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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
In a way, it's timeless, December 22, 2010
OK, I'm 54 years old and what am I doing watching a movie like this... Remember how as a kid you liked to watch more adult-themed movies so you could fantasize about what it would be like when you grew up? Well, I sometimes watch a film like this so I can fantasize about what it was like when I was a teenager. It's one of my guilty pleasures. The only thing I don't miss is the teenage angst. Fortunately this movie didn't have too much of that, it was just fun. The BMX sport which later became a craze was just getting started when I was in high school, and it was interesting to watch here. The film is not Oscar material, and some would consider it a hokey teen exploitation movie. Thankfully there wasn't any noticeable bad language or explicit sex. One reviewer said it fits into the "so bad it's good" category. Maybe, but for me anyway it seems a little better than that. Also, as an American I found it more interesting to watch because it's an Australian-made film. I bought it in a five-movie collection DVD I found in the bargain bin at WalMart, and I wasn't really paying too much attention to who was in it when I popped it in to relax one evening. As I was looking at the girl, I thought, "She looks kind of familiar with her Aussie accent... hey wait...could it be? It's Nicole Kidman!" Her presence made me keep watching to see how she handled her earliest film role. The criminals in the movie start off as real badasses, with ominous music playing in the background (which later becomes amusing). A couple of them quickly degenerate into "Home Alone" style bad guys ineptly chasing the two dudes and Nicole all over the city (including going down the tubes of a water slide!). The teenagers could now identify them, and had taken the walkie-talkies (remember them?) that the crooks needed to tap into the police band radio frequency to stay ahead of the cops. In the police station there is a police woman who seems willing to be sympathetic to the teens. I thought she was hot. When the chief's back is turned, she bites one of her fellow officer's ears. I envied him. All in all, I enjoyed this movie, and if you don't expect too much from it, you might also. The scenery is really good to look at, and the sunny seaside city really lifted my spirits. The exuberance of young people having a good time did, too.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nicole Kidman can't hide from this masterpiece!!!, July 20, 2007
This review is from: BMX Bandits (DVD)
This movie was hysterical when I caught it on cable as a kid. My brother and I watched it hundreds of times.
Nicole Kidman was unknown when it came out. Now that she's a big star, she probably wants it to be forgotten, but I'm glad it isn't.
It's a great kid's action movie. Anyone who's ever been on a BMX bike will love it, and if you have a sense of humor you'll find David Argue absolutely hysterical.
It's a guilty pleasure!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
The DVD Is Bad; The Movie Is Even Worse, November 26, 2011
First things first: I have an older pressing of "BMX Bandits," and it is a technical disaster. There is a new (2011) anamorphic version available that evidently fixes the malfunctioning menus, washed out colors, and frequently inaudible sound found on earlier versions (it's probably the worst sound quality I have ever heard on any DVD.) It's even available on Blu-ray! For fans of the movie that's great news, but I couldn't stop wondering why anyone would go through the effort. I understand watching movies for nostalgic reasons and there are a few films that I feel that way about, and I respectfully realize that this film has a following. I don't get it though: it's in the Australian coming of age comedic crime bungle genre, and stars a very young Nicole Kidman as Judy, who with her friends P. J. (the wonderfully named Angelo D'Angelo) and Goose (James Lugton,) ride their bicycles over, on, and through things in one big chase. Kidman even takes her BMX down a water slide. Don't even ask why. That's pretty much it. The film pits the teens against organized crime and the police to control some stolen goods. What is this incredible cache, you ask? A set of amazingly clunky police radios. There must not be much crime in Australia, because the cops make this their highest priority case, and before it's over we are treated to dramatic interactions with robbers in pig masks, lots of boating (in)action, a pointless chase through a cemetery at night (lightning included, naturally,) and psychoanalysis by radio, among other insipid plotpoints. To make matters worse, there are some simply wretched 1980s songs and a relentless soundtrack constantly assaulting the audience with boring electronic piano noodling. Of course the big "attraction" here is the BMX riding, which fills endless swaths of screen time. For a film that's really just a series of chases stitched together with a couple of expository sentences about (or on) the stolen walkie talkies, it is stunning how boring this picture can be. The menu didn't work properly in my copy in that I couldn't fast forward (seriously; I could skip chapters though, oddly.) You will see why this is a big deal if you watch the movie. Sometimes I miss the '80s, too, but there are many better ways of remembering that decade than watching Nicole Kidman and two guys ride bicycles all over Australia. The plot is thin, the acting is terrible, the hair is huge, and the music is like fingernails on a blackboard. In the words of then-First Lady Nancy Reagan, "Just say no."
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