Brink is about a teen named Andy “Brink” Brinker and his friends who believe that skating should be done for fun, not to make a quick buck. When Brink’s family starts to have money problems though, he must “sell out”, lie to his friends, and skate with the enemy to earn some cash. Will his friends ever find out? Will Brink realize what is really important in life?
Brink made its debut in 1998 and after 25 years, I can say it is an easy watch, a fun time, and overall harmless.
The Plot
Honestly, in the first twenty minutes, I was wondering to myself if there was even a plot. The beginning of the movie is mostly Brink and his friends skating around calling themselves “soul skaters”. A term that the crew uses to describe their love for inline skating.
All Brink knows is skating. So to help out his family, he chooses to skate with the bullies of the film. I kept wishing he would just tell his friends instead of making lying the focal point. I understand that skating should be fun but if Brink is really good at it and needs the money badly, I’m sure his friends might have understood.
It’s a simple story but it works for what is trying to do. The skating scenes are well shot and the pace throughout is good. We get the cliche third-act breakup between Brink and his friends when they discover the truth and he has to make things right. Nonetheless, everyone looks like they are having fun and at just about an hour and a half, the movie doesn’t overstay its welcome.
It is pretty funny that a company that loves making money and is all about corporate sponsorships releases a movie saying that selling out for money and using corporate sponsorships is bad.
What surprised me the most is that there is a very good message in the movie. There is a scene between Brink and his father which I think is the best scene in the movie. They talk about how what you do doesn’t define you and Brink asks for advice on how to make his friends like him again. All Brink does is skate but that isn’t why his friends like him. Your character and how you treat others are what is most important.
I think this is a nice message, not just for kids but for everyone. People of all ages sometimes feel pressure to be the best at what they do. It could be a sport, work, school, etc. It is nice for kids who watch this movie to hear that being a good human being is what matters.
The Acting
This movie is a product of its time. The clothing is very 90’s. The hair is very 90’s. The lingo is very 90’s. There are lines like “nunya….nunya business.” and “It’s like open season on your butts”. No one is winning an Oscar here and the movie can be extremely corny at times but that is also the charm. I would argue all these things make the movie more enjoyable.
I would say that the part that really doesn’t work is the bullies. The main characters don’t have much depth but the bullies really are nothing special. Cardboard cutout villains. Just jerks to be jerks. They really aren’t very memorable.
The best character in the movie is Brink’s dad who in a movie full of positivity, has something hilariously cynical to say with just about every line,
Shoutout to Walter Emanuel Jones who is known as the original Black Power Ranger for appearing in this movie as well.
Overall
Brink! isn’t anything that we haven’t seen before but it still is pretty enjoyable. It is without a doubt corny but does have some funny moments, cool skating and it’s never boring. I grew up with a lot of people telling me that the reason they started skating and the reason they love skating was because of this movie. Anything that can ignite passion in someone is worth lacing up your skates for.
Brink is available to watch now on Disney Plus.
