame-seeker, rock star-ish one, and Victor Rasuk never lets the audience forget it. In contrast, Stacy is the loyal, responsible one, and John Robinson has a serious manner that brings this across. Seeing their real counterparts on the special features of this DVD, you see these three are perfectly cast. They are Lords of Dogtown.

THE VIDEO

Director Hardwicke's color choices are preserved well in this anamorphic widescreen presentation.

THE AUDIO

The sound is well-transferred to Dolby Digital Surround, as usual, and English subtitles are offered. No other language tracks or subtitles are offered.

THE EXTRAS

Audio Commentaries: There are two tracks here. Director Hardwicke joins with the three lead actors-Hirsch, Rasuk, and Robinson for a nice track. There are moments of silence and times they talk over each other but cool stuff is revealed. A lot of it is repetition from the other special features and there is a bit of profanity but a lot is also fun to hear. The other track is by real Z-Boys, Peralta and Alva. They provide a unique perspective on the film, as seeing their own lives become cinema clearly causes intense nostalgia for them. They comment from first-hand experience on the various competitions and old skaters, and the real-life inspirations for the scenes. A good listen.

"Dogged on Dogtown" Featurette: Interviews and on set footage fill this featurette about the many injuries sustained on the shoot, like when the director herself accidentally fell in the pool and got a concussion. The doubles for the lead actors had the most troubles, so they get the most focus.

Making of Lords of Dogtown: This half-hour doc has the usual interviews and behind the scenes footage and what's revealed is interesting and some of it isn't seen in a lot of the other features, like the fact that they shot Hirsch shaving his head in the director's own bathroom. Plenty of footage of the real Z-Boys is shown as well, which is poignant. Alva was a skate coach and double for the film and Adams does a cameo, too. Peralta of course was always on set as he wrote the script.

Deleted and Extended Scenes: Nine scenes in all are included here and most are new and most of the selections have more than one scene. There is a bit of objectionable material here, though. Some of course is skating footage that couldn't be used, so this feature is worth a look.

The Making of Pacific Ocean Park Pier: The dilapidated pier that serves as a haunt for the Zephyr family had to be recreated for the film, with a variety of tools, including a ferris wheel found on e-bay and CGI. This featurette is nicely done as mostly titles over pictures, storyboards, and models.

Bails and Spills Featurette: This is just footage of falls off the skateboards set to rock music. Doesn't add much.

Dogtown Cameo Featurettes: The real people involved in the Z-Boys take various cameo roles, all pointed out in this featurette. There are a LOT of them and they all include interviews from Hardwicke and the real guys. This is cool to see.

The Ocean Washes My Hair and Makeup Test: Footage of the hair and makeup tests for the leads as well as their doubles set to rock music again take up this featurette. Not much here either.

Extended Pool Session: This is another featurette of just more skating footage set to rock. Only the skate-heads will want to watch this.

Gag Reel: The usual bodily functions and flubbed lines fill this fairly funny blooper reel, and it’s not too long.

Of Course We Want a Skateboarding Bulldog!: This is a brief featurette on Tyson, the bulldog that taught himself to skateboard that appears in the film. You get to see more adorable footage of the dog on his board.

Storyboard Comparisons: Three sequences show how the storyboards compare to the film, cutting between the drawings and the clips. Nice to watch, even just once.

Alternate $#%@!-: Alternate takes with coarser language are shown in this featurette. Some of the takes not used in the film become quite graphic and most people won't want to bother with watching this.