While David Blaine burst on the scene in the late 1990s doing his closeup street magic, his bread-and-butter soon became ambitious stunts that tested his endurance and his ability to mentally control his body and how it reacts to stress. One of his most famous stunts, for instance, was when he tried to spend three days in a block of ice in display in Times Square for an ABC special. His new Nat Geo travel series shows that, despite now being in his 50s, Blaine is still trying to test himself. That part can sometimes be exhilarating to watch, and other times completely frustrating.
DAVID BLAINE DO NOT ATTEMPT: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: “As a magician, I’m always searching for secret knowledge,” says David Blaine in voice over as he walks down a street in Bangkok, a giant golden Buddha statue looming overhead.
The Gist: In David Blaine Do Not Attempt, the magician goes to different regions of the world to learn from people who perform the kinds of daring mind over body feats that have been a signature of Blaine’s career. While we see scenes of Blaine doing his signature street magic with various illusionists he knows, most of each episode consists of Blaine learning from people who perform feats of endurance, all of which he tries himself.
In an episode in southeast Asia, for instance, Blaine is taught to lie still while live scorpions are placed on his body — he admits to the audience that he hates having things crawl on him. He also participates in “bee bearding”, where a colony of bees are attached to his face and upper torso. He visits practitioners of “Debus” in Thailand, including a woman that swallows razor blades.
He then travels to Indonesia to meet a man who performs with some of the most dangerous poisonous snakes on the planet. Blaine trains with him in order to be able to calmly touch the head of a king cobra and perform the ultimate act of trust between human and cobra, which is to kiss the snake on the head.
Other episodes show Blaine in South Africa sitting with black mamba snakes and performing in an auto sport called “spinning”, and in the Arctic Circle, Blaine traverses a 90-meter stretch of frigid water under a two-inch-thick slab of ice — while not wearing anything but his signature black t-shirt and shorts. He also travels to Brazil, India and Japan.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? David Blaine Do Not Attempt definitely follows the Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown template.
Our Take: Because David Blaine Do Not Attempt follows the Bourdain template, the visuals are often cinematic, and we can see Blaine has real respect for the people he visits. who practice different feats of endurance and mind over body. We also appreciate the idea that he wants to try many of these things himself, and has respect for the risks he’s taking to do so. When he gets into a room with black mamba snakes, he is truly scared, which makes it more difficult for him to stay calm in their presence. When he skydives in Arctic conditions with a noted skydiving dancer, he acknowledges that breaking an ankle the last time he did a dive has made him skittish to do it again.
When he insists on being all David Blaine when doing some of these stunts, though, we start to roll our eyes. What do we mean by that? Well, during the Arctic episode, for instance, all of the divers who are the “experts” are wearing wetsuits. Yet Blaine decides to go into the water wearing a cotton t-shirt, cotton shorts, cotton socks and no mask. In the southeast Asia episode, the beekeeper he’s with tells him that his signature black t-shirt is going to make the bees he’s trying to wear more agitated, but he insists on keeping his black shirt on.
You would think that the people who, you know, do this all the time — or maybe even the on-site stunt coordinator — would insist that Blaine wear some protection in the one case and a white shirt in the other. But Blaine’s desires tend to win out, which makes us wonder what the stunt coordinator is even there for.
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: Every episode ends with a composite mural of the people and stunts Blaine experienced in that location.
Sleeper Star: As with travel docuseries like this, the cinematographers are the hidden stars, with b-roll that makes each location look spectacular.
Most Pilot-y Line: See that whole paragraph above about Blaine doing things like not wearing a wetsuit in frigid waters.
Our Call: STREAM IT. For the most part, David Blaine Do Not Attempt is an enjoyable look at people who achieve amazing feats through endurance and control of their emotions. Blaine’s attempts at the stunts are sometimes pulse-pounding and sometimes ridiculous, but the show is never boring.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
The post Stream It Or Skip It: ‘David Blaine Do Not Attempt’ On Disney+ And Hulu, Where The Magician Travels The World To Learn From People That Perform Fearless Stunts appeared first on Decider.
