The Surfer 4K 2024 Ultra HD 2160p

The main character returns from the US to Australia, where he is forced to confront a gang of local surfers, which also includes his teenage son.

User Review

Nicolas Cage takes his son to an Australian beach to surf with him. But the local surfers rudely chase them away as outsiders, not allowing them to approach the water. Cage takes his disappointed son home and returns to the parking lot, where he is repeatedly harassed by the beach gang over the next few days, talks to a homeless man, and slowly but surely begins to lose touch with reality.

Meanwhile, at night, the charismatic leader of the surfers, Scully (Julian McMahon), preaches to his followers about how the modern world oppresses men, forcing them to act a certain way, when at the beach they can let their animal nature run wild. Also, a homeless man who can't stand beach thugs has settled in the parking lot and is busy looking for his missing dog.

Due to dehydration, malnutrition, and heat, Cage's sanity is being replaced by increasing delirium. He himself becomes like a homeless person — his watch, expensive car, phone, and clothes evaporate, and what's more, it seems as if they never existed. And although he descends visually, thematically he is the only one who keeps his dignity, because despite the ongoing humiliation and ridicule of those around him, Cage refuses to respond in kind. Therefore, he only becomes truly repulsive when he accepts the rules of the game set by his antagonists and sides with those he was fighting against. Even then, he lacks the will to take responsibility for his choice. But if before his timidity or indecision evoked pity at worst, now one wishes him failure and misfortune. Perhaps he could not have acted otherwise — such is human nature, and even the eccentric Australian fauna, which keeps popping up in the frame, cannot hide its surprise.

The film's mockery of toxic masculinity, as the driving force behind the film, is almost immediately apparent — it is exposed by Cage's monologue about surfing, which opens the film — but it does not become intrusive. And Cage's brutalization, his transformation into a madman who wanders around lost, eats rats, and drinks from puddles, becomes, among other things, a kind of caricature of the macho image of the modern man who rejects the system, becomes true to himself, and blah blah blah.

The first half of the film really sets the tone well and effortlessly builds intrigue. But as time goes on, the narrative loses its initial momentum, becoming sluggish, as if the director had already figured out which direction to take the story and how exactly to do it. Cage's lamentations become repetitive and cease to be compelling because he continues to tread water, and with that, the animosity towards the surfers fades. As a result, the anticipation of the climax is replaced by a weary wait for it. And the climax itself turns out to be not very convincing and somewhat chaotic.

Nevertheless, the film is watchable, I would even say worth watching, as it is mostly quite interesting, albeit with some lulls in the third act. Nicolas Cage is his usual (in a good way) crazy self, and Julian McMahon skillfully plays an arrogant surfing guru who aggressively flashes his teeth. It's far from the magnificent Pig, also starring Cage, which seemed thematically very similar to me, but it's definitely not a forgettable piece of fluff.

Info Video

Codec: HEVC / H.265 (82.8 Mb/s)
Resolution: 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10+
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Info Audio

#English: Dolby TrueHD with Dolby Atmos 7.1
#English: Dolby Digital Plus with Dolby Atmos 5.1
#English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Commentary by director Lorcan Finnegan)

Info Subtitles