He has a complex relationship to notoriety and seems sympathetically uncomfortable in the role of documentary subject. That might be because Hawk makes for a withholding interview subject, speaking stoically about his father’s death and referring to his own recovery in a rehab facility, perhaps the documentary’s most personal aside, as a time when “I checked myself into a place.” There are mentions of his tumultuous personal life, including his struggles with infidelity and his regrets as a father, but Wikipedia can ultimately tell you more about Hawk’s past marriages than this documentary can. Whatever the reason, “Until the Wheels Fall Off” feels less about Hawk, the person, and more about this particular neurosis. Maybe - and this is very much my personal theory, not the documentary’s - Tony Hawk is like this because he is a Taurus. Maybe it came about because Hawk’s mother, who had him at 43, would regularly refer to him as a “mistake.” Maybe it’s just an inherent part of success. Through a series of interviews with Hawk, as well as his family, friends and peers, Jones dissects that perfectionism. He’s always been competing against Tony.” Lance Mountain, one of Hawk’s peers, probably says it best: “Tony is competing against Tony. Why is this man, after nearly 40 years of unbelievable success, still risking his life to break records? This documentary by Sam Jones (“Off Camera,” “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart”) chronicles Hawk’s prodigious, at times challenging, skateboarding career, but it also analyzes its subject with a keen psychological eye.

Hawk sits at the back of the frame, his head hanging low. The film’s opening titles begin over a shot of Hawk’s upended skateboard, wheels still spinning in the foreground.

He flings himself across an indoor ramp, slamming into the wood over and over as he blunders each attempt. Yet here Hawk is, relentlessly determined to do it again. It was a feat akin to Tonya Harding’s triple axel or Nadia Comaneci’s perfect 10. He is reportedly the first to ever successfully do so. Hawk already landed this trick, over two decades ago at the 1999 X Games. To pull the trick off, he has to complete two and a half aerial spins, essentially hurtling himself and his skateboard through several mid-air somersaults before landing neatly back on a wooden ramp. Hawk, now in his 50s and easily the most famous skateboarder of all time, is trying to land a 900. “Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off” opens with a montage of failures. This review was first published on March 12, after the film’s premiere at the 2022 SXSW festival.

Tony hawk until the wheels fall off