Brink (1998)
There’s a common formula for DCOM sports movies: a protagonist with a passion; a pushy, emotionally dense (and often misogynistic) dad who doesn’t understand it; a secret the protagonist keeps from friends and/or family in pursuit of this passion; a pivotal moment where the dad finally understands and supports their child; and the hero achieving ultimate victory over the villain, made possible by their dad’s eventual support.
Brink is the first DCOM to assemble these ingredients–making it the mother of all DCOM sports films–and it may have very well cooked the best dish out of them. Capitalizing on the massive popularity of Tony Hawk and extreme sports in the 1990s, the story centers around Andy “Brink” Brinker and his friends who deem themselves “Soul Skaters.” The SoCal squad is driven by their love of the game, which is why they find a natural rival in Team X-Bladz, a skate crew that shreds for money and fame. Val, the leader of X-Bladz played by Sam Horrigan, excels as the underhanded, detestable, and at times VERY unserious villain. In a heated confrontation, he tells the Soul Skaters, “It’s like open season on your butts.”
Much worse, he almost kills (yes, kills) Brink’s friend Gabriella when she speed races Brink down a huge hill. Val secretly tosses gravel onto the road, which she trips on and proceeds to slow-motion roll for 15 seconds of movie time. Ouch. It’s giving the Ricky Bobby-Jean Girard crash in Talladega Nights, unironically.
The image that social media remembers most from this movie is when the camera pans to X-Bladz team member Boomer (Walter Emanuel Jones) after a standoff with Brink and crew, revealing his comically bad hairline. But that’s not even the best Boomer moment! Later, Brink confronts Val about what he did to Gabriella while he’s eating lunch with the X-Bladz. After Brink throws a chocolate shake in Val’s face, Boomer pulls a “Supa Hot Fire” and switches sides, leaving with his former adversary.
Brink is cornball, sentimental, and concludes with an epic race between Brink and Val. It lands all the right tricks and is definitely worth a re-watch.
