Relatively abruptly, the film begins with one of these scenes from Continuum, the first film from 1996, and immediately makes it clear: we have come to destroy. In this case, the windshield of their car on the side of the Alaskan road, metaphorically speaking, the audience's expectations, as they buck the ski movie trend of recent years. Instead of wildly flickering UltraHD film student bon mots embedded in a philosophical narrative of to be or not to be, we're treated to two minutes of grainy, years-old VHS nonsense. And it works, is fun and increases anticipation.
The driver introduction and the first segment then make it clear that you weren't born yesterday. Nothing you haven't seen before in terms of AK action, but well edited and entertaining. The second segment is the obligatory pillow segment in the almost famous, infamous cabin near Golden, BC. They're not the first, and probably not even the gnarliest movie crew to ever be there, but they're fun to watch. Along with the India segment and the lines they ski, TGR makes you feel like they're just like you and me, because they don't always have perfect conditions, nor do they ski the lines of the millennium all the time.
Although you could accuse TGR of being formulaic with the traditional Jackson Hole segment, it's all as believable as a professional ski movie production can be. You take away that skiing is fun, that you use it to see the world and at the same time there is nothing better than skiing your home spot. And that's what ski films are supposed to be about! But you wouldn't be TGR in its birthday year if you continued with a series of standards. The fantasy camp segment in the Neacola Mountains with the likeably quirky Kiwi Sam Smoothy is certainly way up there in terms of freeriding and verbal strangeness.
