Movie Review - Long Way Round

I don't normally write up reviews on the movies that I watch, but I thought this one was worth while. If you haven't figured it out by now, I ride motorcycles and this is a movie about an epic adventure on a motorcycle.

It's actually more like a documentary or miniseries. It chronicles Ewan McGregor and his friend (and fellow actor) Charlie Boorman as they plan and then circumnavigate the globe on a pair of BMW motorcycles. The ride was from London to NYC the "Long Way Round" via Russia, Mongolia, etc.

A few quick negatives. The format of the DVD itself was lacking a bit. The menu system was very basic. You could access major titles, but none of the chapters of those titles from the menu system. I felt this was important as the major titles might have had four or more chapters each. The other thing I didn't like about it is that any time you loaded up a title it played the whole intro and then synopses of what the trip was about. Ok, great the first time but I'd been watching this for days. I didn't' need to see it every single time. It's a minor complaint but it was annoying when I'd pop in one of the 2 DVDs and try to get to a scene quickly.

My last negative, and this was a biggie for me that I had some trouble with throughout the entire journey, but especially at the beginning. There is a fair chance that you know who Ewan McGregor is. Anyone that saw any of the first three episodes of Star Wars knows he played Obi-Wan. He's also been in a slew of other very good films. His friend Charlie is lessor known in the States, but is also a fluent actor in Europe. My point is that they are both successful and far better off than most of us. So why did they feel the need to get everything sponsored and given to them for free? At one point they were evaluating KTM bikes, and KTM denied them the motorcycles and they got pissed about it. That made me mad. For any of us "normal" folk it would cost a fortune to do what they did, not to mention taking four months off from work. I felt it was very selfish of them. BMW ended up giving them some bikes, but I'll say this - during Ewan's personal camera diary he does address this issue and admits they are being greedy. Nice to know he recognized it.

But seriously, the movie / documentary is excellent. It's all about adventure and learning to cope with struggles and challenges that most of us will never face. What they had to get their bikes through in Mongolia and Russia is unbelievable.....but also unbelievably beautiful. The people they met, the places they saw were all incredible. It was definitely a man vs. machine, man vs. nature, and man vs. man as they struggle to ride across the world. Emotional highs and lows were to be seen on a nearly daily basis (or at least what you could see in the movie). And I was right there with them....

Towards the end of the journey they said it best. It was about getting out of your backyard and having a real adventure. About all the wonderful and friendly people they met along the way. About defeating the "what if" scenario that prevents so many of us from seeing the world. It was truly epic.