Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
A searing account of what happens when raw talent and extreme personalities collide. In this unflinching, never-before-seen account of drugs and the dark side of professional skateboarding, brothers Tas and Ben Pappas' intense bond and charisma take them from the pinnacle of their sport into a spiraling world of self-destruction.
All This Mayhem is a gripping documentary that benefits enormously from its raw, insider footage and the genuinely tragic arc of the Pappas brothers. The narrative structure is compelling — a classic rise-and-fall told with visceral immediacy and emotional honesty that elevates it well above average for the genre. The ending lands with devastating weight, making it one of the more affecting documentary conclusions of its era. Cinematography is functional and archival-dependent rather than artistically distinguished, and while the subject matter (skateboarding culture, drug spiral) touches on familiar documentary territory, the specific personalities and access give it enough distinctiveness to sit comfortably above average in novelty.