THE SURFER (2024)

SYNOPSIS: In the psychological thriller directed by Lorcan Finnegan, a man returns to the idyllic beach of his childhood to surf with his son. But his desire to hit the waves is thwarted by a group of locals whose mantra is “don’t live here, don’t surf here.” Humiliated and angry, the man is drawn into a conflict that keeps rising in concert with the punishing heat of the summer and pushes him to his breaking point. 

MOVIE REVIEW:

The premise of The Surfer might sound deceptively simple. A man, known only as “the surfer,” hopes to spend an idyllic day riding the waves with his teenage son at Luna Bay. His plans, however, are derailed by a gang of hostile locals led by Scotty “Scally” Callahan (the late Julian McMahon) the only character in the entire film with a proper name.

But then you realize Nicolas Cage is playing the surfer, and you know this isn’t going to be an ordinary movie.

Famous for his manic, unhinged screen presence, Cage plays a man on the verge of finalizing a deal for his childhood home. Driving a flashy Lexus, he brings his son to admire the ocean where he once surfed. But the day quickly unravels as he’s harassed by thuggish locals and an equally corrupt cop.

In a typical Liam Neeson film, the protagonist would fight back and beat the living daylights out of everyone. In The Surfer, however, Cage’s character spirals into madness. Bullied to the edge of sanity, he refuses to leave the beach’s car park despite every reason to do so. Instead of retreating to the comfort of a Hilton or Four Seasons while waiting for his finances to clear, he chooses to endure the blistering Australian sun with his surfboard, car, phone and watch stolen. At one point, he even tries to swallow a dead rat.

That grotesque moment might well be the most memorable and morbid scene of this nearly two-hour film.

Irish director Lorcan Finnegan (Vivarium) knows how to exploit both Cage’s volatility and Australia’s unsettling wildlife. Much of the movie is punctuated by crawling, slithering creatures. But are they real, or hallucinations born of the surfer’s unraveling mind? Is this descent into chaos a nightmare playing out in his head?

Unfortunately, while Finnegan indulges in Cage’s theatrics and eerie cutaways, the late Julian McMahon is left underused. His Scotty Callahan, an influential community figure and self-styled beach cult leader, could have been the core of a far richer narrative. He embodies toxic masculinity in a way that screams for exploration yet his screen time feels frustratingly limited.

Another underdeveloped thread involves the beach bum (Nic Cassim), a grieving father who blames Callahan for his son’s death. The character disappears for much of the film, only to re-emerge with sudden significance in the final act.

Though billed as a psychological thriller, The Surfer will likely test the patience of mainstream audiences, who may find it more punishing than compelling. Cage, as always, is magnetic if you appreciate his brand of chaos, but beyond that, the film veers toward the artsy and the obscure. In the end, the rat—puppet or not—deserves just as much credit as anyone else on screen.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee