11th May, 2006

LLOYD HARKESS

Refined (PG) DVD

Refined is a mixture of the bizarre, the stupid and the boundary pushers across a range of sports. The book ends of this DVD are two guys who think they have all time in the world to continue doing whatever they feel like, especially riding big waves. This isn't some well-scripted tale though and it shows in the fairly clumsy way the ending is handled. But this DVD is about action. Anyway that you can push boundaries on earth, water, air or man-made structures is featured. At the heart of the production are a range of professionals in surfing, wake boarding, snowboarding, windsurfing, skateboarding and kite boarding who talk about how Jesus is central to their lives. In fact, if there is an underlying message to Refined it seems to be that no matter how radical you are in your sport emptiness can eat at you, and only the radical step of committing your life to Jesus will change that. If you want to see grace and its opposite, crash and burn, pick up this DVD. If you are into big drops, huge aerials, vertical kicks or any other extreme move on a board or machine, you will enjoy Refined. Watch out for the guy who has a wooden plank instead of a seat on his bike. He stands on the board and rides the pushbike like you would ride a skateboard or surfboard. This one might fall into the slightly bizarre category. So, as one of Refined's final unwritten comments says: whatever you do, even if you are pushing boundaries, "do all for the glory of God".

SEE THE SIGHT ON THE SCREEN ARCHIVES FOR MORE...