‘Pretending I’m a Superman’ Wanders Erratically Through the Origin and Legacy of ‘Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater’
Posted on Thursday, August 13th, 2020 by Ethan Anderton
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater launched on the original PlayStation in the fall of 1999, delivering a skateboarding video game that was easy to learn, fun to play, and captured the spirit and attitude of the extreme sport, from the t-shirts and cargo pants of the skaters to the indie punk rock soundtrack. Not only was it a video game hit that launched an entire franchise, but it breathed new life into skateboarding overall, turned millions of kids onto a sport that had been declared dead, and sparked an interest in other extreme sports.
Pretending I’m Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story is a new documentary from director Ludvig Gür that attempts to chronicle the origin and legacy of Tony Hawk’s video game franchise. While the subject matter should be enough to captivate viewers, or at least satisfy fans interested in skateboarding and the video game series, the documentary lacks the spirit of the sport itself, runs low on energy, and seems short on interesting anecdotes and recollections about the making of these games and the excitement that surrounded skateboarding at the height of franchise’s popularity. Read More »
