Earthed 3 Europa is the third instalment in the well know Earthed mountain bike movie series. This time Alex Rankin was lazy, deciding to only film in Europe. I thought this would perhaps reduce the quality of the movie but in reality it allowed him to show us some of the faster riders we never hear about. Believe it or not there are a lot of very fast European downhillers. So of course it shows all the World Cups on that side of the world plus various rider sections.

Now the World Cup footage in this movie is awesome. It’s able to show you why these top riders are the best bike handlers in the world. Yes they are better than freeriders! Steve Peat left me with my jaw on the ground numerous times with the speed at which he could hit wet, offcamber root sections. You could see how Sam Hill is the best cornerer on the planet with the way he could change direction at ridiculous speeds and Nathan Rennie showed how he is now able to stay so consistent at every race, he never once looked out of control, even when he had a flat tyre! 

To top it all off the cinematography of all the race footage really shows you exactly what’s going on. There’s no stupid close ups that only show half a bike and each shot lasts for more than a second. This means we can really get a feel of what’s happening on the screen, something that I think is critical in any good mountain bike movie.

All the World Cup sections are separated by rider sections. Many of them are downhill orientated but there is a dirt jump section and a trials bit. Riders include Steve Peat, the Atherton brothers, David Vasques, Fabian Barel, Brendan Faircloth (yeah he’s not as famous as Peaty but he looks weird) plus many others in locations such as Spain, Andorra, France and the UK. There is also a section devoted to the Megavalanche in France. This has to be one of the coolest mountain bike races in the world. Get hundreds of mountain bikers, put them on the top of Alpe d’Huez in France and let them race to the bottom. 50 minutes later the winner crosses the line.

However I didn’t really find much interest in these sections. Sure the  Megavalanche was cool to watch a couple of times but it looses its appeal after that. Plus I feel many of the rider sections were dragged out too much. Unlike the World Cup sections Alex kept repeating footage of the same riders hitting the same corners and jumps. If I’ve seen it once I don’t want to see it three more times. 

The music to put it bluntly is crap. Usually I say it’s your own personal opinion because people have different tastes. I’m over saying that now, the music is much the same as the two previous Earthed movies but weirder. It just doesn’t go well with the riding.

As with all DVD’s these days there is always a bonus section. I usually think the extras aren’t worth watching because the footage seems quickly put together with no effort. Earthed 3 is different. It is pretty damn cool because they have additional footage of all the World Cups which has been edited properly. In fact I think it is as good as the main movie if not better because you also get to hear a bit more from the riders about the racing, Kovarik on skinsuits, Hannah on the joys of being a privateer again, Minnaar on stolen bikes and many other pros views on the racing. All of which gives the viewer a better idea on what the race scene is all about.

It’s hard to decide on what I really think about Earthed 3. I absolutely love the World Cup footage, it takes me back to the days of Transcontinental and The Circus, arguably two of the best race videos ever made. But the sections in between seem to be lack something (not just because they don’t involve racing, I do enjoy watching good people ride), some are good and some I feel are rather boring. For the people not as interested in racing they do break up the racing mood of the video and give it a bit more of a mountain bike lifestyle approach. I just think they aren’t up to the same quality as the race footage. Would I buy it. Yes I think so, I really enjoy many of the sections and the bonus footage makes up for the scenes I skip.

Race Footage: 9/10
Other Footage: 5-6/10
Overall: 7/10

Some other Farkiners have already got the movie, you can find their opinions here.

Thanks to ForTheRiders for giving us a review copy.