DVD Review: Hog Heaven - River Run Wild from Bikes in the Fast Lane

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DVD Review: Hog Heaven - River Run Wild

January
2011

  File under Movie Review Product Review
  Author: Mike Werner
  Location: Normandy, France

Score:
Plot: 1
Acting: 1
Visual: 3
Sound: 3
Nudity: None
Gore: None

"Hog Heaven - River Run Wild" is a so-called documentary of the Laughlin River Run

motorcycle gathering. This yearly event draws in a big crowd from all-over the USA, around 70,000 bikers attend. So you'd expect an interesting documentary of this epic event. But you'd be wrong, very wrong.

Filmed in 2004, released in 2007, the DVD tries to explain the event, but fails miserably. It's not really about Laughlin. During the 66 minutes of the documentary, a good 20 minutes are spent with custom builders showing off their motorcycles (okay, that's nice, but not to the point....) and 10 minutes or so on the swimsuit competition and the leather & lace fashion show. That's half of the DVD spent on something that could have been at a biker event in Outer Mongolia.

As documentaries go, this is bad. Making them is a profession; you don't just shoot a lot of film and put it straight to DVD. The whole thing is disjointed, and badly planned. They don't even show the area, or just a basic location on a map.

There's no history, no statistics, and no mention at all of the famous River Run Riot

. There's no mention of any 1%-er motorcycle gang presence, which we all know is the case.

During the documentary, you hear this mindless electronic music in the background, enough for you to grab a shotgun and start shooting.

Celebs: Arlen Ness.

Quotes: "Mardi Gras with motorcycles" "We build our bikes to ride everyday"

Plot: A documentary of the Laughlin River Run motorcycle event. A lot of interviews (no famous bikers), lots of motorcycles passing by.

Verdict: One of the worst motorcycle/biker documentaries I've seen. Making documentaries is a profession, and this one was not made by one, or at least, by whoever edited it. It's very disjointed, no purpose or scheme to tell a story. It looks like a couple of guys who had a camera and started filming and put the video straight to DVD. At the very least, they could have made the DVD "R" rated, and spiced it up a bit.