By Teresa Acosta
The new documentary from HBO details the struggles Tony Hawk has endured both personally and professionally to become the most recognizable name in skateboarding.
“Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off” is overflowing with video footage and photography that spans from Hawk’s childhood to the beginning of his passion for skateboarding, to his current quest to continue sharing his talent with the world.
In this film, Hawk shares both what motivates him and what faults he has.
He talks about how isolating and unwelcoming the close-knit community of skateboarding was when he first started to break in.
Through interviews of him, his fellow skaters, his siblings and close friends a full picture is given of what drives him to keep getting up over and over after every slam.
He opens up about why he is the way that he is, in a reflective and honest way.
The huge amount of footage from his early life in skate competitions, his traveling the country and world, and his family life is impressive.
The eighties and nineties portion of his life was a very well documented time and it seemed like almost every story and anecdote given had a video clip or photograph to go with it.
His success is portrayed as the perfect storm. Every aspect that he chose to focus on plays out like a chapter in his story of success. It starts with the thrill of success and then its eventual downturn.
Hawk was able to prove his ingenuity and style by winning competition after competition, year after year.
When it was time to move on, he helped create traveling shows that brought the extreme sport to the masses.
Later, he was approached by a video-game company that developed a lot of highly successful games that have been very lucrative for him.
Hawk has many other projects he works on. His charity work has helped give the youth of the world access to skateboarding by creating over 600 skateparks.
Skateboarding is described as cyclical and has left many behind,. The highs are high and the lows are low.
The sport was a singular-focus for Hawk. It was all he could think of when he first started and for years after, despite the success it has brought him, it has also brought him pain and destruction.
Hawk has an obsession with skateboarding that may never let him go.