The Surfer

Nick Cage at his best! Fun and disgusting and horrific film. This ham will get on your face and then rot and stay there and then you won't be able to clean it off because someone defecated on the water fountain!

The way the story gets constructed as events play out engages and entertains. I lost track of things. Reality comes and goes in waves; never quite the same. The performances function to guide you into a state of confused belief. I can't recall laughing for as long during a movie. The locals are amazing. Nick's confidence shines through. He knows exactly what he's doing all the time though he may not have felt the same 5 minutes before. Great drinking. Incredibly structured insanity. I've never been where the men chunder but I certainly won't try to surf their break. Such colorful characters. The visuals are fantastic. Through violent cuts to screaming cicadas and dreamy water effects, the camera is not afraid. I would seek this on the big screen. Maybe I'd even leave after the cop comes back. Just go crazy, you know. I peaked hard relatively early but the comedown was beautiful and rewarding.

Hmmm! I’m not sure why this is called “The Surfer” as there is precious little actual surfing, swimming - even paddling, in this rather far-fetched psychological thriller. It’s all about Nicolas Cage whose un-named character arrives at an idyllic Australian cove with his son (Finn Little) so he can show him something special. Thing is, all rubbered-up and en route to the beach, they are stopped by some local thugs who claim the surfing is only for the locals. They ain’t, so they have to get lost. The youngster has to get home and back to school, but dad has no intention of being brow-beaten by “Scally” (Julian McMahon) and his gang of hoodlums - you see, he grew up here and it’s all a matter of pride. What now ensues, though, is more a matter of the ridiculous as the story lurches along making less and less sense as it tries to blur realities and characterisations before a conclusion that, for me anyway, just didn’t make much sense. It’s sort of cultish, I suppose, and to be fair Cage does well as his character enters what can only be described as a maelstrom of confusing scenarios that gradually drive him ever closer to desperate action. There are plot holes galore here and the first hour of the story is so dragged out that by the time we do head towards the plunge moment, I’d completely lost interest. It might have a double-meaning for those of us who are finding ourselves priced or just plain bullied out of our childhood communities, but sadly that message doesn’t sell the silliness of this vehicle for a star who needed a stronger, more tangible, foil for his surf-free surfer. Sorry, this just sank for me.