Blue Crush

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".

For all you wanna-be critics out there trying to be negative about the directing and cinematography, lighten up! This film is excellent in the fact that it does not try to be more than it is... a surf flick. Its obviously not trying to win an Oscar or a bafta. cant any of you simply enjoy a feel good movie? the filming of the waves and the surfing was top class and even though the acting was not Oscar worthy in any way shape or form i think it was impressive that they embraced the surfing culture and used local people in this film.

For all of you out there who like to just enjoy a films and don't feel that you need to be completely baffled, shocked or made to think you will enjoy this. Yes it is predictable but who cares its just a bit of fun.

For all of you who hated this film just because the plot was predictable and the acting was substandard i draw your attention to a gentleman named Sigmund Frued; "Some times a cigar is just a cigar"

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.

BLUE CRUSH (2002) **1/2 Kate Bosworth, Michelle Rodriguez, Matthew Davis, Sanoe Lake, Mika Boorem, Faizon Love. Better than anticipated surfer flick with the twist on the genre by focusing on a Hawaiian based determined young female athlete (Bosworth) attempting a requiem two years after a near fatal accident while competing is buoyed by her family of friends and a vacationing quarterback (Davis) factoring as an unexpected blossoming romance. The connect-the-dots plotline of social graces hinder the otherwise excellently lensed moments of visceral, adrenalized thrills in shooting a curl with massive walls of water in all its colorful fury by cinematographer David Hennings while director John Stockwell (who co-wrote the screenplay with Lizzy Weiss' adaptation of Susan Orlean's magazine article) balances the melodrama affectively with the totally awesome hydrodynamiques on display. One gripe: would it have killed the filmmakers to show some more of the paradise playland for a travelogue begging to be showcased?

From the thoroughly mediocre school of filmmaking, here comes director John Stockwell's 'Blue Crush'. Its graduates...uh, actors include Kate Bosworth, Michelle Rodriguez, and a bunch of other pretty people you've never heard of. Bosworth is Anne Marie, the super-talented surfer with a confidence problem. Before the movie is half over, she's in love with a pro quarterback and struggling to gumption up for the big all-girls surf championship. It's your standard 1980's Tom Cruise picture.

If a movie with such modest ambitions is supposed to make you want to go out and take up surfing, I say, hand me my 'Point Break' DVD instead. Sure, 'Blue Crush' is professionally made and the camerawork is fine, but how hard is it to pretty up shots of the Hawaiian ocean when it's in the form of gorgeous, humungoid waves? That's a natural beauty that speaks for itself and doesn't need Hollywood to flaunt it. As for the screenplay by Lizzy Weiss & Stockwell, well, they're proficient with the surfing lingo. They're also absentminded enough to bury their various hanging plot threads in an undertow. The flick is not trying to be a deep meditation on the entire wave-lovin' experience, but that's no excuse for staggering along with such a sub-par story.

As unremarkable as they may be, the female leads are about the best thing in the film. They all look smart in bathing suits---the words "woo hoo" come to mind---and they're fairly natural. Plus, these likable babes don't grate with too many, "you go, girl" comments. Rodriguez even smiled once or twice, which confirms that she DOES have more facial expressions than just snarling and pouting. But despite the physical beauty of the waves and the girls, the film they're in is generic goop. Parents will be happy that all the sex is kiss-kiss-fadeout, there's nary a drug, and only a handful of cuss words. All the same, I'm certainly not happy with the content of 'Blue Crush'. It's just not tubular, dude.