‘We Are Storror’ Review: In Michael Bay’s Hands, the Parkour Team Comes Off Looking Like Real-World Action Heroes

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For 15 years, the renowned U.K. parkour team Storror, recognized for their daring feats such as jumping from cliffs in unison or leaping between skyscrapers captured on YouTube videos, could only boast about surviving these death-defying stunts. However, with a vast collection of footage that likely broke numerous laws, this seven-member group has not just their lives to prove it, but also a full-length movie in the style of Michael Bay, celebrating their thrilling adventures.

In the movie “We Are Storror,” the flamboyant director (who previously enlisted a professional parkour group for thrilling scenes in his 2019 film “6 Underground”) puts together a retrospective tribute to their achievements. Bay maintains that he was always detached from the action, merely overseeing and editing the footage captured by Storror themselves. However, it’s hard to ignore the impact Bay’s dramatic, action-hero-focused style has had on Storror’s filmmaking techniques (such as low angles, multiple cameras, slow motion and more), as they perform death-defying stunts that might make you cover your eyes in fear at times.

Who exactly are Storror? They are a group of thrill-seeking friends: Max and Benj Cave (both having middle names Storror, and they’re brothers), Callum and Sacha Powell (also brothers), Drew Taylor, Toby Segar, and Josh Burnett-Blake. Initially, they began as a bunch of lads who enjoyed playing pranks and sharing them online for fun. With time, their content gained immense popularity, amassing over 10 million followers (a level of speed edits similar to Bay’s style). Leaving behind their hometowns of Horsham and Peacehaven in England, they now traverse walls and rooftops across the globe.

By making Storror’s thrilling stunts readily available online, this documentary offers viewers an exclusive behind-the-scenes perspective on four daring new endeavors: navigating the winding stairs of Portugal’s Varossa Dam, transforming a deserted Bulgarian seaside resort (Costa Del Croco) into their personal playground, conquering balconies and racing across rooftops in Malta, and concluding at a colossal sand quarry in England. Each location presents unique challenges and risks, but the documentary underscores the extensive preparation required for each breathtaking act.

Towards the end of the movie, a member of the group mentions having a “parkour perspective” – viewing urban landscapes as opportunities to leap, glide, and dart around. This perspective sheds light on how profoundly it shapes their movement within society. Much of what they engage in is considered unlawful, either due to the belief that everything is private property or because cities are reluctant to assume responsibility for the slight misstep that could potentially be fatal for these daredevils.

In Storror’s footage, the police appear rather foolish, often mirroring the perspective of these anarchist/athlete/artists so closely that they film using GoPro cameras wedged between their teeth. The allure of their illicit pastime is evident for both viewers and participants, yet they’ve been engaged in it long enough to understand none of them is immune – a fact vividly illustrated by a painful montage around the 75-minute mark, showcasing numerous falls, sprained ankles, and broken legs they’ve experienced on camera.

One muses that we’d be the quickest bank robbers globally, but alas, the loot is simply too heavy for us to transport.

The documentary rarely delves into how they generate their income. It seems that Bay truly means his “Don’t attempt this yourself” advice, as he withholds the strategies that could make it simple for others to replicate their approach. It’s probable that they earn through sponsorships and merchandise, though it’s impressive that the documentary doesn’t feel like a continuous advertisement – a feat considering most of his films are essentially long commercials.

Parkour is a sport so naturally thrilling that Bay primarily focuses on letting it shine through the seven main characters in the movie. Rather than himself, he spends more time developing their personalities here compared to “6 Underground”. The film also includes touching moments of connection, like when Josh moves his living space to the lounge because his Abyssinian cat has taken over the bedroom, or a segment featuring Sacha (who attended a prestigious film school to enhance his Storror videos) in the hospital during the pandemic, recovering not from COVID but a severe leg injury.

In these types of films, expectations run high, as demonstrated by last year’s release “Skywalkers: A Love Story,” which stemmed from DIY skate videos of the 1980s and have since become a lucrative career path for those unafraid to perform increasingly daring stunts. In “Minding the Gap,” director Bing Liu delved deeper, exploring the psyche and collective trauma of his childhood companions, but Bay doesn’t touch such depth in this production. It’s debatable whether Sacha Powell would have fared better if he self-produced the film; however, no one can rival Bay when it comes to generating adrenaline.

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2025-03-10 01:17