I heard about this movie sometime ago. Seemed like it would be one more failed attempt by Hollywood to capture some essence of surfing. There just haven't been any really good examples of mainstream movies getting what surfing and surfers are about.
Of course there was the Endless Summer. Endless Summer was not a movie with a plot and story line,with actors playing rolls as surfers.
The list of awful horrible and bad bad bad movies is pretty long. In Gods hand has to be one of the worse. I Never saw it in a theatre. found it in a bin of bargain DVDs Might have been all of $2.50 It was so bad I wanted my $2.50 back!
Why in the world would I want to go see another Hollywood surf movie? I'll just blame it all on Colleen. She had read a review in the local paper.She was looking for a movie we could see. She cut out the review and put it on top of my computer. That makes it hard to say Honey i didn't see it. She is clever that way. Over all the review said it was an OK film. A typical Boy coming of age style of move with great cinematography. So why not?
Did I say the cinematography is great? The shots at Mavericks are spectacular. If they paid stunt surfers to take some of the wipeout filmed, then those guys were underpaid if they were not paid at least $100,000 per shot. There are some real brown stains in your board shorts surfing going on. As to the plot well we all pretty much knew the basics of the of Jay Moriarity story. We know that it will not end well. Yes there is some of the usual over the top elements the bad guys are bad. and the father figure is a flawed giant among men. some of the dialog is over the top but all in all I liked it. Well worth the price of ticket. If for nothing else then the the depiction of the ocean in all her majesty glory.
This is Artz in the Dark. i give it a 3and1/2 Fin could be a4 Fin if they just had a few more water shots into that massive angry Mavericks tube.
All our wives like Gerard Butler movies. Blame "300" and those ab shots for that, LOL.
Based on Artz' review, we went this evening. I had mixed feelings, I hate to expose my wife to anything that makes surfing appear dangerous. Turns out, it was a really good movie, as stated, and really in a league all its' own. Although to be honest, I've never seen Big Wednesday, Point Break, or most of the others. I enjoyed Soul Surfer the Bethany Hamilton story, and Surf's Up the animated movie, but for the most part don't really get into Hollywood versions of the surf world.
Good story line and dialogue, good acting, good surfing footage. Although agreed, they could have included a bit more actual surfing footage, and maybe eliminated the cut-to-a-different-camera-angle every 2 seconds on the surfing shots, and every surfer knows the feeling of being caught inside on a big set, they really portray that well, ha!.
Huck I forgot about " Surfs Up",now that is one of the best! It is my guilty pleasure. there is just something about surfing board building penguins that gets to me. Maybe it's because the older i get the more I look like a surfing penguin in my wetsuit.
After only known him in a shared lineup here and there, had the pleasure of spending a day with Jay, driving the second jetski, while he and Jeff Clark did some towing north of Mavericks (also the Day That I Almost had To Buy Jeff A New Jetski), as they were just starting to team up on the towing thing and wanted to practice their chops away from the mix.
Spending that day with Jay was a gift. I’ve met a lot of surfers around the world in 5 decades of surfin and travelin, none shined brighter, had a more infectious grin, were more humble, or so positive about just everything. And his surfing, on shortboard or longboard, in big waves or small waves, was special to watch.
The first time I ever met Jay, I was surfing by myself, and see two guys running down the beach with boards, and I’m thinking ‘damn, why can’t they find somewhere else to surf and just let me enjoy this session by myself.’
The first thing one of the guys does once he reaches the lineup is paddle straight over to me with a big grin, and says “Hi, my name is Jay, is it ok if my friend and I share this wave with you?”
I read an interview with Frosty Hesson, he said he turned down involvement with a lot of other possible movie deals because he felt the movie makers had their own agenda, but these guys impressed him, and he said he was happy with the final result, he felt they stayed true to the actual story line.
Icc From what you have said,Jay must have been a real class act. seems like we cam all learn something from jay about living life to it's fullest with Aloha and Stoke. Might just go see the film again.
To be clear, just spent the one day with Jay when we towed with Jeff (they towed, I was barely successful in not sinking the second ski), and surfed with him a few times, so only knew him casually. What was so evident, however, was his pure joy to be a surfer. You couldn’t be around him without finding yourself grinning.
Lotta hot surfers have come and gone in this world, most driven by ego, need, agression, blah, blah…
So rare to find a surfer, hell anybody, literally overflowing with pure stoke and joy, so much so that it can only rub off on those around…
-----the wife enjoyed it, she cried,…I enjoyed,…could’a had more surf shots, but, then that’s what I went for.
Frosty is a class act. The story line gave everyone something positive to embrace, a life story not just a surfers.
The most descriptive movie I’ve watched that covered the beach/surf “lifestyle” in a realistic approach that didn’t encompass the “hey, dude” mentality,…
As a silver back about ready to hit 60, this flick is a keeper.
