Allegedly submitted to SXSW without the name of its director attached, Michael Bay’s feature-length non-fiction debut We Are Storror is a breathtaking action documentary that demands to be seen on the biggest screen one can find. Storror follows a close-knit band of seven free-running parkour athletes (including two groups of brothers) who create a series of stunts that defy gravity and logic, in the process breaking bones and building a following of 11 million on YouTube.
The film includes original footage credited to Storror along with newly staged stunts where Bay pulls out all the stops, including multiple drones as the group takes on abandoned luxury resorts in Bulgaria as well as flying down the side of a Portuguese sand mine in a well-practiced zigzag pattern. To quote Toy Story’s Woody, “That wasn’t flying. That was falling with style!”
While opening with death-defying footage of the group seemingly jumping between high-rise towers in Hong Kong (recorded with GoPro cameras) that is not for the faint of heart, their story evolves into an occasionally thoughtful coming-of-age tale as the lads grapple with relationship issues. In one passage they discuss their early days growing up in England and learning about themselves through play. Parkour affords them similar opportunities with potentially deadly stakes: the film doesn’t shy from the close calls and the gruesome aftermath of miscalculating where a railing is or the strength of a concrete balcony in a decaying resort.
We Are Storror is about the consequences and triumphs of upping the ante and going big. Like Bay’s narrative oeuvre, this is a film all about the action, and he delivers the goods with the rapid-fire editing we’ve come to expect from the extravagant director. We can learn a great deal about the process when this group has the luxury of planning how to engage a stunt with formal choreography, thanks to ringleader Drew Taylor, credited as a producer on the film. Sometimes a move just doesn’t feel right: the film shows a vulnerable side to one of its members, Callum, who just can’t bring himself to make a jump that feels too risky. Others in the collective lament what Storror, a kind of brotherhood, has done to their lives outside the group, making it hard to maintain romantic relationships when you’re always traveling for your art.
Bay has made a perfectly entertaining film that might have been more successful with additional character development. For fans of Storror, it feels essential. Those that are new to the collective will find a fitting introduction for a practice that exists somewhere between art and sport as the group creates a kind of gravity-defying ballet, nearly missing each other while gracefully rushing down the side of a steep staircase. It’s a miracle they’re all still alive and not in jail, despite run-ins with security and law enforcement––there’s probably a reason they’re doing this in countries with universal healthcare.
We Are Storror premiered at SXSW 2025.
The post SXSW Review: Michael Bay’s We Are Storror is a Breathtaking, Gravity-Defying Documentary Debut first appeared on The Film Stage.
