Long Way Down [DVD]

Or should that be 'Don't Look Down' as some of the reviews on here have been a little savage. The project actually started in exactly the same vein as LWR and looked set to have all the neccessary ingredients for 6 hours of engrossing entertainment.

But after Tunisia, what happened? There is an interminable mid-section which consists of Ewan moaning, giving bedraggled diary entries to camera and a voice over that is bordering on a whine. They edit out the big barny they go on to have-why not all this negative stuff.

Other reviewers overlook the Unicef element and parts of the next section were very moving, detailing the terrible events in Rwanda in 94. But this was followed by the bizarre addition of Ewan's wife and 5 minute footage of her falling off her bike (lovely lady but bonkers all this).

In fact it all nearly recovered in Botswana with some beautiful camera work as the series was cued up nicely for a good climax when -whoosh- the end. The handling of the finale is abysmal. There is a retrospective voice over, a quick bike ride through South Africa, sentimental musak and cheesy 'we did it' monologue then it just ends. If a special edition is ever released they really need to address the climax because the series is really out of balance. Almost two episodes on prep and barely 15 minutes in South Africa.

LWR was a great series worthy of an award and Charlie and Ewan, contrary to other reviews aren't in the same arrogance league as say Clarkson and May, but the structure of this one was so rushed. Long Way Down? More like Half Way Down...after that something goes badly wrong-5/10

Like most 'sequels', this one doesn't compare well to the original. Let me state at the outset that if you love travel, love Africa, love bikes, then you will enjoy this -- it's just that it doesn't have the novelty or the wide-eyed awe and sense of discovery that Long Way Round had. The sense that you have two guys out on their own on one big adventure is completely and utterly lost. Mind you, compared to something like Mondo Enduro, even Long Way Round didn't quite have that, but the extent to which the film crew and background characters feature on this DVD makes it a much weaker offering.

The biggest weakness for me is that people such as Russ Malkin and David Alexanian feature so heavily in this DVD, almost as if they sensed that this was their opportunity to make a bid for TV stardom themselves, to 'up' their public profiles to more evenly match McGregor and Boorman. They just keep appearing on the screen! In Long Way Down their occasional appearances on screen, and the dramas of their own journey as back-up, provided enjoyable -- but, crucially, separate -- counterpoint to McGregor and Boorman on the bikes, but here they feature so heavily as to be almost co-stars. The result of this is that you get no sense whatsoever that the boys on the bikes are on their own or in any way at risk of getting lost, of finding themselves in danger, or in situations where they really have to think on their feet to get through, which let's be honest, is a real draw of adventure stories. Instead, you get the sense that they are cossetted in amongst a much bigger corporate venture, one that is desperate for screen time itself. Conversely, this DVD loses much from having so few appearances by the third rider/cameraman Claudio Von Planta, who always kept a respectful distance in Long Way Down but featured there at just the right level to make him an enjoyable addition to the two on the bikes, and part of the biking story itself. Not here. So, the production/direction team themselves do much to make this a lesser DVD than their first one. If I'd wanted to buy a DVD called "A Film Crew Travelling Round the World in Expensive 4x4 Vehicles", I'd have bought one.

I've also mentioned that this DVD doesn't have the sense of adventure that Long Way Down had. I guess that to some extent this is unavoidable -- when you experience something for the first time (i.e. a round-the-world biking adventure), then subsequent experiences are never going to hit you at quite the same level of excitement. That said, they do travel through perhaps even more amazing places than on their first trip, if that were possible, so quite why they don't seem so dumbstruck by the whole thing is a bit of a mystery. I think that perhaps the two main reasons for this are firstly the absolutely over-the-top level of backup they take with them, which must have taken away some of the rawness and adventurial spirit of the whole trip (the cost of it all -- the expensive vehicles, top-of-the range kit, medics, fixers, hotels -- must surely have run to hundreds of thousands of pounds, maybe more, but then maybe the comically sponsorship-emblazoned backup vehicles managed to claw back some of that expenditure). The second reason is perhaps that this trip genuinely seemed to be a much greater corporate exercise than Long Way Down. That first trip was borne out of McGregor and Boorman excitedly chatting about their dreams and ambitions of seeing the world from the seats of their motorbikes; this second trip seems to have been more about simply making a lucrative television series. All the sponsorship, major TV network scheduling, Radio Times covers, promotion and marketing, T-shirts, advance orders, podcasts, members-only websites etc etc etc just seems to me to be a bit too much, and serves only to detract from the original spirit of adventure that characterised Long Way Round.

