Have you ever had the opportunity to stand next to an angry, full-grown bull?  I'm not talking about the really nice one they have at the State Fair that you pay $1.00 to walk into a tent and marvel at how big they are.  I'm talking about a bull that is pissed off, scared and ready to kick anything's or anyone's ass that gets near it. 

I'll tell you something.  I have had that opportunity on more than one occasion, and it's a scary, gut-checking feeling.  I have never moved so fast in my life as I moved when I saw approximately 1800 pounds of "ready to fuck with you" animal come down a cattle chute at the Okeechobee Livestock Market.  By all accounts, I scrambled up the side of the gate and flipped over into an empty pen in less than one second.  The thing was fucking HUGE and worse, it was SCARED.  When you combine HUGE and SCARED with HORNS, then that thing is going to rain destruction on whatever is scaring it.

When I saw Rank was offered for review I jumped on it.  Whether you like the sport of bull riding or hate it for its exploitation of the animals, one thing you cannot deny is that the men who participate in it are some seriously ballsy guys.  These are men who willingly place themselves on the backs of something that's HUGE, SCARED and has HORNS, and they dig in and try to hold on for eight seconds at a clip.  They walk away with broken bones.  They walk away with chipped teeth.  They sometimes get gored or worse, get their heads split open by a hoof or from being slammed into the gate.  However, they do it because they love it, and what's more, they admire the bulls they ride.  They consider them athletes to be respected and in some cases, revered.

Rank was filmed over an 8 week period and follows the 2004 Professional Bull Riding World Championships in Las Vegas, Nevada.  It focuses primarily on three men, the top three ranked bull riders coming into the competition, and it explores the sport, the contest itself and their motivations for competing. 

It also easily ranks (no pun intended) as one of the best documentaries I've seen in the last few years.  Rank is the type of documentary that puts you into the contest in such a way that you care about the people.  Their individual stories, no matter how far removed from your particular reality, will grab your attention, and you will, despite your best efforts, care about the outcome of this contest.  I found myself wincing at the falls and jumping up from my seat at the victories, and almost none of this had to do with the amount of beer I'd been drinking. I truly gave a shit about these men, from the young gun shooting for the Championship, to the quiet young Christian who looks to God to get him through each ride, even the defending champion from Brazil. 

However, it's not just a documentary on the contest itself and that's one of the biggest strengths of Rank. Director John Hyams came into this not really knowing the sport himself and so he started from the ground up in order to get an education.  Luckily, he brings the audience along, and in doing so, he has made what is a remarkably balanced introduction to a sport that many people just do not understand.  The overall focus may be on the competition, but they spend time talking to the families of the competitors, the doctors who patch them up, the bullfighters (formerly known as "rodeo clowns") and even start the film off focusing on the breeders who deliver the meanest bulls on the planet to Las Vegas for this event.  All the while, they keep the story moving briskly and fill up 95 minutes with nothing but meat (seriously… no pun intended).  There is no filler here, and that may be the most remarkable thing about this film.

Additionally, a very important piece to making this film accessible to a larger audience is that the filmmakers stayed away from using country music for the soundtrack.  This was a huge plus for someone like me, who doesn't mind country music but who would probably rather listen to almost anything else first.  By using piano and improvised atmospheric rock music by The Unseen Hand they came away with something that is more along the lines of My Morning Jacket than Garth Brooks.  Because of this, the movie never feels like a cliche, even though the main characters are walking around with belt buckles the size of my head and U.S. Army sponsorship logos across the backs of their western button up shirts.

That places the focus on the subject matter, not the presentation of it, and the results are masterful.  I highly recommend you check out this film. 
 

Presentation 
From a transfer standpoint, this film looks very good.  It's spotless, and the film makers obviously knew what they were doing.  We are not treated to shaky camera work, bad framing, etc.  This is well done and professional, and the DVD represents that very well.  The music, again, is key to the film and the audio is also well represented here, even though it’s a standard stereo track.  Again, the soundtrack work is exceptional and even garnered its own extras feature.

Extras 
Here's where this DVD suffers some.  It doesn't suffer for lack of extras.  It suffers for lack of interesting extras.

First up, Rank features what may be the most boring commentary I have ever experienced in my life.  Featuring Director John Hyams, Producer Jon Greenhalgh and Co-Producer Neil Fazzary commenting on all aspects of the filming, it becomes very apparent why they chose not to narrate the film.  It's because they make Ben Stein sound like Cuba Gooding Jr.  I literally fell asleep twice while listening to the first 30 minutes of this.  At that point I turned it off.  The material is not all that interesting, and there wasn't much for me to get into and hold my attention.  Others may feel differently, but I don’t get paid for this so I’ll be damned if I’m suffering through it for the likes of you people.

Next, there is a featurette called The Unseen Hand: Recording the Music For Rank.  This focuses on the recording of the soundtrack for the film.  It features no narration and just drops you into the recording sessions so you can see what they were doing.  It's nice in that the music is all good but it's pretty dry stuff overall.

Featurette number two, Cowtown: Bull Riding Sessions, focuses on how they inserted the natural sound for the riding footage. This was interesting in that they couldn't use the actual audio of the riders during competition because of the loud music in the arena.  It's worth one viewing and not much more.

Finally, you have the original trailer for the film, which is good, and is the best thing on the extras. 

The Bottom Line 
Rank is simply one of the best films I've seen in recent years.  It's compelling, enlightening, tense and a fun ride to the finish.  Even with the lameness of the extras, this film is easily a solid 4.5 on its own.  Please take an hour and a half out of your life and give this documentary a shot.  You won't be disappointed.