Concrete Kids (2018) User Reviews

skating los angeles at night

[ops-52535 · 7/10 · 3 April 2019]

Skateboarding has never been my kind of thing, im more the sturdy on the ground type of traveler, but this los angeles based movie about two young boys going on a dream trip through dangerous and murderous parts of the big city in the middle of the night is, and was a great adventure to take part in. its not an action movie, more a roadie movie on boards, and its a good one if your not too squemish.

its a shallow story, that for sure could have been better told and better shown, especially for all of us that has never been to this metropolis of a city. a gps map with blinking dots now and then showing the boys whereabouts, would have given an even greater feeling of travelling with them.

the filmography, and camera work are really excellent done, and the 2 main actors are doing their work brilliantly, on the board and on the act. beware, they have talents.

the grumpy old man acknowledges this movie with aplause, a 7, and couldve been even better,its up to you to decide.

The basic premise was full of possibilities but it was a rather low-key tale

[rooster_davis · 6/10 · 5 November 2022]

I've raised my rating of this film from a 5 to a 6.

This is not the movie I was expecting, based on the few other reviews. I don't think it can be called a 'coming of age' movie, for one thing, as one reviewer put it. In a nutshell, two low-income-family kids are trying to get across L. A. to take part in a contest to win $1000. They leave in the evening so they can be sure to be at the contest when it starts the next morning. Their plans of course go awry and they end up mostly on foot or skateboard instead of being able to take the bus. We're with them all night as they do their best to make it to the contest (at the Staples Center), right up until the next morning when they arrive there.

First, the kid actors - they were good. I'd say the taller one ("Sage") was definitely the better actor of the two though the smaller one ("Edison") did an okay job. However I'm not going to give them raves as the best possible natural kid actors. (If you want to see a real kid who could act like a pro from day one, watch Brad Renfro in "The Client". Basically plucked out of a life in a trailer park at the age of 10, he was an absolute natural.) Anyhow, I think the two boys did okay considering the rather thin plot of this movie.

The cinematography was great - the film gave a real feel for being outside all night in downtown LA, and not in the best of neighborhoods either. However, in a movie like this, there are endless ways that the boys could have run into serious trouble or encountered some scary bad people, but they didn't really and I wished they had. Instead, most of the night was spent in random places doing random things. The boys were likeable enough that the viewer would really care what happened to them, but really, very little did.

The ending was rather puzzling. The movie ended in a way that didn't have much - if anything - to do with the rest of the story.

I'm giving this film 6 stars mostly because I like the feel of 'all night in L. A. that it provides. It does feel as if you're really there and I liked that. But if you want to watch a movie about kids who find themselves in some real situations and have to extricate themselves, watch Sky Kids. I think I gave that one an 8.

Concrete Kids

[chrisonlineofficial · 21 November 2019]

Concrete Kids is a Extraordinary Urban Coming-of-age film. I found this film to be truly epic and different from other coming-of-age films. It revolves around two talented boys who are skateboarders who travels across LA to the Staples Center all night until 8am to attend a contest to win a grand prize. The two main boy actors were amazing throughout the storyline it being their first debut role they were number one. The film was not only epic but a great adventure and had great dialogue, good city sceneries, great feel, great direction and writing by Lije Sarki. Lije brought one of the best boyhood movies to life. The boys have golden talent. Anyone can relate to this story and to the boys. Skateboarding is a great hobbies and a great sport, yes any kids would've done what they did to attend a contest for a chance to win money and prizes, but any parent would've been worried for their kid traveling across dangerous parts of the urban city. We acknowledge the boys bravery, confidence, talent, and drive to do whatever it takes to achieve their dream. In the middle of the night they spoke about their goals and had food to regain their energy and survive. They ventured the streets like close brothers on a mission. Concrete Kids is must see! Hope to see these boys in more films.

It's All Padding

[mcjensen-05924 · 2/10 · 8 January 2024]

So here we have a film about two very uninteresting young kids who can't skateboard very well trying to get across the city. Each scene is more uneventful than the last. A bit of skateboarding where they land about ten percent of their tricks. Random encounters with people that don't amount to anything. A thoroughly bland soundtrack, which considering the skate culture is very confusing. Then they walk around and take a short bus ride and walk around some more. Cheap little scenes attempting to add some drama never amounts to anything. The mother of one of the kids is very pretty but sadly we don't get to see much of her. A lot of it didn't make sense, would never happen, or both. The reviews here are utter nonsense. One of the kids could sort of act. The other was hopeless. This movie could have been something special but ended up being nothing but putrid dullness. Watch Wassup Rockers for a great story, good acting from an otherwise unknown cast, and an excellent soundtrack that will continually have you bumping up the volume.

Wonderful Movie

[newellsteven · 10/10 · 16 July 2020]

Concrete kids is now one of my favorite movies. The young actors were terrific in this film which was very heartwarming and nostalgic. It makes me think back to better days of being a kid and hanging out all night with your friends. It is definitely worth a watch