Chasing Great

This review may contain spoilers!

Someone seriously needs to tell documentary creators than an hours worth of footage in slow motion doesn't look good no matter the camera quality. I would give Chasing Great a 4/10.

There are a few really nice looking scenic shots scattered throughout this film, these are incredible images that emphasise the beautiful landscape McCaw grew up within. The narrative that unfolds within the documentary has two very strong strengths; McCaw's childhood is perhaps the best aspect of the film and the chronology of his rise to rugby captain makes for an interesting portion of the film as well.

There are numerous interviews within the film and a select few served the documentary extremely well. The interviews with Richie McCaw guide the majority of the film and while they can be repetitive at times they also present a humble, honestly ambitious figure who unveils how he thinks and what brought him through his long career effectively. Both Graham Henry and Steve Hansen, All Blacks coaches at different stages of McCaw's career, provide some of the strongest insight into McCaw's drive as a player; they are both also some of the best interviewees within the film. Barney McCone, who was McCaw's childhood coach, was a more unique interview who was quite a fun character and a very friendly Kiwi bloke.

This film doesn't have a great sense of structure, there are long periods where the documentary seems to have a linear focus and then sudden moments where it starts jumping between the past and the end of McCaw's career. A greater majority of the film focusses upon McCaw's last eight years on the field and it's horribly boring; the story goes round and round in circles often getting a bit repetitive and there's even a portion that focusses upon allegations in which McCaw cheated which really messed with the tone of the film. For the most part the cinematography is otherwise really bland and lacks vision or it's high quality but terribly framed. The editing feels like it was clipped together by an amateur, a sluggish pace is set and so many individual cuts are jarringly noticeable. There isn't really a score for this film, it's mostly a bunch of bass sounds played over a swelling rise in noise; the use of Lorde at the end really is just a further example that this film has no idea what it is.

Just as I said there were some good interviews there were also some pretty awful ones. Gemma Flynn is a particularly glaring one, she seems to be visibly nervous in front of cameras which has the negative effect of pulling you out of the film and also creating the impression that there's no chemistry between her and McCaw. Fellow rugby players whether they are teammate or rival are interviewed, such as Dan Carter or Schalk Burger; sadly these interviews are quite wooden and you don't get a sense of connection towards McCaw. Margaret and Donald McCaw, Richie's parents, are shown briefly in a few quick interviews but their lack of screen time creates a distance from the all too well presented childhood narrative. There's also the troubling cheating aspect that I mentioned earlier, the film would have been much better if the interviews with Alain Rolland and Stuart Barnes had been completely cut out.