Blue Crush

Surprisingly well done, entertaining and it even has a little suspense. If you like waves, the beach or surfing this movie is a guilty little pleasure.

Critic Ebert has a very complete and accurate review, and I will not repeat any of it here. I bought "Blue Crush" as a used rental DVD, real cheap, and it is a perfect disk. The basic story has been told many times, but it is done here better than many. However, there is one thing that moves it from the "ordinary" to "outstanding - the cimematography and the sound.

After most of the first hour of the film sets up the characters and the situations, we are treated to surfing the Hawaii "pipeline" by surfers. One DVD extra shows how they do "face replacement" so that the pro surfer appears to be star Kate Bosworth. With many cameras in the waves, and sometimes under them, we get a unique perspective of being on top of a giant wave, or being inside the wave as it is breaking. All the while a very aggressive sound mix makes you feel like you are there also. This is definitely a good DVD to have for demonstrating the quality of your digital 5.1 surround sound system with good powered subwoofer.

I suspect anyone who saw "Blue Crush" at home, on VHS or DVD, with sound fed into the TV speakers has seen a different movie. That's because the sound track plays such a key role. This isn't a great movie, but a very good one. I believe its most realistic IMDb rating is somewhere around "7" or "8".

The best we should reasonably expect from a movie like `Blue Crush' is that we will be treated to some stunning footage of surfers riding the world's greatest waves (along Hawaii's Pipeline, natch) to personal fame and glory. We certainly get that in abundance - but what we have less right to expect, perhaps, is that the film will offer anything else of any real quality. After all, we've been to these kinds of movies before, harking all the way back to those halcyon Bleach Blanket Bingo days when Gidget, Moondoggie and the rest of those addle-brained, teeny-bopper cut-ups aspired to nothing higher than a life of eternal youth spent wallowing in the bleach-white sands of Santa Monica or Malibu. In the case of `Blue Crush,' therefore, I am happy to report that the screenplay - by Lizzy Weiss (based on a magazine article by Susan Orlean) -provides just enough touches of realism to keep this new film both life-sized and interesting. And the majority of the credit goes to the film's protagonist, Anne Marie Chadwick who, much to our surprise, engages our sympathies from first moment to last.

Anne Marie is no bubble-headed, bleached-blond bimbo with nothing on her mind but winning the big Pipeline competition. Although that is, indeed, part of her life's plan, Anne Marie is, also, an intelligent, pragmatic young woman, fully aware of both her strengths and weaknesses and just trying the best she knows how to make her life work for her, the young sister in her charge and the two surf buddy girlfriends she lives and works with. Anne Marie is also riddled with insecurities, as she struggles to overcome the fear instilled in her by a near-fatal accident in that very same spot a few years earlier. Meanwhile, she and her pals work hard trying to eke out a living as maids at a posh hotel, earning just enough money to keep a roof over their heads and pay some of their bills so they will be free to head to the coast at the first sign of prime `Surf's Up' conditions.

The acting in the film is really quite impressive. As Anne Marie, Kate Bosworth lights up the screen with her subtly nuanced, poised and dignified performance. She knows how to use understated facial expressions to convey the thoughts and feelings of the character she is portraying. Equally compelling are Michelle Rodriguez and Sanoe Lake as her fun-loving buddies, Mika Boorem as her little sister, and Matthew Davis as the professional football quarterback who becomes her love interest. Director John Stockwell, to his credit, manages to keep the majority of the scenes intimate in tone and realistic in nature, rarely allowing the narrative to wander into overwrought melodrama or teen-movie farce. Even the obligatory fight scene is kept restrained and believable.

There are occasional weaknesses in the film – a gaggle of snooty football wives and groupies who snub Anne Marie for being too lower class for their tastes are the primary offenders – but, on the whole, `Blue Crush' turns out to be a much better film than its subject matter would ever lead us to expect. That comes as a particularly pleasant and un-looked-for surprise here in the shank of the summer movie going season.

Blue Crush. I have this really stupid habit of putting the names of the movies that I loved on the wall of my room. I spend hours deciding whether or not to put up the names of the movies making notes of its pros and cons. It's a tough job!!

Today, so very strangely, with the opening scene of Blue Crush I wrote its name between ‘The Matrix' and ‘Underworld'. I knew I was going to love the movie even before I had seen it. And truly enough I loved the movie.

What I loved so much about the movie was the story. It was a story of struggle against the odds to survive, to live for a dream. Isn't it the intensity of our struggle with our inner demons and external nightmares that determines the person that we grow up to be. The theme – I have a dream, never fails to win me over. If you don't live for your dream what will you live for. The art direction was awesome. If nothing else go to see this movie for the photography. The underwater shots - breathtakingly beautiful. The movie setting was perfect and the waves huge. The spirit of never-say-die that the movie leaves behind is undeniable. I also loved the fact that the leads both were set in different financial backgrounds. To see the trio of friends working as maids seeing to the luxury of the rich in a posh uptown hotel was an experience.

Kate Bosworth does a really good job playing the role of a promising surfer who has a nightmare to live down. Michelle Rodriguez is Hollywood's toughest girl. Its about time she gets to prove her worth instead of being given the second lead. This tough girl can take all of Arnie, Stallone, Vin Diesel and give them hell in their own home turf. I may have watched the movie originally for Michelle Rodriguez, but who really stole my heart was Lena. She has this bright outlook at life that truly brings to life the essence of being alive. Kate B's sister, Penny, going wayward growing up was also great.

The music was really cool. I'll admit I'm mostly a punk rock/ sometimes heavy kinda boy, but the song that I'll be humming for a long time will be `Cool Summer' from the movie soundtrack.

In the end I always write about the glitches in the movie. Today this will remain blank. I found none. Brian Grazer in an interview talked rather proudly about this movie and the surfing stunts in it. And to God, he has a definite reason to be proud. And its called Blue Crush.

I don't understandn the reviews people are giving that sound like they expected so much more from this movie. Pretention, I'm guessing. The cast was great. Plenty of laughs. Stunning shots in and out of the water and a happy ending. It certainly isn't the most profound movie, but I'm pretty sure they werent going for that anyways. I like it for a feel good movie. I've watched at least ten times and I still enjoy it for what it is. If i want a riveting storyline I'll watch something other than a surfing movie, duh.