Extreme Ops (2002)

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

 

A discussion about how extreme sports movies always have to have a criminal element in the "Quicksilver" thread immediately made me think of this. I may be the only human being that remembers that this thing played for about a week in theaters (except my boss at the theater, who has the poster on display in his living room), and while I'm certain that I haven't seen it in its entirety, it's probably a great (and by that I mean "horribly cringe-worthy") piece of early 2000's nostalgia, when the corpse of the word "Extreme" had only just recently gone cold after being beaten to death with its own skateboard.

[MatttheHuman 0]

From IMDb: "A film crew travels to the Austrian Alps near the (former) Yugoslav border to film three extreme sports enthusiasts being chased down by an avalanche for a commercial. What they don't know, however, is that they're filming near the secret hideout of Slobodan Pavle, a Serbian war criminal. Accidentally catching him on film, they become locked in a life-or-death chase for their lives through the mountains that includes skiing, snowboarding, sky diving, white water rafting, helicopters, motorcycles and base jumping." Written by Schleppy

 

 

Some details:

 

-Cast includes Rufus Sewell, Rupert Graves, and Bridgette Wilson (Sonya from Mortal Kombat)

 

-According to Wikipedia, it was originally called "The Extremists," but that changed after 9/11.

 

-It currently holds an 8% on Rotten Tomatoes.

 

-Made for $40,000,000, made only a quarter of its budget back.

 

-One of the writers, Timothy Scott Bogart, also wrote/produced a movie called The Extreme Team in 2003 (Chris Pratt is in it). It uses almost identical posters.

The trailer can be found here:

 

 

 

Basically, imagine if the xXx movies (or Die Another Day) were created as one big product placement. Now take that movie and make the dialogue even dumber. This is one of those movies that doesn't know who the main character is, so everyone has a subplot, even if it's small, and they are only connected to the larger terrorism story in the loosest of ways.

 

I remember asking my father to see this with me at the dollar theater because a guy who ran a Star Wars fan page I liked was a compositing artist on some of the avalanche sequences. It was the only time I tried to get my money back from a theater (spoilers: they gave me my dollar back!).

 

Anyway, this one even has a few moderately humorous 5 star reviews on Amazon.

 

Has anyone else seen it?

[IMAHUGEHDTGMFAN 1837]

-One of the writers, Timothy Scott Bogart, also wrote/produced a movie called The Extreme Team in 2003 (Chris Pratt is in it). It uses almost identical posters.

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ilHtmtg5ic

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

 

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ilHtmtg5ic

He's been living the X-TREME dream.

 

*shredding guitar sound*

 

So, how has there not been a DVD release of that that has nothing but a giant picture of his face (from season 4 or so of Parks & Rec) on the cover?

[MatttheHuman 0]

It does kind of seem like someone doesn't want The Extreme Team to be seen. Even the classic 'other means' of getting a movie only yields trailers. Makes me wonder how bad it could possibly be.

 

In any case, I'd love to see Extreme Ops in a live show pairing with Gleaming the Cube.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

There just arent enough movies where plucky american snowboarders foil the would be plans of Serbian Terrorists.

[Kothel 42]

This movie is SO bad/good! A girl I knew in college's dad worked on this movie and she talked to me about how badly it did. But, because I said I had enjoyed it, her dad sent her a beanie with Extreme Ops printed on it. I rarely wear it, but I will never give it up. They need to do this. 

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

I'm down for anything with Rufus Sewell in it.