Generation Iron

"If it was easy, everybody'd be good...if you want something you never had before, you've got to be willing to do something you've never done before...that's what I live by." - Phil Heath

release year: 2013
genre: documentary
viewing setting: home DVD 7/20/22 and 9/17/17 and 3/28/16 and 10/26/14

synopsis: This documentary covers seven bodybuilders as they train for the 2012 Mr. Olympia competition.

impressions: This was Pumping Iron for the modern era. It covers a wide array of bodybuilders, each with their own motivations and histories. There's some good material here if you want to know how the big competitions work these days. It seems that today's bodybuilders are just bigger, which includes areas that shouldn't be big and weren't in the golden age of the 1970s, like abdominals.

acting: n/a really, but several of the guys have interesting backgrounds. Mickey Rourke does a good, serious job narrating.

final word: Insightful look at modern bodybuilding and the Mr. Olympia competition.

back to the main review page