Ludacris and Shane Graham spar as foster father and son in this inspirational story of real-life BMX star John Buultjens
“Another life lesson?” snaps flailing foster kid John (Shane Graham), as his new family attempt to throw him another emotional lifeline. This inspirational drama-cum-antiracist statement, sponsored by the likes of Vans, Etnies and Powell-Peralta, does indeed come over a bit like the action-sports version of the
Disney movie but is luckily given just enough emotional ballast by its performers.
Graham stars as real-life BMX star John Buultjens – whose story has been transposed from Glasgow to Oakdale,
California – who is taken into care at the start of the film aged nine for stabbing his abusive father (played by Buultjens himself). Already being drawn into the orbit of Nazi gangs, with a small swastika forcibly carved into his neck, this white supremacist poppet has to fight for his life in juvie, and grows into a tight-lipped, perpetually vigilant teenager. Then one day his social worker finds him a place in the foster home of mixed-race couple Marianna (Sasha Alexander) and Eldridge Buultjens (Ludacris, on secondment from Fast & Furious ).