Well this is definitely one of those long awaited releases. We were expecting it before Christmas and now it’s April. Anyway the wait has been worth it. Hypnosis Visual Intensity is a great follow up to Clay Porters last film, Synopsis. 

Hypnosis is as much of a rider biography movie as it is a pure racing documentary. With riders describing the different styles of their mates who race. Clay focuses on the quickest riders on the Norba Circuit such as Jared Graves, Sam Hill, Nathan Rennie, Chris Kovarik, Jared Rando, Steve Peat, Greg Minnaar, Andrew Neethling, Mick Hannah and a host of other stupidly fast riders. Each has their own section and they all describe each others riding style and what makes them so quick. In between this is pure racing footage from all the Norbas, a few World Cups and the World Championships. 

As you’ve probably noticed Hypnosis isn’t short of Australian riders. It isn’t just because we’re great people but also because Australia is the dominate force in downhill racing at present. For example: Jared Graves, Overall Norba downhill and gated racing champion, Sam Hill, No.2 and Nathan Rennie, No. 3 in the 2005 Downhill World Cup season. What this gives is footage of the fastest riders in the world with friendly, insightful and down to earth commentary from the same people. If a track is crap they’ll tell you, if they were scared and rode like a pansy they’ll tell you that too. There’s no big egos here.  

Now the movie doesn’t just focus on Aussies, there are many well known pros making appearances and giving their views on the sport.  We even get to see Steve Peat in his own section where he is not riding in some muddy wood! As you’d expect he can hold it together in the dry as much as in the wet and he also does some pretty nice drifts.  Although the award for the best drift has to go to Sam Hill. There are parts of his section that are very, very special. 

One thing that is quite clear is Clay Porter’s filming style. You can see he’s trying different things. Some turn out great and really give a lot more feel to the movie. However other times I feel it does detract from the riding a little too much. A good example is when he’s filming from behind trees or bushes. It gives a good representation of the surroundings but often I found that I would have preferred to see more of the rider and not some random branch. This was a rare occurrence and really didn’t bother me much at all.  

I really wasn’t a fan of Synopsis for a number of reasons. I really didn’t like listening to donky kong music, the music in Sam Hills section if you don’t know what I’m talking about. For me a lot of the music was just annoying and detracted from the film. It was also too drawn out for my liking. It was like watching the Lord of the Rings in mountain bike form. Happily both of these things have changed for the better in Hypnosis. The music doesn’t give me the shits anymore and it is a good length, well maybe a little long at one and a half hours, but it was all good and it never felt drawn out or repetitive. 

You can expect a handful of good old punk rock with Rise Against, Zebrahead and Saves The Day for the downhill stuff. Some hip hop for mountain cross with Jurassic Five, DJ-Z-Trip and RJD2. Then Clay uses some different music to great effect, the standout is the Snowshoe Norba with a band called Teddybears STHLM and the song Yours To Keep. I actually had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up during this section, the footage plus the riding and the music made it something very special.  

Other bands you can expect to hear are: The Faint, Rocket From the Crypt, Motley Crue, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Fun Loving Criminals, Le-Tigre with the fast paced TKO, Sahara Hotnights, Rancid, The Hives and many more. 

Overall I’m very impressed with Hypnosis. There are so many people making great racing films now, Clay with this, Alex Rankin with the Earthed films and Tony Butler with Super 8. The good thing is that they all look at the racing in different ways so you don’t feel like your watching the same thing. Which also means I don’t have to try and figure out what’s best. 

The footage is great, the riding is awesome, the rider interviews are insightful, interesting and funny and the music pulls it together. Especially towards the end of the film where I swear I had a big smile on my face for the last half hour. And to top it all off Hypnosis did what it should, all I wanted to do when it was finished was to ride my bike.