Snowboard Movie Review - The Empire: White Knuckle Extreme

The Empire: White Knuckle Extreme by Xodus Productions and Torey Piro

It’s all about progression, and if you want to see how far snowboarding has progressed, rent this old skool gem from 2001, apparently the year the 720 degree spin was invented.

Rahm Klampert starts out the film. See him spin, and work the nunchucks.
See Danny Kass as a 17-year old in a small part. So long ago it was before he became a fashion icon; he wears a simple gray hoodie. Back then Grenade was just a glove company on the sponsor list, instead of a clothing empire.

Andreas Wiig has a part, back before he won gold at the X Games and generally blew up. The cast of almost hundreds includes parts by: Boris Benedek, Kyle Clancy, Matt Hammer, Lance Pitman, Bobi Rey, Aleksi Vanninen, DCP (David Carrier-Porcheron, James Ledford, Scotty Arnold, John Jackson, Tommy Czeschin, Mark Reilly, Floe Mausser (catch his 100 foot cliff jump, where he seems to jump UP the cliff!) Aaron Bishop, Marius Sommer, Travis Robison, David Scaffiti.

There is a gap jump over a river where riders are towed up by a speeding car on the adjacent road. You’ll see it again and again in the film, everybody takes a shot at it. The blooper reel has shots of the gap attempts, naturally. (The missed trick footy is NOT at the end where you might expect it in this film.)

Guy Deschenes throws a big air in the pipe, and was that an early 1080 he just did? Matt Downey, Darin Short Chris Nelson, Danny Wheeler. Matt Kass has a 5 second part, back when he spent more time on the slopes than behind the Grenbade desk. Eddie Wall has the starring role and final part, and he rode with distinction and style even back in 2000.

There are a few others whose names were too long for me to catch. Keir Dillon, Abe Teter, and Travis Rice showed up in the credits but had untitled parts way back then or ended up on the cutting room floor. All 3 have gone bigtime onto great competition results since then. And so many of the names listed above have seemingly disappeared. Extensive music credits are properly given.

This light-hearted low-budget (compared to today) sunny romp is a fun way to see some of today’s most famous snowboarders, before they were all that! You can rent it from Netflix.

Need an idea for a good movie to rent? For you or the family?

Check out our snowboard and other fave movie reviews here. We've reviewed "Rising Son: The Legend of Skateboarder Christian Hosoi"m and "MXP: Most Extreme Primate" to name just a couple.

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