Another huge issue with this series is the ridiculous timetable they travelled to. On a trip to Africa, it took me 10 weeks to travel between Kenya and Zimbabwe, and that wasn't nearly enough time to do justice to those countries. These guys attempt to travel from Scotland to South Africa in 3 months -- a ridiculous undertaking. They seem to realise this themselves very early on, but how it didn't occur to them in the planning stages that they were attempting to cram way way way too much mileage into their timeframe is hard to understand. It makes for a very frustrating viewing experience (they miss out on most of England and the Continent, and speed through North Africa faster than a speeding bullet!). Watching the episodes as they travel these first few weeks, you can clearly see that they have frustrated themselves, too.

I don't know if they have another journey/series planned, but if they do, I sincerly hope that it focuses just on the trip preparation and on-the-road experiences of Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman -- very decent blokes that they seem to be -- and occasionally on the cameraman that travels with them, ditches the excessive backup, keeps the programme makers where they should be (i.e. behind the camera), and rediscovers some of the joy and spirit of adventure from their first series that seems to have largely eluded them this time.

After seeing "Long Way Round" (which I loved) and "The Race To Dakar" I was excited to learn that the old team came together once more to do another motorcycle adventure. Man, was I disappointed after watching the 6 episodes. LWD just feels so different from LWR. Long Way Round came across as a sincere adventure of 2 friends taking of in the unknown to find out if you can drive your motorcycle from London to New York. Long Way Down just can't deliver this. Why you ask ? Well, here are my reasons:

1. The level of support: This time around the level of support they organized is insane. Not only do they have 2 fully equipped 4x4 with 5 support crew follow them around, they also hired local guides which brought their own support vehicles and additional personnel. Other then in LWR the support crew was never further away then 2 hours. On top of this, they stayed in luxury hotels about half of the time, hired helicopters, private jets and private guides to do their "adventure" trips. Big deal - if you just throw enough money on it everybody can do these "adventures".
2. The whole trip feels rushed: Especially in the first 3 episodes the guys are under more scheduling pressure then a Wall Street Stock Broker. They have almost no time to stop anywhere just because of artificially induced scheduling constraints. What's the point on going on a 20k adventure-roadtrip if your are scheduled to arrive at certain points to the HOUR ? This actually created quite some friction between Ewan and Charley and it shows.
3. Ewan McGregors Family trip: The trip really degrades at times into a McGregor family outing. This was already annoying in the LWR, but here it's much worse. His father, his brother and his wife (which _never_ drove a motorcycle before - let alone offroad) all have to join Ewan at some stage or another. This is not in the spirit of LWR and again creates some friction between the two friends. And again - this shows in the series.
4. Biased Editing: For whatever reason the editing in LWD is very biased towards Ewan McGregor. Not only does he get much more screen time then Charley in general, but he also gets portrayed as the "sophisticated, caring celebrity and family man", which Charley is shown as the village idiot lighting his farts. All of Ewan's mood-swings and desperate moments of LWR have been edited out in LWD. And then there is almost NO mentioning of the 3rd rider and cameraman Claudio which deserves probably the most credit for his achievement.
5. Ewan McGregor calling the shots: It seems that this time around Ewan McGregor was calling all the shots. From route planing to equipment to scheduling to editing he was in charge and it seems like that Charley and rest of the team had very little influence on what happened. Towards the middle of the trip there must have been a major clash between Ewan and the rest of the team - which again - has been careful edited out. From there on out it seems like Charley is just saying the right things and just goes along for the ride instead of being a part of it. Maybe this is a indication of who is initially financing the whole thing ?
6. Way over commercialized: It would have been o.k. to make some more advertising for BMW motorcycles in LWD. They did provide the bikes and at the end of the day BMW touring bikes are very reliable and suitable for a trip like this. But what's with all the rest ? This stupid mobile-phone product placement. As if somebody in his right mind would rely on a mobile-phone based GPS system on a trip like this ? And then all the merchandizing! LWD logo's _everywhere_ . Did you check the website ? They actually want you to sign up for a PAID membership to download exclusive content and participate in their online discussion forums ? I guess that's one way of shutting up the critics.

So bottom line: Not even close to Long Way Round. As other reviewers said before: They got it all wrong. Don't buy it !