Wayne

Feature film Running time 1 hour 37 minutes Directed by West Australian Jeremy Sims, who’s credits include the film Last Cab to Darwin, Wayne follows the life of Australia’s first 500cc World Champion Wayne Gardner from a poor childhood in Wollongong to the high life following his 1987 success. The film uses footage from various sources such as early GP telecasts, British Superbikes in its infancy, family home movies and lots of stills, and there are bound to be gaps that need to be filled. Director Sims inexplicably chose to bridge this gap by creating rather twee scenes in the Japanese Manga style – a computer animation technique that is characterised by cherubic faces with overly large eyes. To me, this is in marked contrast to the rest of the film and sits rather badly. However the balance does an admirable job of demonstrating how Gardner, with considerable help from his girlfriend and future wife Donna, overcame the struggles of carving a career in a ferociously competitive arena, homesickness, and serious lack of money. The film basically concludes in 1989, following Wayne’s emotional victory in the first Phillip Island Grand Prix and his marriage the following month. There is of course, a second half to his career, continuing three more years in GPs (including the heroic 1990 Australian GP win) until switching to cars, initially in the ultra competitive Japanese Sports Car Championship where he was quite successful, and in Australian V8s, where he was less so. If I were in charge of the edit, I would include less of the first part and at least some of the second, which continues with his son Remy in Moto2. Nevertheless, Wayne represents good entertainment and can only be beneficial to the masses as an appreciation of what it takes to reach the top in motorcycle sport. The film screens in cinemas throughout Australia from September 6th.