Deja Vu review!!!

Review by Effraim.

Simon’s second DVD “déjà vu” arrived almost two weeks ago, and I’m still taking it in, there has been a lot of hype after Simons classic first solo DVD release “Made you Look” and rightly so.!

This had me thinking along the lines of the dreaded second rappers album, they are never normally as good, can they maintain, I was worried about this for Simons second project. I’m happy to say that this isn’t the case, they are a few changes to the production of the DVD from “MYL” (which is included in the extras!!) In places the presentation is a lot more corporate friendly, I can foresee a lot of people outside of flatland liking this (which is not a bad thing), whilst it still retains a lot of hardcore riding from Simon.

The intro is glamorous, lot of special effects, great opening title sequence shot, familiar opening track from Trickstars 6 (cant go wrong) leaves you wondering what “Déjà vu” leaves in store. The quality of the moving shot, and general filming is much more advanced than Simons first project. Simon enlisted the help of Mason Rose. This almost looks too good quality of flatland. Simons raised the bar for sure. The first riding section opens with a classic tune from Gangstarr “rep grows bigger”, one of my favourite tricks in this opening section is his two footed dump truck turbine to x foot forwards upside down wheelie as he pivots to the upside down there’s a subtle barflip, looks incredible!! Simon mixes his sections really well, besides the variety in riding, there’s a lot of different riding spots on show, there’s whopper lines, regular to cab whopper, g turn 360 manual to whopper to pedal, and one of the gems of the DVD in this section, pedal 5 360 boomerang to right arm halfpacker bar flip to backwards x foot halfpacker flapjack to steam x foot mcicrcle bar scoot mccircle out, epic!!!

I love his whiplashes to direct no handed teakettle, he also shows a g-string variation into tea kettle combo, the man may have more tricks than any other flatlander rider on the planet!

Check this one out! One of the lines of the DVD! Carved short nose manual to xft mccircle whip to halfpacker to kickflip halfpacker!!! Insane!!! I love how they have included the slams and frustrations of Simon filming these epic tricks, it’s realistic, and gives you an idea of the work gone into it.

The section ends with Simon getting kicked out of a tennis court, humorous scene!!! This flows directly into a nice funky track, and starts with a banger, xft karl kruzer full boomerang to x hand steam pivot to xft inside steam stubble duck to backwards right arm halfpacker!! Jump to backwards karl out, I screamed when I first watched this trick!! Flows so good!!

There’s no way I can list everything that Simon drops in this video, I’m on overload already, Simon kills it on both wheels, arguably to a higher standard on both wheels than any other rider, who else does this to such a degree? xft spinning turbine lawnmower turbines scuff out to peg wheelie opposite whopper out! Hang five turbine jump to halfpacker to xft bar scoot mccircle, this section ends with a whole bunch of those Chase gouin inspired forward backwards chick whips, Simon does a ton of em. I believe like the kickflip halfpacker sequence, this was shot in his backyard. Unbelievable quantity of varied tricks so far and only into section 2. Wow!

The next two sections, ala "Made you Look", focuses on his friends, Chris O’Donnell, Luke Goreki, Kenny Raggett, shredders in park, surfing, and motorbikes, flows quickly with shots of Simons homeland..

The next section shows Simon riding park, with tech level as you’d expect, multiple et nose manuals, for example, mixed in with super long tech whiplash combos, and lifestyle shots. Getting back to more detail, one of my fav combos from this section, forward karl to halfpacker boomerang round bars to halfpacker right arm halfpacker bar flip to backwards backpacker pivot to xft hitch to xft karl to xft halfhiker to halfpacker boomerang to right hand halfpacker jump to karl out! Did you follow that?? The depth of Simons riding skills keeps this flowing, without ever getting boring, this is some achievement. I don’t see many that could do this..

The next section returns to a hip hop flavour, great variety in shots, lighting, diff locations, hang five whiplash to backwards spinning teakettle 360 varial to hitch to karl 360 flip to halfhiker! Links nicely from Simon riding in beach, to friends section with a mixture of surfing, and Corey Bohan shredding, style for miles!

The next section is dedicated to travelling, arty shots all over the globe with various riders and friends, Bashi, Alex Jumelin, Terry Adams share their experiences and what they value about travelling, of course Simon himself gives some insight.

The next section devoted to b-boys, a whole bunch of incredible breakdancing goes down in this section, this made me think about similarities between b-boying and the current battle style of flatland, lot of parallels here.

The last section is mindblowing…set to a acoustic melody, girl in chair singing, Simon opens with hang five whiplash turbine backwards whiplash backwards karl to halfpacker kickflip backwards backpacker juggler xft hitch out! Hang 5 to 360 flapjack steam mccircle 360 stubbleduck to backward halfpacker jump to karl out, unreal techanlity from Simon, the ender is ridiculous, a 360 backwards kickflip halfpacker!! Wtf!!! He lands it in circle k, then effects, then back to circle k, and leaves the DVD on a bit of a cliff-hanger, with the editing effects did he pull it? This was my only gripe about the DVD, the special effects got in the way of that one, nevertheless, its incredible!!! All that’s left is the credits and of course the bonus section which is a treat!

This DVD lived up to the hype that Simon’s riding fully deserves, this may well be Simon’s last solo DVD project, this DVD has almost every style of flatland I can think of, the decade variations I haven’t mentioned were also a nice surprise. I cant even imagine how much work he’s put into making this happen, the highs and lows, there’s random clips of Simon’s bike throwing skills, to give you an idea.

You get the feeling Simon just loves bmx in all forms, this comes across in his flat riding, his park riding, and showcasing his friends talents, his travels have exposed him to a while range of cultures and lifestyles, and he communicates that through the DVD.

I don’t even have to tell you to go buy this do I?

Available at Flatland fuel, New circle, Kunstform, support one of the best riders to ever grace a bicycle. This is beautiful! What a treat!!! Same thing daily 2 and Deju Vu in one month!!