Sadly Over-hyped

One of my all time favorites.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

When a documentary draws a conclusion, it can force a reviewer to take a side, which in my case it did. The filmmaker seemed determined to right some perceived wrong, by "proving" Lance Armstrong was a bad person. That slant sullies the film.Like many athletes during a time that people will likely refer to some day as the "enhancement period" one MUST take into consideration that the MAJORITY of athletes broke these rules. It was the norm, at that time. Armstrong may have cheated and he may have pressured others to do the same, but during the decade when this was commonplace, he was the best man at the task.The film feels vindictive and biased, and as such it is a poor documentary. Period.

This documentary in some way attempts to apologize for the sordid life of lies the Lance Armstrong used to ruin a one time popular sport.There is little detail in this mockumentry that shows the horrible person, megalomaniac, narcissist and criminal that Armstrong was-and still is. Anyone who tries to blame his criminal actions on 'competitiveness' is sorely misinformed.The only difference between Armstrong and Bernie Madoff is the fact that Bernie took it like a man and put himself in prison for what he did to so many people-who, unfortunately,were just as greedy as he was.Armstrong compiled a 120 million dollar fortune based on lies to everyone and cheated so many out of greed-and nothing else but pure greed. While this video ends at a point that the real story has just began-I hope that it shows people just what a monster greed really is.The video at times seems to go out of it's way to portray Armstrong as a patriot, cancer survivor and boy next door type that got 'caught up' in the sport. Nothing is further from the truth. His zest for riches continues, even today, as he is still blaming everyone for his downfall.As far as presentation the video is quite good and, without a doubt, it is an interesting story of a heathen bent on destroying any one who might revel his lies-all in the name of the mighty dollar.Threading peoples lives daily, blackmail, corruption and the worst of all what he did to America overall. The flag is stained with his lies forever and how he stays out of prison I will never understand.An interesting video that I think most can enjoy, if for nothing else, exposing other greedy criminals like Armstrong-whose ego was so inflated-that he considered himself a solitary la cosa nostra.Today, when so many sports stars are good people, he continues to the blame game.Again, a fine interesting video.

When everyone cheats, it becomes a different contest. The powerful friends, money (125 million plus), risk and pain tolerance, influential scientists, compelling story, performance enhancing drugs, viciousness, ambition to win at all costs, willingness to bully others, . . . Armstrong has all this and more. The documentary is a powerful and gripping indictment not just of Armstrong and cycling, but of sports and humanity in general. Armstrong's doping is bad, but his abuse of power is worse. The film shows how willing people are to be fooled, or to trample on others. Despite its two-hour length, the film held my interest throughout. There are so many parallels in a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, wherein he writes, "There is something truer and more real, than what we can see with the eyes, and touch with the finger." So too with Armstrong, cycling, sports, and all of us. This brilliant documentary helps bring such truths to the surface.

Why did I give this documentary such a low mark ? Do see this film, which is an overdue expose upon a very deserving and dislikeable, bullying arrogant thief, Lance Armstrong.The subject matter is intensely interesting.The reality of Armstrong's perfidious behaviour, particularly against those who were "against" him (basically anyone who didn't worship him)and his disgraceful misuse of the courts, is compelling viewing.The enormity of the lie and the scam Armstrong was running still does not even appear to have dawned on Armstrong himself.He appears arrogant and smug, and not the slightest infinitesimally tiny portion of true remorse is visible.HOWEVER: At just over two hours, the film shows a lack of editing, in several areas.Many segments are too long, and several appear to ultimately have no point.I found myself losing interest on numerous occasions, and even though the schadenfreude of watching the train wreck this despicable liar caused himself was an excellent subject; this will turn many non Tour De France fans off, attention wise.There are long segments in Italian and French (integral members of the scam, officials etc) which the viewer will wait in vain for interpretations, sub-titles, or an English dub-over. If no explanation of the language, and therefore the subject matter, is included, then many of these sequences could have been deleted, giving the watcher a better chance at applying attention and keeping interest.By far, though, the film's disturbing failure is the sound, and there is no excuse for such a cruddy effort with today's technological wizardry.There are several questions from the film-maker which are completely inaudible, even at maximum sound level. If you are anything like me, you will be very frustrated at the dropped voice, mumble-speak that passes for dialogue - you will constantly be muttering "what ? What did he say ?" and at the steep prices many cinemas charge, filmgoers deserve to hear what's being said.ABOVE ALL ELSE, the music is too bloody loud, and will often blast the viewer after straining to hear a few crucial words, to then having "background" music at deafening levels while narrating riding scenes, which are often too long.Did the maker not look at the post-production tape ? Did he have the sound at astronomical levels in editing ? Was there any sound editing ? Could he not afford subtitles ? Was the film rushed to cash in on a "be first" tell all ?We could stand another documentary on how this film so irritates the intended audience....