| BLUE CRUSH |
 2002 – USA
Director: John Stockwell - Reviewed by Vickie
Fear not. Blue Crush is so, SO much more than that. It's a high-octane, adrenalin-fuelled, wild, loud and outrageously fun summer-movie ride that makes you want to grab a longboard and head out in search of killer pipes the minute the last credit rolls off the screen. Newcomer Kate Bosworth stars as Anne Marie, the central surf girl who's raising her younger sister (Mika Boorem, Hearts in Atlantis) in a beachside trailer home and barely scraping by on the money she earns as a hotel maid. Anne Marie does, however, have loftier ambitions than spending her life hanging ten and cleaning toilets on the side - she's also gearing up for the Pipe Masters surf competition in the hopes of being discovered and, subsequently, being taken under the lucrative wing of corporate sponsorship. She's strong, she's determined and she's one helluva surfer, but her path to surfing glory is somewhat rocky. Holding her back is the memory of a near-fatal surfing accident she suffered three years earlier, and a budding romance with a pro-football player (Matthew Davis), which seriously cuts into her training time and quickly raises the ire of her best friends (Michelle Rodriguez, Sanoe Lake). Directed by John Stockwell (crazy/beautiful), the film features several key components that make it a success. First, the cast. Beautiful women, yes, but also talented actresses. Bosworth has that innocent, girl-next-door look about her, but peel back the layers just a hair and she's a steely competitor with an iron will and rock-hard abs. Michelle Rodriguez tackles yet another tough-girl role with ease, and real-life pro surfer Sanoe Lake proves to be a delightfully funny surprise. Secondly, the surf footage. I don't know how much it cost or how the producers managed to get the jaw-droppingly gorgeous and heart-stoppingly imposing surf footage they did, but I was blown away. The ocean was at once beautiful to look at and terrifying to behold. Giant, crystal blue waves twenty or thirty feet high crashing down and making mincemeat of the teensy surfers. Wow. And yikes. Finally, a killer soundtrack. Loud. Pounding. Angry rock. Bass-heavy hip-hop. The perfect compliment to the fast and furious action onscreen and the deafening blows dealt by the cranked-up volume of the surf. The story itself may not be all that complex (surf girl wants to reclaim her spot atop the surf world by winning a competition), but when you put all the pieces of this film together, you're left with a fantastically ideal cinematic offering to round out the summer. |
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A movie about buff girls and the Hawaii surf scene. Sounds like it
could be pretty lame, right? Like it might just be some exploitative
T&A flick with nothing more than beautiful women in bikinis looking
pretty and playing in the waves while struggling to overcome a
beach-party-esque script and stock footage ocean shots?
