Stop at Nothing: The Lance Armstrong Story

"Stop at Nothing" follows the history of Lance Armstrong as he made extensive use of performance-enhancing drugs and hormones on his long sportive career. It managed to get great testimonials from people who worked very close with Armstrong for years, such as cycling teammates, assistants, his foundation's former manager, sport reporters and more, and this is a very positive aspect of this documentary compared to other features made about the fallen athlete. The personal on-screen first-hand accounts are very interesting and personal.

Throughout the movie, Armstrong is portrayed as a ruthless person who'd stop at nothing to conceal his own cheating and his own fraud, stomping and kicking everybody around him if necessary. First-hand accounts of those on the receiving end of his wrath give a picture many had never seen from following his media appearances over the years and how he was portrayed as an inspirational leader after overcoming cancer and returning to win several times more the Tour de France.

The only critical issue missing is any discussion about the behaviors of sponsors and others whose made huge money out of Armstrong's career, and the indirect or sometimes direct role they play in cycling doping culture. They were treated almost as an afterthought, and considering how many people related to the sport the producers had access to, they should have been able to explore it better, so I give it an overall 8/10 score.

Fascinating, shocking and insidious. A detailed story, step by step, how the lies and drug use of Lance Armstrong came to light. What is especially fascinating is the amount of public support Armstrong enjoyed in America. He was a hero for years. A celebrated cancer survivor. A friend of the White House. Everybody loved Lance. So it took years to finally find enough people who dared to end this venomous fairytale based on lies.

Especially the first part of the documentary is fascinating, in which the first witnesses get smeared with all sorts of insinuations, based on lies. Even Greg Lemond, an honest Tour de France winner, gets smeared with lies and accusations, simply because he dared answer a simple question by a journalist if Armstrong could have used drugs. Rightfully so, Greg Lemond answered that IF Armstrong did use drugs he would be the biggest fraud ever. All hell broke loose after that...

75 million dollars worth of sponsor money was drawn back instantly when it was proven that Armstrong had taken drugs. The biggest " winner" always had been the worst liar and cheat after all. He became the biggest looser ever in American sports history. What a fascinating story. Highly recommended, even if you have followed all the news about it when the story first broke, because it has numerous juicy details and witness testimonies that are truly mind boggling...

I watched most of Lance Armstrong's seven Tour de France "wins" as they happened. I had a yellow bracelet, I owned his two memoirs, and I bought into the myth. It wasn't until just before his seventh "win" that I began to wonder if the rumors and allegations were true. I brecame convinced he was riding dirty when he staged his ill-advised comeback to the Tour, finishing third (this after Floyd Landis was disqualifed). Since then, I've seen several news stories and documentaries and have read several articles. So when I recently watched this documentary, several years after it was made in 2014, I didn't learn much new.

Still, I found this documentary to be very well done with lots of first-person accounts to build the case against Armstrong.

My only complaint is that after spending so much time with Betsy Andreu and Greg LeMond, detailing how Armstrong bullied, threatened, and did everything he could to destroy their characters, and with is non-apology confession on "Oprah," I would have liked to have seen more of a follow-up with Andreu and LeMond. I suppose that is for the sequel.

The Lance Armstrong story is sad and incredible: a talented young athlete cheats and bullies his way to the top, threatening to ruin anyone who attempts to expose him; and this against a backdrop of nearly dying and making a comeback, not only as a sportsman, but as a campaigner against cancer. Meanwhile, a worrying number of other cyclists seem to have dropped dead for no conceivable reason other than suspected abuse of their bodies. 'Stop At Nothing' is a competent documentary: its makers have spoken to the right people, they have the right interviews, but it doesn't need to be artistically stunning, because of the power of the tale it tells. One of the people who appears in this film is journalist David Walsh: read his book, 'Seven Deadly Sins', for a more personalised account of the long, and ultimately victorious, fight against Armstrong.

We used to think Lance was incredible - now we know he is Non-credible