Time: 100 Minutes
Age Rating: R16– Violence, offensive language, drug use & suicide
Cast:
Nicolas Cage as the Surfer
Julian McMahon as Scally
Nic Cassim as the Bum
Miranda Tapsell as the Photographer
Alexander Bertrand as Pitbull
Justin Rosniak as the Cop
Director: Lorcan Finnegan

The only thing I knew about The Surfer beforehand is that it was a thriller about surfing starring Nicolas Cage, otherwise I went in fairly blind. It ended up being pretty good.

The Surfer is actually more of a slow burn than I expected. There’s a lot of psychological twists and turns as Nicolas Cage is gaslit and put through the worst, and a general uncomfortable feeling gradually escalating over the course of the film. While effective, the movie does lose some momentum by the end, with the third act really feeling like it’s going through a number of endings.

Nicolas Cage is great and perfectly fitting for this lead role of a surfer who is pushed to his limits. Of course, he has some good crazy moments and effectively conveys the growing insanity of his character, but his acting is also appropriately restrained and nuanced. I’d say that this is one of his best recent performances. Julian McMahon is also great, charismatic, intimidating and unrecognizable as the main villain.

The direction from Lorcan Finnegan is very strong. It’s visually gorgeous, with beautiful shots of water and nature, saturated colours, and some really surreal and hallucinogenic moments.

The Surfer is an unhinged psychological thriller with great performances from Nicolas Cage and Julian McMahon.