Too much of everything

not as good as all the hype

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Parkour is a discipline that involves running, jumping, vaulting, climbing and generally traversing terrain, both urban and rural, in a fluid manner. It originated in France but saw an explosion of interest in the UK scene after Jump London aired in September 2003. Jump Britain follows the story of the UK scene since that explosion, and sees Parkour taken nation-wide.Jump London was a great documentary introducing Le Parkour to a wide audience, explaining the discipline and showcasing Sebastian Foucan's, Johann Vigroux's and Jerome Ben Aoues' abilities. But it was not without its flaws.Jump Britain addresses these flaws(notably the kind of Parkour on display and the manner in which it was shot) and builds on the original to produce a much better documentary from the point of view of the Parkour community. In fact, many of us will go as far as to say we could not find a manner in which to improve it. The locations are varied and often lend themselves to both the spectacular, but also the more technical elements of Parkour. The camera angles allow for a proper view of the traceurs(practitioners) runs, which allows the viewer to more properly understand what a Parkour run consists of.The programme is informative, but contains enough of the wow factor to hold the attention of those who are not so interested in the background to the discipline.Overall, Jump Britain has improved on Jump London(which was still a great documentary) and set a bench mark that future titles in the series will have to try very hard to surpass. I can't wait.

I must say that when I first saw Jump London I was a bit unsure about what exactly it was, but I was very interested. With Jump Britain I was sat at home, beer in hand and ready to see what would happen. I have to say that I was highly impressed. Unlike the first one, which was more targeted on the big moves and impressive moves, this one seemed to delve more into the philosophy and why they did what they did. I was also pleased to see that other members were joining in with Sebastian and his friend. I was a bit unsure when it was just the french, but when I saw people from the UK joining in I was tempted to give it a go myself.The big shots in it were very impressive, the Stadium roof top had my heart in hand, and the walk across the bridge made my own fear of heights seem like a walk in the park. WHat impressed me the most was the street level moves they did. From my understanding of the documentary it was about fluid movement between the moves. It was gymnastic sort of stuff, but with a heavy Urban feel. I would have been put off if it wasn't for the fact that they guys who were doing it where far from your stereo typical thin gymnastic. These guys were either medium build or built like a boxer. It was great to watch and spurred me into trying to find more information about it.I found a site called urbanfreeflow.co.uk which has a huge community and un-beknown to me had over 7000 active members and also covered Europe and even as far around as the USA. I hooked up with some guys and girls from Birmingham and a week later I was at a jam (its what they call it) with 20 odd other people. I highly recommend the site and trying it yourself, it was bags of fun. Ache a little bit though.I personally felt that Jump London was made to show what parkour could do when you got really good at it, and that Jump Britain was a deeper look into why its done and by whom. It also opened my eyes to this new adventure called parkour and made me give it a go.After seeing this on channel four, I have since seen articles popping up all over the place, Addidas have just released a new trainer that is specifically for parkour, MTV had a segment on it, BBC news, ITV, FHM, all sorts really. From what I can gather its really hitting it big, and its mainly in the UK. They guys that run urbanfreeflow.co.uk where the actual people that were in the documentary. Its really scary to think that anybody can actually do what Sebastian makes look so easy, with enough practice.I highly recommend that people give it a go. ALso if you haven't seen it, I would suggest you try too. I found very entertaining while at the same time, it made me think very differently about how we move through the world today.My final thought is that although some of the big shots in Jump Britain wern't as impressive as the ones in jump London, the low level street stuff made up for it ten fold. I would have actually preferred it have more street movement that the big shots. But all in all it was fantastic and highly enjoyable to watch. A big thumbs up.

Following the success of the Jump London project on channel 4 in 2003, Sebastien Foucan plans to bring his discipline of Parkour (Free Running) to the rest of the UK, meeting other free runners along the way. Picking even more extravagant locations, including the ICC in Birmingham, the Giants Causeway, the roof of Millennium Stadium in Wales, South Bank and others, Foucan performs his extraordinary skills while being joined by others.Having been impressed by Jump London, it was natural that I tune in for the follow up programme despite just thinking the whole Free Running thing is just a kids game played by adults in an extreme way. For this reason I was bored here by the interviews and chats about the "discipline" or "sport" because they come across as being a bit full of themselves and they only look silly trying to present this stuff as having a deeper meaning than just being fun and exciting. As before, the talking is still OK but it feels like (and is) mere filler before the action kicks in. The action is impressive as before but is less so for being a bit watered down here. Of course seeing Sebastien jumping between the two section of the Millennium Stadium roof as it pulls apart is impressive but it is contrasted with a load of other "Free Runners" who are not as impressive as the originator and do nothing more than sort of hang off some kerbs and so on! Although it lacks the impressive conclusion of the first film it is still impressive in some sections though and worth watching.As before though, the film is best when it let Foucan himself just do his stuff. He is a nice guy and seems to have a good sense of humour as well as an amazing body. Watching gymnasts doing this stuff on bars is not as impressive as seeing Foucan doing a handstand on the edge of a building three stories up. It is not something I ever want to do and I do worry he will die sooner rather than later, but it is still impressive and I did find myself exclaiming out loud on a couple of his moves. The other runners are mostly as good but the film wastes time with others (added to the group) who don't add any value to the film.Overall this is not quite as good as the first film and has the same weaknesses. The script has us being assured that this is a massive sport and very important where really it is just a few guys running around the place (and the video game looks rubbish); however the jumps are still impressive at times and it is worth watching for them alone. My advice though, is to just tape the film and the fast-forward the sections of it that are pompous talking – you'll enjoy it a lot more.

Jump Britain looks at how the urban sport of Parkour (Free-running) has developed in the United Kingdom in the period since Sebastien Foucan and co. took on London in the prequel to this stunning piece of television. J:B examines one of the UK's fastest growing urban sports and meets the people behind its incredible growth. It also follows Sebastien Foucan as he PK's across Britain (Channel 4 insisted on the geographically and politically incorrect title before you ask!) performing on some of the most iconic and spectacular locations imaginable. Indeed, it is hard to fathom how the production team managed to talk anybody into allowing this to happen at all - in one sequence Foucan runs across and then jumps a gap in the retractable roof of the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff! Simply mind blowing. It would seem that this documentary may prove to be a defining moment in the development of Parkour, not only in the UK but globally. Its simplicity is its greatest attraction but for all its balletic grace, a certain degree of philosophical pretentiousness remains. Trying to justify and rationalise their chosen activity seems to form their greatest obstacle and a hunger for sustained media attention will invariably further drag Parkour into the mainstream. You get the distinct impression that despite vehement protestations that is exactly where those behind this activity in the UK wish it to go.J:B is simply a stunning and possibly generation defining piece of television. Like the birth of skateboarding and roller blading, this feels like you are witnessing the birth of something very big indeed...