Review of "MOAB: Like Nothing Else"

Mar. 01, 2006 By Manny MacMillan
  • Off-Road.com  •

In this film, the folks over at IMV tackle the task of documenting a Hummer trail ride at Moab. In short, they went out to film a bunch of Hummers, rock faces, wheeling, carnage, spectacular views and a group of people having a good time on the trails.

 

This is a DVD that is fun to sit down and watch when you can't be on the trails, or to put on in the background while you are working on your truck. As a viewer, you get an introduction to a variety of the characters in the Hummer world and you get an opportunity to see Hummers rambling through the spectacular scenery of Moab. As an added bonus, you get to see the crew from IMV wheeling on terrain that requires slower speeds and low gearing than their previous "rally style" off-road experiences while driving in beater cars. Newcomers to wheeling in a Hummer can learn the benefits of BTM alongside these first time drivers of the "Angry Iron" rig borrowed from Shawn Smith.

 

When I asked director Sav Charudattan about the experience, he explained that, " At IMV, we were accustomed to pushing automobiles, racecars and bikes to the limit on the street or at the track.  The most off road experience we had was with beater rally cars driving 70 mph through Florida pine forests during the night.  Usually we try and AVOID the rocks or roots in the road.  So it was quite a change to intentionally seek out seemingly impossible obstacles and drive directly OVER them instead of around."

 

The crew at IMV succeeds in making the viewer feel like they are part of the action – don't be surprised if you feel a little like you were out there as part of this Moab Hummer convoy when you are done watching.

Be warned, there are two versions of this film on the DVD, one uncensored and one censored. The uncensored version does have harsh language, and the censored version features more bleeps than a game of Pac-Man (but you can probably get away with watching that one with the family!)

 

All in all, "Moab: Like Nothing Else" is a 70 minute documentary that is fun to watch and makes you want to roll out to Moab and wheel. There aren't a whole lot of Hummer films or videos out there, but to date this is the best one on the planet.


(photos by Bill Damm, Jerry Reynolds, Dave Elzea provided courtesy of IMV Films)


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