directed by:
Ricardo Aguirre Jr. written by: Ricardo Aguirre Jr. genre: Documentary |
Oh hell yeah! I'm learning about jiu-jitsu today? I don't know a thing about it at all! Did I expect to be learning about it in a documentary filmed in the summer of 2020, amidst the backdrop of a worldwide pandemic, in good ol' El Paso, Texas? No! No, I did not. But here we are, and I personally like to learn about anything I don't really know something about. Through the real-life experiences of Mike "Thrilla" Davilla and Adam "Bomb" Collarile, we see how the craziness of the COVID-19 era impacted businesses that might not come to the top of your mind when you think about it. No one escaped the madness of the situation, though, and this documentary proves that every single corner of this planet was impacted.
Mike seems like a genuinely good dude when we first meet him onscreen, trying to get his lines right. Dude's got a gnarly cauliflower ear that visually confirms he's been through some serious battles, and Adam seems like he's on his way to a pair of his own as well. What these men do ain't for the faint of heart. I've got like, the most limited experience of just about anything/everything to do with fighting outside of a couple of hallway punches and taking wrestling in grade eight. For the record, I quit – it wasn't for me, and that was pretty damn obvious. I was the kid with the grunge-style hair – we weren't fighters. Do I respect it as a sport, though? Of course, obviously. Some of these dudes are straight-up superhuman, and there is a ton of technical knowledge and technique required to be really good at it. Someone like Adam looks at jiu-jitsu as an art form as well, and I totally agree and appreciate where he's coming from. To the average outsider looking in, all these combat sports can blend together, especially with the advent of the UFC, which famously combines all kinds of these different disciplines from jiu-jitsu to kickboxing to karate and more, I'm sure. Not gonna lie to you, I'm forty-five years old and I've never seen a single match. I can fully appreciate how much goes into what they do, how much strength, focus, and training it takes and all that, but in terms of what catches my personal interest, fighting just doesn't. I get winded just by ordering a pizza, so understand that these warriors are coming from a whole different world than I am. Here, in the case of "Thrilla," we're afforded the opportunity to get a little closer to the guys that end up in the center of the spotlight in the cages and the octagon. Both Mike & Adam were really forthcoming in their interviews, and it's great to hear their perspective on all that goes into the sport and what they do. Like, listening to Mike recall a wild night out where he didn't feel in control, for example – it's really quite comforting to hear how vulnerable he is in that moment, and listen to the story of how it changed his whole life. He goes on to describe how crucial it was to regain control over his temper and to train himself to look at his aggression from a different perspective, which allowed him to really dial in on what he could do with it. You see these guys working out & training their nuts off, and you really see the impact that all this physical work can take on their mental state, never mind the pandemic happening in the background at the same time. When you factor that in, though, you see how the COVID era ended up affecting the sport on a massive scale, from reduced training times, to not makin' them gains like they used to, to how it would also affect their potential opponents and how it made the fighting world completely unpredictable from week to week – it's tough. Think of any routine you've ever had in your own life…you know full well that when you have your routine broken, it's hard to get your rhythm back. Written/Directed by Ricardo Aguirre Jr., I felt like he got a lot of mileage out of this documentary when all was said and done. Mike and Adam are tremendously watchable guys, and for myself personally, it was the interviews that helped us get to know the men behind the muscles that mattered the most to me. Even with a limited amount of wrestling knowledge from the aforementioned high school days, I felt like I was really able to appreciate the tournament and training footage you'll see along the way, and no joke, you'll watch the occasional match in "Thrilla" and you can feel yourself tensing up when they're really locked into a pretzel shape against their opponent. It's a battle of strength, yes, but it's also a true testament of will, too – you might be physically stronger than the person you're up against, but it's so much tougher to know the strength of their resolve and their degree of commitment to never giving up. Aguirre Jr. does a commendable job though…I like the way this documentary is laid out. I think he found the right two competitors to guide us through it all, and the mix of footage and interviews was balanced. I never have any illusions when it comes to documentary films and the potential reach they have – not everyone out there is interested in learning something about something they know nothing about; I'm the exception in that regard, not the rule. But for those out there that enjoy their hand-to-hand sports and all that musclebound stuff that comes from a life in the ring, I'm sure they'll dig much of "Thrilla."
One of my favourite spots in this documentary was listening to how Adam and Mike see each other as people and as competitors. I loved the fact that they were able to give each other the professional respect required to know one side of their personality doesn't have to necessarily reflect on the other, you know what I mean? Like, I can't fully remember who mentioned it…I think it's Adam who describes Mike as a sweetheart in real life, but goes on to tell you about how scary a competitor he can be in the ring. I might have that backwards, but you get the point – there's a "Severance" style separation that occurs and is somewhat encouraged as well – they're the fiercest of competitors, yes, but they're also brothers by proxy when it comes right down to it, too. They're really the only ones that know what the other is going through from the moment they get up to the moment they go to sleep, each & every day. For all the flak that men get about not talking about their feelings, Adam & Mike prove willing to share. They're all so much more supportive than you'd probably ever realize, and that's the heart in this film. Eventually, as they go into business together to create the official Legends studio, you see how much work they put into life outside of the ring, and how much everything matters to them. They opened up, ready for business, and within a month, the mat was ripped out from underneath them as mandatory lockdowns swept the globe. After all that time they spent working towards their dreams, to see it all go through an extinction-level event so early on…I mean, it's devastating. You don't have to be in the sports world to know how tough it would make it for a new business to survive without being able to actually DO the business they had intended to. They resort to tactics that so many of us did with Zoom sessions and online ideas, but you can see from the visual pain on Adam's face in talking about how they had to adapt - that a sport like this was never meant to be relegated to the sidelines. As we watch them prepare for a tournament event that might not even happen, you have to admire their competitive spirit and their personal resolve. Is this film a bit lengthy for folks that don't have a genuine interest in the sport? Probably…I think that's fair to assume, but for those of us who like to learn, or those who do have a foot in this world, chances are you'll be engaged with "Thrilla" and appreciate how calm and collected it has been against the backdrop of such a tumultuous time. Odds are, if you are watching this film in the first place, you're probably a fan of the sport. I'm going with three stars out of five here – I felt like Aguirre Jr. did all the right things within his control, and I felt like Mike and Adam were the right two guys to represent their sport with accuracy. If you are a fan, I have no doubt you would rate a little higher. "Thrilla" might not be truly thrilling for us on the outside, but you won't tap out. |
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