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| Long Way Down: Complete BBC Series | 
 enlarge | Directors: David Alexanian, Russ Malkin
Actors: Ewan Mcgregor, Charley Boorman
Studio: EMI Records (UK)
Category: DVD
List Price: £19.99
Buy Used: £10.00
You Save: £9.99 (50%)
New (33) from £10.60
Avg. Customer Rating:  68 reviews
Sales Rank: 650
Format: Colour, Digital Sound, Dolby, Pal, Subtitled
Languages: English (Subtitled), English (Original Language)
Rating: Exempt
Running Time: 340 minutes
Number Of Items: 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.6
EAN: 5099950128198
ASIN: B000UX5GFQ
Release Date: December 3, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Still Good! March 6, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Long Way Down is a great sequel. The boys, as usual, are fun, charming, and continue to open our eyes to new places, as well as new ideas and cultures. Their sympathy for those who are less fortunate, and their desire to expose us to it, is overwhelming. As far as how exciting this series is, it's not quite so as the first series. However, like most sequels, there is no way to accomplish this. The audience's expectations have been raised, as well as the experience of the bikers and crew. Hence, the magic of not knowing what the heck is going on is no longer there. That's what everyone who didn't like this series was hoping for- a sequel where they were as naive and unprepared as in the first one. If you go in with these unrealistic expectations, you will be disappointed. I really enjoyed it, and hope they continue to take road trips and bring them to my livingroom.
 Long way down and down and down February 28, 2008
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
After watching and reading Long way round and Race to Dakar, I couldn't wait for Long way down. What an anti climax! I can't beleive that this poor excuse for a DVD has come from the same guys that did Long way round. This DVD is nothing more than a Ewan McGregor family holiday, a painfully boring waste of time with absolutely none of the excitment or passion of their previous DVD. This was pure self indulgence from Ewan McGregor and I can only feel sorry for Charlie Borman who I beleive was robbed, just like the rest of us, from enjoying what would have been another fantastic show. It was clear to see, that Charlie was not enjoying it and I would be suprised if they ever tried to do a third show. Please tell Eve McGregor that she and her husband can holiday any time they like. We don't want to see that. Also, tell Ewan that we met his parents in the first DVD, we don't need them in any other.
Poor old charlie got railroaded in this one and lets face it, Ewan might be the big star but Charlie is the more interesting by far.
Do the next one alone Charlie. Leave the Prima Donna at home.
 I agree with the negative reviews, BUT February 25, 2008
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
I'm sitting here in the middle of a February winter in New England, unable to ride since early December, and this is just a fantastic adventure to watch. It takes me to many places I'd rather be, and to me that's the whole point.
 Long Way Frown February 11, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Like most 'sequels', this one doesn't compare well to the original. Let me state at the outset that if you love travel, love Africa, love bikes, then you will enjoy this -- it's just that it doesn't have the novelty or the wide-eyed awe and sense of discovery that Long Way Round had. The sense that you have two guys out on their own on one big adventure is completely and utterly lost. Mind you, compared to something like Mondo Enduro, even Long Way Round didn't quite have that, but the extent to which the film crew and background characters feature on this DVD makes it a much weaker offering.
The biggest weakness for me is that people such as Russ Malkin and David Alexanian feature so heavily in this DVD, almost as if they sensed that this was their opportunity to make a bid for TV stardom themselves, to 'up' their public profiles to more evenly match McGregor and Boorman. They just keep appearing on the screen! In Long Way Down their occasional appearances on screen, and the dramas of their own journey as back-up, provided enjoyable -- but, crucially, separate -- counterpoint to McGregor and Boorman on the bikes, but here they feature so heavily as to be almost co-stars. The result of this is that you get no sense whatsoever that the boys on the bikes are on their own or in any way at risk of getting lost, of finding themselves in danger, or in situations where they really have to think on their feet to get through, which let's be honest, is a real draw of adventure stories. Instead, you get the sense that they are cossetted in amongst a much bigger corporate venture, one that is desperate for screen time itself. Conversely, this DVD loses much from having so few appearances by the third rider/cameraman Claudio Von Planta, who always kept a respectful distance in Long Way Down but featured there at just the right level to make him an enjoyable addition to the two on the bikes, and part of the biking story itself. Not here. So, the production/direction team themselves do much to make this a lesser DVD than their first one. If I'd wanted to buy a DVD called "A Film Crew Travelling Round the World in Expensive 4x4 Vehicles", I'd have bought one.
