The Armstrong Lie
Dir: Alex Gibney
2013
**
Alex Gibney is a great documentary director. Every film I've seen of his has been informative and entertaining in equal measure, whether or not I was interested or even aware of the source material, more often than not I soon was thanks to him. Well, until now anyway. I don't know much about professional Cycling but I know Lance Armstrong is synonymous in the world of two wheels. I know he's struggled in his career, is (was) highly regarded and I also know he took performance enhancing drugs. I had hoped to have learned a little more than that during the 2 hour long film but I didn't. I can't help but compare this documentary to James Erskine's Pantani: The Accidental Death of a Cyclist. It was far more compelling, told me something about someone and a subject I didn't already know about and without it I probably wouldn't have understood half or the Armstrong Documentary. The archive footage wasn't particularly interesting and the interviews with the man himself were nothing short of dull. After 2 hours I felt like I'd cycled the Tour De France; elated that it was over and completely exhausted. For the hard core only.