The Armstrong Lie (2013)

Review: After watching the Program recently, I thought I should watch the real story about Lance Armstrong, because I couldn't believe that a man could be so vindictive and manipulating to so many people, and now that I've watched this in depth documentary, he was worse than I first expected. The fact that he nearly got away with taking drugs during his 7 championship races, sickens my stomach and I personally think that he should be stripped of all of his personal earnings, which he has made from his deception and bare-faced lies. He ruined so many people's life's, including his fellow racers and he damaged there reputations by claiming that they were lying about his drug taking. Because of the power that he gained during his cycling career, he had the backing of some very important people, who helped him through his successful career but when the truth came out about his filthy habits, he tarnished there reputations and made loads of money after coming clean. His excuses for taking the enhanced performing drugs, were that it was the norm at that time and there wasn't any tests that could track the drugs, and the only reason why he got caught, even though there was loads of investigations, was because he returned to cycling after retiring with his 7 consistent wins. Anyway, I found the documentary very entertaining and well put together by the director and the various interviews with the people who surrounded Lance Armstrong at that time, proved that he really wasn't a nice person. The sad thing is, he actually could have won a few of the championships without the drugs! Enjoyable!Round-Up: This documentary was directed by Alex Gibney, 62, whose known for his documentaries and his in depth look into debatable matters. He won an Oscar for Taxi To The Dark Side in 2008 and he was nominated for an Oscar in 2006 for Efron: The Smartest Guys In The Room. He's directed documentaries about WikiLeaks, James Brown, musical artist Fela Kuti, Steve Jobs, Frank Sinatra and various political matters. Judging by this film, he's not one to hold back information and he does get down to the nitty gritty when it comes to delicate situations, so I'm looking forward to watching some more of his projects.Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: $500,000I recommend this movie to people who are into their sport/documentaries about Lance Armstrong's rise and fall from grace. 7/10

When a documentary draws a conclusion, it can force a reviewer to take a side, which in my case it did. The filmmaker seemed determined to right some perceived wrong, by "proving" Lance Armstrong was a bad person. That slant sullies the film.Like many athletes during a time that people will likely refer to some day as the "enhancement period" one MUST take into consideration that the MAJORITY of athletes broke these rules. It was the norm, at that time. Armstrong may have cheated and he may have pressured others to do the same, but during the decade when this was commonplace, he was the best man at the task.The film feels vindictive and biased, and as such it is a poor documentary. Period.

Focused documentary on cyclist Lance Armstrong and the substance use denial. Scant in the way of in-depth biography - marriages, kids, friends, nada. Couple of stills of him with his single mom. When he arrived on the cycling scene, doping was prevalent. Indeed, cycling in general suffers a long, sorry history of cheats and frauds. Nowadays, the money incentives are staggering. Few athletes - of any sport - remotely resemble normal humans. All professional sports seem to be as real as wrestling. I never liked Armstrong, though I empathized with his situation. Had he not joined all other contestants in steroids and blood tweaking, Lance would have been no one, another Damien Nazon.

The Armstrong Lie is a documentary that takes a deep look at one of the most horrendous best kept lies of the sports history, the rise and fall of Lance Armstrong after being disgracefully accused for doping. He was once known as the greatest cyclist the world has ever seeing who won 7 Tour De France titles from 1999-2005 after battling and recovering from cancer.After winning 7 titles and being away for 4 years in retirement Armstrong makes a surprise come back in 2009 with hopes of winning another title and raising funds for cancer patients. The director of this documentary Alex Gibney was hired to make a documentary of the comeback of Armstrong and he has being covering Armstrong's sports history for quite some time. But as the doping scandal came to light the original project was never finished. But in 2013 Gibney decided that he needs a proper ending to his documentary and re-opened it after Armstrong makes a confession on Oprah Winfrey show.This documentary is quite easy and interesting to follow. For someone with even a mild knowledge about professional cycling and Armstrong it can be digested without much effort. While having a deep look at Armstrong's sporting career and the doping dilemma the documentary effectively provides important background information about the sport itself that fuels the main plot. And it manages to tell the story from several perspectives than being biased in to one point of view, the intention being the viewer to have their own conclusion of what had really happened. There ample amount of historical footage of practice runs, races, press conferences, court trials and other video that builds a strong case relating to each other. Obviously for being someone like Armstrong most of his well-known part of his entire life is on film somewhere. The challenge which the director goes through is to filter the most relevant and create a flow that doesn't over hype or dull to the viewer. In my opinion the job was well done.The Armstrong Lie is a powerful piece of documentary film making. And it would give you new perspective of what really went on with Lance Armstrong. Maybe you have followed his case eagerly while it was hot but now since things have gone a bit cold a relook would be ideal. Just as Armstrong phrase many times it felt OK at the time.