Mat Hoffman, a daredevil who knew Knievel during his life, approached the Jackass group to put together a series of events that show everything from BMX trick jumps, to motorcycle long jumps, even a bit involving a man jumping out of a plane without a parachute.
The crazy thing is how pieced together and (to quote the men themselves) shifty the whole setup is. Most productions of jumps of this nature take weeks to plan, happen inside where wind and weather aren't a factor, and are in highly controlled environments. Instead, this couple of days of tricks appears to be in some random field where the Jackass crew has built up a large dirt ramp to land on, and several wooden ramps of various angles to jump off of. It's quite amazing that the only real injury came when Johnny Knoxville tried to perform a stunt and tore his urethra. While there were quite a few spills, none of them really seemed to cause any real damage, despite the lack of extensive calculations involved in the jumps.
During the video's events, you get to see quite a few records broken, like longest tandem jump as well as a tandem flip, when Midget Mike hops on the bike with Trigger Gumm (who attempted to break the distance jump of 300+ feet) and Travis Pastrana. The crew also attempted to perform a flip on a Harley, but the machine's weight was too much for the trick.
Before the DVD's finish, Scott Plamer, apparently one of the best sky divers in the world (though it seems to be a self-proclaimed title), will jump out of a plane without a parachute and fly to another person (who has a parachute), attach to him and land in tandem. This clip has some great imagery as Plamer flies around with nothing but a pair of shorts on, and then zooms to his catcher.
The Tribute ends with everyone taking a turn on bikes trying to perform various tricks. When Knoxville attempts a flip, the bike lands on his crotch, and is rushed off to the hospital for a torn urethra.
Special features include interviews with all of the daredevils involved about Evel Knievel and how he shaped their lives. There is also an interview with Mat Hoffman, and a look at his career, as well as a look at the career of the now paralyzed Stephen Murray. This, plus all the footage as the film crew follows Knoxville to the hospital, and a tattoo montage round out the DVDs extras.
While this DVD doesn't feel like your typical Jackass production (mainly the inclusion of actual professionals), it is full of stunts to pique any Jackass fan's interest and as a tribute to Knievel, it definitely follows in his footsteps, because as they say several times in this video, "You're never a failure at life as long as you try and get back up."
