“Carmelo’s Way” DVD Review
Carmelo Anthony, forward for the Denver Nuggets, is widely regarded as one of the best players in the game, leading Syracuse to the 2003 NCAA National Championship and becoming a three-time NBA All-Star. Now, with CARMELO’S WAY, Carmelo tells his story beyond the NBA hardwood. Find out what it takes to be a world-class athlete as Carmelo trains under the guidance of Nuggets strength and conditioning coach Steve Hess, ride with Carmelo as he visits China for a charity basketball game, go behind the scenes of USA basketball as Carmelo prepares for Olympic qualifying and return to Baltimore with Carmelo as he gives back to the city, neighborhoods and schools that shaped him into the person he is today.
Synopsis
Narrated by Carmelo through a series of in-depth interviews and on-location footage, and supplemented with commentary from those who know him best—his mother, brother, friends and coaches—CARMELO’S WAY is the unfiltered story of Carmelo Anthony, in his own words.
I’m by no means a basketball fan so I really genuinely knew jack all about Carmelo going into this documentary. In fact I know so little about basketball that despite living in Ohio for my entire life, I had no idea that LeBron James even played for an Ohio team until he left and there was a big stink made about it. The same can be said for any sport, really—I’m just not into them. So since I cared not for the sport in which this man partakes, I had to rely on the originality and content of the series itself. At least I assume it’s a series—from what I found online it was supposed to be some BET special, but IMDb doesn’t even have a listing for it so I’m not entirely sure what it was supposed to be exactly.
In any case the documentary/series/whatever breaks down to be about a two hour look into Carmelo Anthony’s life. This doesn’t limit us to just his time on the court as we see him traveling overseas and preparing for charity games as well as for Olympic qualifying. It’s quite entertaining just to watch him go throughout his routines, although it can get a bit tiresome since it really is just a lot of basketball. Still, we get commentary from Carmelo himself as well as his friends, family, and colleagues, so it’s a pretty nice viewpoint of his life. The problem is you have to care about who he is to actually get into the documentary itself. It’s great what he does and all, but if he wasn’t a basketball player than this would just be another documentary about some other sports athlete. Not a bad thing, of course, but unless you’re part of his audience already chances are you won’t really care.
Overall worth a Rental even if you’re a huge fan of his work—it just isn’t something you would ever watch more than once. Definitely entertaining, but those who are already fans will enjoy it a whole helluva lot more than those that aren’t (though that goes without saying, really).
The DVD
docuramafilms brings Carmelo’s Way to DVD in a standard amaray DVD case. Nothing overly special about the presentation of the documentary here—no fancy exterior cardboard slipcase and the cover itself looks rather simplistic. Video and audio is a solid presentation overall and about what you’d expect from a documentary. As can be expected from a documentary the video is in 1.33:1 and the audio is a simple DD2.0 mix.
Extras include extra bits of documentary goodness in the form of four new vignettes:
The Confident Jumper
Won and Done
Nutrition Mission
The Keys to Success with Steve Hess
Overall, again, a Rental for fans. Everyone else can safely walk on by it.
Carmelo’s Way arrives on DVD on November 2nd.