Jackson Free Press

In the mid-'70s, a new sport emerged from the beaches of Southern California, thought up by surfers during a summer drought. Using skateboards with urethane wheels, the teenage members of the Zephyr Team ("Z-Boys") took what had formerly been seen as little more than a toy and created what we now know as modern skateboarding, a multi-million dollar industry. "Lords of Dogtown" is their story.

The story first came out as a documentary in 2001, directed by a member of the Zephyr Team, Stacy Peralta—"Dogtown and Z-Boys." The process of bringing the narrative film version of Peralta's story to the screen was a long and harried one. After some early talk of "Z-Boys" narrator Sean Penn directing, it was announced that "Lords of Dogtown" would be the directorial debut of Limp Bizkit front man Fred Durst, with "Fight Club" director David Fincher handling second-unit directing duties.

Fincher eventually decided to take the reins himself and make "Lords" his long-awaited follow up to 2002's "Panic Room," bringing in screenwriter/director Roger Avary ("Pulp Fiction," "The Rules of Attraction") to hone the script to Fincher's specifications. But after Fincher inexplicably dropped out, Catherine Hardwicke, former production designer-turned-director of the After-School-Special-on-crack "Thirteen," came on board—nixing Avary's draft in favor of "Z-Boys" director (and a main character in both films) Peralta's original.

The story concentrates mainly on the members of the Zephyr skateboarding team: Peralta, Jay Adams and Tony Alva, all teens from low-income households living in Venice Beach, Calif. We follow the Z-Boys rise from practicing in empty swimming pools (thanks to the drought) through starring in "Charlie's Angels" and selling their credibility to sponsors for wads of cash. Hardwicke manages to reel in and hone the (over)use of shaky handheld camera she used on her debut feature "Thirteen," to capture the feel of 1970s Venice Beach, Calif.—that is to say it wasn't all sun and sandy beaches as the TV ads might suggest.

This film makes the audience feel as if they're in '70s Southern California. It's clear this is no longer the world of the Beach Boys. It's run-down and grungy, and Hardwicke shoves the audience's face right in the grime. Adams' mother, played by Rebecca DeMornay (a long way from her "Risky Business" days as a gorgeous young prostitute), almost seems to be a metaphor for the time and place—poor, dirty and still trying to hold onto the culture that made Venice Beach a hippie haven in the late '60s.

While all the actors do a credible job in their roles, Emile Hirsch ("The Girl Next Door") is a stand-out as Adams, the one member of the Zephyr Team who simply won't sell out when the big sponsors (including Johnny Knoxville in a pimp suit) come knocking, even though he needs the money most. Hirsch even manages to pull off Adams' sudden transformation into a Mexican thug.

Heath Ledger gives one of the strangest performances in recent memory as Skip, the owner of Zephyr Surf Shop and catalyst for the original team. The performance isn't strange because it's bad; it's strange because you halfway expect his credit to read "Skip played by Val Kilmer." This isn't a case of Christian Slater doing a poor Jack Nicholson: Ledger seems to have actually channeled Kilmer's performance as Jim Morrison in "The Doors" and used it to great effect as the man who simply can't afford to keep the Z-Boys under his guidance and ends up making boards in someone else's surf shop.

While the film is entertaining, it's not really necessary. Peralta's documentary told the same story but better, using real footage of the actual Z-Boys in the same competitions "Lords" recreates. As good as these actors are at skateboarding, they're not the real deal, and it shows. This is a problem as half the film is spent watching competitions and practice. Which begs another question: Would anyone without an interest in the sport care to see this film? Probably not.

During the film I had the nagging feeling that "Fincher could've done this better." If good skateboarding is what you want to see, rent the documentary. In fact, rent it anyway. But, if you have any interest in the sport and want to see a couple of great performances and beautifully filthy cinematography against a kick-ass period soundtrack, there are worse ways to spend $8.