Metacritic Movie Ratings
First Descent Reviews

A sample of reviews from critics across the country.

• 83

  out of 100

  Entertainment Weekly

  First Descent is not as eloquent, and thus not as electrifying, as Stacy Peralta's "Dogtown and Z-Boys" or "Riding Giants," the two jock docs it's clearly modeled after. No matter: Visually, MD Films offers up a sugar rush.

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• 70

  out of 100

  Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas

  As a result, what should have been a thrilling 90-minute sport adventure runs on for 20 more repetitive minutes. First Descent is exciting, but less would surely have been more.

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• 63

  out of 100

  USA TodayMike Clark

  Because snowboarding is younger than skateboarding and surfing, Descent lacks the poignancy of past surfer/skateboarder portraits that have shown participants reaching middle age.

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• 60

  out of 100

  The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen

  Snowboarders are given their Dew in this nicely shot but lengthy exercise in corporate branding.

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• 50

  out of 100

  The New York Times

  The Alaskan runs are often spectacular, resembling nothing so much as a controlled plummet down an avalanche. All of which is worth the price of admission if "stoked" is a regular part of your vocabulary.

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• 40

  out of 100

  VarietyRobert Koehler

  Pic displays filmmakers Kevin Harrison's and Kemp Curley's love of snowboarding, but suffers from an unjustifiably long running time, considerable repetition and a generally awkward structure.

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• 38

  out of 100

  Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert

  Boring, repetitive and maddening about a subject you'd think would be fairly interesting: snowboarding down a mountain.

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