I've also mentioned that this DVD doesn't have the sense of adventure that Long Way Down had. I guess that to some extent this is unavoidable -- when you experience something for the first time (i.e. a round-the-world biking adventure), then subsequent experiences are never going to hit you at quite the same level of excitement. That said, they do travel through perhaps even more amazing places than on their first trip, if that were possible, so quite why they don't seem so dumbstruck by the whole thing is a bit of a mystery. I think that perhaps the two main reasons for this are firstly the absolutely over-the-top level of backup they take with them, which must have taken away some of the rawness and adventurial spirit of the whole trip (the cost of it all -- the expensive vehicles, top-of-the range kit, medics, fixers, hotels -- must surely have run to hundreds of thousands of pounds, maybe more, but then maybe the comically sponsorship-emblazoned backup vehicles managed to claw back some of that expenditure). The second reason is perhaps that this trip genuinely seemed to be a much greater corporate exercise than Long Way Down. That first trip was borne out of McGregor and Boorman excitedly chatting about their dreams and ambitions of seeing the world from the seats of their motorbikes; this second trip seems to have been more about simply making a lucrative television series. All the sponsorship, major TV network scheduling, Radio Times covers, promotion and marketing, T-shirts, advance orders, podcasts, members-only websites etc etc etc just seems to me to be a bit too much, and serves only to detract from the original spirit of adventure that characterised Long Way Round.
Another huge issue with this series is the ridiculous timetable they travelled to. On a trip to Africa, it took me 10 weeks to travel between Kenya and Zimbabwe, and that wasn't nearly enough time to do justice to those countries. These guys attempt to travel from Scotland to South Africa in 3 months -- a ridiculous undertaking. They seem to realise this themselves very early on, but how it didn't occur to them in the planning stages that they were attempting to cram way way way too much mileage into their timeframe is hard to understand. It makes for a very frustrating viewing experience (they miss out on most of England and the Continent, and speed through North Africa faster than a speeding bullet!). Watching the episodes as they travel these first few weeks, you can clearly see that they have frustrated themselves, too.
I don't know if they have another journey/series planned, but if they do, I sincerly hope that it focuses just on the trip preparation and on-the-road experiences of Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman -- very decent blokes that they seem to be -- and occasionally on the cameraman that travels with them, ditches the excessive backup, keeps the programme makers where they should be (i.e. behind the camera), and rediscovers some of the joy and spirit of adventure from their first series that seems to have largely eluded them this time.
It's a good watch. Ignore the people moaning! February 6, 2008
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
Having gone against the average review scores on here, I gave this a try after really enjoying the long way round. And I'm pleased that I did. It's an enjoyable and informative watch. And heck guys! What are you expecting from a relatively cheap DVD? If you want detailed Africa, go find a documentary DVD series on the subject.
Unsurprisingly from a journey of this scale in the time they do it, the programme can't and doesn't go into great detail of the countries visited. But if it did, the guys would have been travelling for years! That's just not reasonable to expect. As it is there journey takes around 2 and a half months. That's a damn long bike ride!
What the programme does do, and does well is give you a glimpse of each country visited. I actually really liked this, because it left me wanting to know more about certain places. For example Ethopia. My impression of the country (having never bothered to look at it) was that it would be barren wasteland. Yet the program shows breathtaking highland style scenery that rivals any country views anywhere in the world.
People have moaned about the unicef coverage in this DVD. Hello? What's wrong with showing some of the great work these people do? It's a minor intrusion and interesting to see.
Don't expect this DVD to have the same drama in it as long way round. This is more about the journey without the mishaps. LWR taught the team a lot and they're well prepared this time. But it's enjoyable none the less. And for the price you really can't complain.
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