Five More Paintball Films to watch NOW! (Part IV)
TonTon Forever, Seattle Uprising - Everything on the Line, The Complete History of Paintball, Soldiers of Misfortune, and Heroes For A Day - The XSV Story
This is the fourth and final part of my short series showcasing my favorite paintball films of all time. With the incredible response to sharing five different films each of the last three weeks, I’m going to showcase my final five picks. It is inevitable that I am leaving out a popular film or two on this list. There are countless picks that I have just left as honorable mentions. How I publish my article ranking #1 - #20 is still in development as I originally wasn’t going to publish it on the Substack platform. I will be posting that in about a month’s time. Feel free to send me your film lists! You can include them in ranking order or just a pick-5/10 format. I’d like to see the films that you think are worth sharing!
TonTon Forever
As far as European paintball teams go, the TonTon’s have done it all besides win a U.S. pro event. Planet Eclipse released a documentary film series that tells the stories of the TonTons during the 2023 season while also touching on stories and threads of the team’s past. For American paintball players, we don’t get many looks into the European paintball scene and teams unless they come across the pond to compete. I am excited to see how the TonTon FSU team competes at the rest of the NXL events this year.
Watch here:
Seattle Uprising - Everything on the Line
This film tells the story of the tail end of Seattle Uprisings semi-pro season in 2015, culminating in a win at the NXL World Cup and the clinching of the series title. This is one of the stories that made me a fan of the team. I had a signed poster on my wall of the team that is featured in this video. As a player who once tried out for the team and had goals of playing alongside them, I really respect this group of individuals and believe that their story is undervalued and needs to continue to be told.
Watch here:
The Complete History of Paintball
I really enjoyed this film when it came out. It tells the original paintball story. So many of today’s paintball players do not know how our beloved game and sport came to be and this film did an incredible job of outlining the earliest days of both the game and the industry. This is a must watch if you like history. This project was one of the most ambitious when it comes to our sport’s history as the early days had often been described with almost myth-like details included.
Watch here:
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/paintballhistory
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Soldiers of Misfortune
As a young player, it was awesome to hear from some of the top players. These characters were larger than life and practically became even bigger superstars in our eyes after watching this film. My favorite part of the film is when they showcase Todd Martinez playing with Aftermath absolutely smashing people. I watched this on DVD with Dan Lanning at Superior Paintball a week before playing my first paintball tournament.
Watch here:
Heroes for a Day: The XSV Story
I absolutely had to include this film in my list. It tells the story of XSV’s earliest days and what the team had to do to be successful and make good on the promise they made to themselves during the team’s inception. As one of the very first superstar teams built from top-tier talent, XSV gained quite the fanbase right away and they had an impact on the culture that is still present to this day.
Unfortunately there isn’t a way to watch this film for free on the internet currently. Hopefully, that changes soon. You may have to ask around at your local field to borrow a DVD.
I’d like to thank those who have been reading and sharing my newsletter. So far, I’ve been having a ton of fun and look forward to writing something every week. This publication has helped me connect with the broader paintball community and I’ve fallen in love with paintball all over again (As we all do from time to time).