Long Way Down

I feel like perhaps this will get buried because people may see it as a motorcycle show before a travel show. Charley and Ewan really bounce of each other well (though not as well as Long Way Round or Long Way Up), and I enjoy seeing just two friends share this incredible experience with each other.

As noted in other reviews, the rushed nature of this series brings it down a bit and I'm glad that they address it in the show, though it being too late to change the schedule. Charley just ignoring requests to not wheelie always made me laugh as it just shows how much fun he was having out there.

(I have mini grips with the team member Dave (one of the Americans) but he's not there enough to cause any real annoyance.

Then of course the big one...Eve. I have no idea why she is there and it feels as though his "star power" created an environment of no one really telling him no other than his mate Charley. Throwing a wife in this late in a trip and one that's allowed two friends to just be laid back and make jokes just threw off the entire energy between the two. It doesn't ruin the show but it would've been better had she not been there.

Just watch it and enjoy it. Great look at the world and an admirable way to travel.

Long Way Down is the feature cut of the second season of the road trip documentary featuring Ewan McGregor and his buddy Charlie Boorman on their motorcycle adventure from the Northern tip of Scotland, to the southern tip of Africa. Brushing up on the past adventure is not a requirement for getting your visa for this trip. The film suffers mildly from the lack of build-up and planning for the trip, which would have added more of an introduction to the traveling company, but the ramping right into the adventure helps the pace of the 2+hr film. As a whole the film works as an African postcard, a buddy road trip, and the greatest advertisement for adventure tourism ever made. It is impossible to watch this film and not have an immediate desire to skip the beaches of Hawaii for the far-reaches of the African wilderness. McGregor and Boorman featured equally are both likable, and yet oddly familiar. They are the friends on any vacation that you realize the longer you stay with them, the more disagreeable and yet likable they get. McGregor checks any star ego he may have at the Scotland border, often embracing his lack of motorcycling skill "I fall down a lot", and is surprised when he is not mobbed while visiting the original 1977 Star Wars set in Tunisia. Unlike the rest of the celebutard reality shows that infest the airwaves, Long Way down is not about following the everyday life of a celebrity, it's about following two friends on the adventure of a lifetime…one of which just happens to be obi-wan Kenobi.

The inclusion of Ewan's wife really ruined this show. She had no interest in bikes, can't ride and just came out of jealousy. She ruined the dynamic between Ewan and Charlie, Ewan having to Miss part to pamper to his incompetent wife. She is such an irritating person, very clingy to Ewan and had no place in this adventure. I imagine Charlie must have felt very much like a spare part. I guess the was included to make it more "reality" show, but that was the brilliance of the other two shows- didn't pamper to the masses. She fell Off on the first corner-how useless is that! Not a biker, not her dream, no place.

Traveling vicariously with Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman in LONG WAY ROUND, I was pleased to see them continue their adventures in LONG WAY DOWN, a trip from the top of Scotland to the bottom of Africa.

I thoroughly enjoyed Long Way Round. Their travels were tremendously entertaining, with absent roadways, accidents, and playful banter that made it a fun travelogue. It was also strange to see such out-of-the-way places where roads vanished, streams swelled requiring special crossings, and the people that turned out and took them in. It was a microcosm event where we got inside the heads of both the travelers and those they visited.

But things changed for the worse with Long Way Down.

First is the overuse of the helmet cameras and microphones. The sound was often exceptionally muffled, forcing one to rewind the DVD and turn up the volume in hopes of hearing what was said. The helmet cams, too, gave poor quality video and were often grimy or rain-splattered, not letting the viewer enjoy the sites around Africa and beyond.

And where Long Way Round started off with a bang, giving us some great entertainment right from episode one, Long Way Down didn't really pick-up for me until episode four when we are fully entrenched in Africa's amazing countries.

It was also a bit perturbing to see so much time given over to their time with UNICEF. Although I think this is a very worthy cause, it isn't why I like watching travel diaries like this. I want to experience the road and the people and the countryside. Having it on the DVD's extra features was fine, which is where most of the UNICEF information should've remained (I still would've watched the extras, too).

For those familiar with Long Way Round, they'll be happy to learn that Claudio is back in the saddle with our two boys, filming every move and crashing and burning yet again! The guy needs to pay closer attention to the road.

There's been some negative comments made about Ewan's wife's choice to join them on one leg of the journey. I thought this was excellent. She turned out to be a good diversion for Ewan and Charley, as well as quickly becoming an adequate motorcyclist.

I will also say that it was wonderful to see so many different cultures as the two crossed the African plains. I was particularly impressed with Ethiopa, which I'd always pictured as arid and depressing. But here we get to see the lushness of its green, verdant lands ...and it's incredibly gentle people.

Indeed, all of the people Charley and Ewan meet are amazingly gracious and hospitable. Perhaps even more than the tough roads they traveled. Many miles and many friends were passed during this trip. And I'm glad I watched it. Just not as glad as when I'd finished Long Way Round.

I loved the trip to Africa but really feel Eve McGregor joining the trip brought tension to Charlie's and Ewan's relationship and their rapport seemed forced through much of the trip. I said to my screen, "Gee McGregor grow a pair and tell her no", but he didn't listen and even defends the decision by suggesting her addition brought kittens, rainbows and unicorns to the trip meaning she was just so down to earth and helpful to all the people they encountered that her presence was a gift.

With the addition of Mr. McGregor's father, brother and mother,this series seemed to be all about pleasing Mr. McGregor; not about filming a buddy travel film and that is a shame.