North of Nightfall (2018)

North of Nightfall: Directed by Jeremy Grant. With Darren Berrecloth, Carson Storch, Tom Van Steenbergen, Cameron Zink. Freeride mountain bikers embark on an expedition to the Arctic’s uninhabited Axel Heiberg Island, where they descend the longest, most challenging big mountain lines ever ridden in this rapidly changing environment.

“The idea is good and I think the film makers are banking on your past experience with similar trekking / biking / snowboarding / surfing adventure docs. But this one misses the mark almost completely and actually is irritating.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe bike footage is not very interesting. The idea was to bike on terrain carved out by glaciers. Maybe they thought about riding on the glaciers. But there is a strong sense that after they arrived their wings were clipped by the local eco cops. So not much happens and they have to resort to familiar extreme biking tricks (flips and such) to spice things up. But of course you can do those anywhere, There are a few good moments where they ride some u0026quot;sicku0026quot; trails but the ground proves too unstable for much more than that.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhat really makes this film not merely uninteresting but actively unpleasant is that things are interrupted repeatedly for the delivery of lectures to you, the viewer, on the ravages of climate change. Itu0026#39;s not just a few minutes at the beginning or end, its all through this film. You are reminded how bad you are and how your comfortable, careless lifestyle is destroying preciously wildernesses like this one. Its you who is guilty. Not the folks who are tearing up the tundra with their mountain bikes, their light aircraft and their electrified fences (bears, you see).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe constant eco harangues make this film quite unpleasant and even insulting. Why subject yourself to this? In the end, its deceptive packaging really.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSkip.”