It had probably been 10 years since I’d last seen a ‘big budget’ ski film, excluding Level 1’s seasonal offerings. This wasn’t necessarily an intentional choice. Rather, instead of shelling out cash to see the newest MSP or TGR film, I’d been comfortably sustaining myself on the growing diversity of free ski content that would release each fall. But when a friend of my partner and I told us they were meeting some people to go see Stoke The Fire, TGR’s 2021 offering, I said ‘shit, why not’. We met up at her apartment and then biked down to the Paddleheads stadium, where the movie was being shown.

After settling into the grass below Missoula’s embarrassingly small mimic of a jumbotron, I had a look around. Shockingly, at 23 years old, which in some ways is ancient for fans of freestyle skiing, I felt young. Families surrounded us. To the right, a massive crew of kids played together, entirely uninterested in the movie that was about to start. As a preface to this review, clearly I wasn’t exactly a member of the target audience for this film. Instead, I occupy the weird in between, still young enough to have some vague awareness of what the cool kids are up to, but not old enough to be a weekend warrior with a gaggle of kids in tow.

Every shot was beautifully executed, encased in the classic cyan and orange color toning that’s become the norm for modern ski movies. In terms of pacing and visuals, ‘Stoke The Fire’ represents a film crew that’s at the top of their craft. It was both easy on the eyes and moved along at a decent clip.

The movie started. Within 10 minutes it became clear what we were in for, the ultimate archetypal ski movie. Athlete interviews, where the idea of ‘keeping the stoke alive’ was explored, were peppered between a variety of segments. The BC segment, the pow segment, the touring segment, the Jackson Hole resort segment. Every shot was beautifully executed, encased in the classic cyan and orange color toning that’s become the norm for modern ski movies. In terms of pacing and visuals, Stoke The Fire represents a film crew that’s at the top of their craft. It was both easy on the eyes and moved along at a decent clip.

The skiing, unsurprisingly, was good, too. Nick Mcnutt, Sammy Carlson, and Dane Tudor had an outstanding shared segment. Each member of that trio approaches the mountain differently. Mcnutt is all tweaks, taps, switch landings, and butters. Tudor is pure bolts, executing massive tricks with precision. All of his landings, even those in deep pow, looked like those you would expect to see on a slopestyle course. Carlson was some blend of the two, marrying fluidity and style with hard charging lines. The old guard was joined by some impressive newcomers, like Parkin Costain and Kai Jones, although ‘newcomers’ may not be the right word to use. Jones has been a TGR staple since he was about 10 years old, and Costain made a prominent appearance at last year’s King and Queens of Corbet’s event. Regardless, both of their segments were great throughout ‘Stoke The Fire’. The appearances of Veronica Paulsen (known for a colossal backflip at Corbet's, last year), Elyse Saugstad, Caite Zeliff, and Chirstina Lustenberger ensured that women’s freeride skiing wasn’t left out.

And despite the high quality of production and skiing, everything felt oddly forgettable.

But the skiing was always going to be good. It’s TGR, which, at this point, probably has enough money to entice just about any dirtbag into joining their yearly films. And despite the high quality of production and skiing, everything felt oddly forgettable. I led with the mention of Nick Mcnutt, Sammy Carlson, and Dane Tudor, because their segment was one of two (the other being an alpinism segment) I could quickly pull from my memory. Everything else blended into this perfectly presented morass, a blend of interviews, heli shots, and frequently occurring branding shots.

TGR did succeed in injecting variety with one segment, though. Likely inspired by the recent success of blockbuster climbing films Free Solo and The Alpinist, Stoke The Fire offers up its own alpinism-lite segment, complete with a 3D rendering of the athletes route to the peak (that mirrored Sender Films approach to highlighting Marc-Andre LeClerc’s route up Torre Egger in The Alpinist). We see the pre-dawn skin approach, frantic Go-Pro shots of the athletes trying to rappel into skiable terrain, and finally triumphant smiles as they make arcing turns through pristine snowfields at the bottom. In the sore absence of an urban segment or a park shoot, the appearance of ski mountaineering was entirely welcome, and held my attention a little longer amidst the blur of big line skiing and pow shots.

However, on the other end of the spectrum, a clip that included a ‘dude counter’ which documented just how often skiers say ‘dude’ was contrived, and felt like it was cooked up by an exec who goes skiing maybe three times a year.

Going skiing entails a whole lot more than just skiing. Many of my favorite movies of the past recognized this fact by displaying the in-between moments. I’m recalling arm wrestling matches with Russians, atomic elbows into tables, and pre-drop jitters. To make up for this lack, Stoke The Fire deploys the ever-cliche athlete interview. These clips don’t do a whole lot to engage the viewer, as we’ve all seen it before. There’s not much interesting about a North Face athlete discussing how they ‘keep the fire stoked’, because in reality no one is going to be particularly honest when they sit down in front of a light stage before they go skiing. I’ll admit it, the movie did get a laugh from me with Kai Jone’s athlete bio, which read ‘still eleven’ as a clever nod to those who can’t believe he’s been a kid for what has felt like the past ten years (another highlight included Sammy Carlson’s bio, ‘wannabe Canadian’). However, on the other end of the spectrum, a clip that included a ‘dude counter’ which documented just how often skiers say ‘dude’ was contrived, and felt like it was cooked up by an exec who goes skiing maybe three times a year. Overall, the lack of humor and honesty robs Stoke The Fire of personality, which is unfortunate, given it’s star-studded cast of skiers who I’m certain are a ton of fun if you were to meet them in real life.

After watching the movie we went out to get beers. Once seated, the group wondered aloud why TGR wouldn’t dump some of their cash reserves on a more unique, independent project. One that introduces more of a narrative, that plays with pacing, structure, and filming style. Or even catches one of its cast members with their pants down for once. To avoid being a dick I didn’t assert what was obvious to me. Why the hell would they? Churning out slick, bulletproof ski movies has been the backbone of their marketing plan for a decade. To shake up this formula would risk turning away their massive mainstream audience, and, even worse, could jeopardize their relationships with an enormous list of corporate partners. In the end, TGR brings money into skiing. That’s not a bad thing. It offers pro skiers a paycheck (I hope), and encourages interest from the upper class weekend warriors who realistically keep the industry alive.

Does all of this mean Stoke The Fire was a bad movie? Absolutely not.

Stoke The Fire is part advertisement, part ski movie. By snipping away the interesting albeit more gritty aspects of skiing, it prepared itself for consumption by the masses who don’t want their children to see a drunk 19 year old urban skier suplex a screen door. Similarly, I can only assume the omission of urban and park was in response to general market trends. Urban skiing and park skiing aren’t exactly moving products right now, as backcountry is in vogue. Does all of this mean Stoke The Fire was a bad movie? Absolutely not. As I stated earlier, it’s producers are an exceptionally talented bunch of film makers, and they've created a more than adequate piece of ski porn. That said, it still stung a bit when I dumped 20 dollars on a ticket for a movie that did nothing new, while independent ski filmmakers release their oftentimes incredible passion projects for free online.