Billabong Odyssey

I was very excited to see this movie after recently seeing the superb "Step Into Liquid". After sitting through this movie I am a little disapointed. It was good, just not as good as it should have been. Watching the big wave surfing was amazing at first but the thrill seemed to die out after the first 45 minutes and left you with the feeling that you are watching the same senario over and over. This movie is great if you are interested in learning about tow in big wave surfing but as a regular surfer it was over kill on the particular subject with no real payout at the end. 6/10

"In a world that was so regimented in the 1960s, surfing was freedom," says Ken Bradshaw, a 49-year-old Texan who in 1998 surfed the biggest recorded wave in history. Bradshaw's just one of the elite featured here - an oddball collection of rock 'n' rollers, thrill-seekers and hermits. For these men and women the sport seems almost sexual, with their talk of "thrusts", "swells" and "peaks".

Like latter-day Argonauts, the search for surf takes them across the globe, and the rewards - personal or pecuniary - are staggering. To carry the analogy, if Brad Gerlach, once ranked number two in the world until he unexpectedly quit, is Jason, then Mike Parsons (Gerlach's arch-rival) is the crew's Orpheus, monkish and self-contained. And it's Parsons who tops and tails the film, surfing a 70 foot wave - named Cyclops, after the one-eyed monster in 'The Odyssey' - before the might of nature crashes down upon him. For that feat, at 'Jaws' in Hawaii, he'd win a perfect 10 and make surfing history.

But this is more than a Who's Who of surfers: interspersed with personal stories - from the likes of Ken 'Skindog' Collins, one of the 'Santa Cruz Boys' who surf all day and party all night. We discover how being a surfer in the 1980s meant being a corporate whore - as Gerlach, pictured in flashback festooned with sponsorship labels, more walking advertisement than human, soon discovered.

If the 1990s saw advances in weather forecasting, computer technology pinpointing bigger waves with a high degree of accuracy, we also learn how water-sports are now cross-pollinating, combining aspects of gliding and snowboarding. It's a truly transcendental moment as "'surf-scientist' Rush Randle demonstrates aerial-acrobatics on his hydrofoil board, affording the film a quiet majesty all too often interrupted by an MTV rock soundtrack.

The cinematography is incredible, but this stuff would look impressive on home video. Importantly, the dangers of surfing are made perfectly clear: in surfing spots that translate as "Broken Skulls" in Tahitian, it's shocking to suddenly see the odd flash of crimson amid the blue, white and green.

The reason I saw this movie, a film which I would ordinarily not have given a thought to was because I work at my university cinema. I'm an usher and I was needed to fill in for someone else who couldn't make it. So, as you can probably tell already I had no interest in watching a movie about surfers and surfing. However, I was prepared to watch it through, and I started out with an open mind. Ten minutes in I was bored out of my mind, to the point where I closed my eyes and attempted to catch up on some sleep...unfortunately the obligatory heavy rock soundtrack stopped me from doing this. I understand that the waves shown throughout the movie are very impressive. Some of them are absolutely massive and I did occasionally find myself inwardly gasping at the enormity of the waves. However, after having seen 50 of them, in a row with various surfers battling against them I completely lost interest. It all became monotonous and dull because these shots were shown one after the other for five minutes at a time. There were occasional bright moments throughout the movie which succeeded in peaking my interest. The all too short and shallow look back at the beginning of the popularity of the sport was good but unfortunately didn't provide any insight. The small section about the newest innovations in the surfing world were also good, giving the audience an opportunity to see what surfing could potentially become in a few years time. But, both of these were cut short by more shots of the surfers and the waves, shots which might as well have been recycled for all the originality they presented.

The documentary, I'm sure would be of some interest to surfing fans and, for a brief moment would interest non-surfers. The waves were impressive and the way the camera managed to get inside the waves, capturing everything on film was impressive, but there was just not enough depth to keep any interest sustained.

Big wave surfers Who's Who in this documentary that is very informative of how surfing has evolved since the 60's with the advent of the jet ski to help catch 40 to 50 plus feet waves.

The movie begins and ends with the footage of Mike Parsons' ride (shot from the beginning where his partner's jet ski pulls him onto the very beginning of the sea swell before it rises high above the cameraman) on what will be a very large wave at Jaws in Hawaii. Forty-five feet high at least. Who ever was holding the camera for this shot filmed a classic and there are many classic shots of surf riding.

It was a treat to see this footage twice in the movie, at both ends.

I've watched this video 1-2 times completely and then have watched specific scenes over and over numbers of times analyzing each wave and listening to the soundtracks. They are all so unique and so big!!!! The footage is awesome. Lots taken from helicopters which is ultra cool...

The footage from Teahupoo is insane. The conditions were so powerful, so hollow and pitching.

The soundtrack, "Look Out Below" in scene 15 shows big waves and big wipe outs. Awesome footage and soundtrack. Classic rock/blues sound of the 70's.

The soundtrack, "Thankyou" Good Lord, 50 seconds from the very end is awesome also. Again, classic rock.

Excellent video for the skateboarding generation, safe for kids...They will be inspired by the brave nature of the surfers. Since most kids are active, they can appreciate how difficult some things are.

The surfers in the video are the some of the best in the world surfing the biggest waves, with the best cameras...

Check it out.