By Tanya Batson, Staff ReporterWHEN ONE thinks of surfing movies, the image that usually comes to mind is of buff, blonde male Californians whose vocabulary do not extend far beyond 'dude', 'bro' and when it gets really complex, 'What's up dude?'.
Girls are usually relegated to a few chases down the beach or a roll in the sand. Blue Crush promised to be different, it seemed to offer much more than surf and sand.
Blue Crush focuses on the attempts of one surfer-girl, Anne Marie Chadwick (played by Kate Bosworth) to break into the big league of the surf world. Like all sports superstars, she dreams of getting everything free, and getting paid for doing something that she loves. In short, she hopes to be the Tiger Woods of the surf world. Her only problem is that, having almost drowned three years ago, she is afraid of facing the really heavy waves. Anne Marie is accompanied on this journey to stardom by her two friends Eden (Michelle Rogriguez) and Lena (Sanoe Lake) and her younger sister Penny (Mika Baroom).
At the beginning it seemed to be living up to that promise. What was presented in the first ten minutes of the movie was a young woman who didn't just surf to kill time, but engaged in deep training, as she counted down towards the most important competition of her life. As a result, what you saw was a serious intensity that is not often associated with surfing.
Then, just as the movie is progressing smoothly, there is an unexpected wipe- out. As such, Blue Crush is one of those movies that could have been great but the creators decided to settle for mediocrity instead. It deals with three surfer girls, but don't get overly excited because they are not of the Powerpuff quality, even though they do have some things in common with those three super-powered tots.
There are several serious issues which try to bubble to the surface of the movie, but are constantly dragged back below by the fact that the writer, Susan Orlean, decides to Spice Girl-up the flick and 'zig-z-zig-aahhed' over the real meat of the matter. As a result, rather than the great surfing movie, buoyed by serious human-interest elements which could have resulted, what was presented was a rather lame romance. Rather than focusing on how big a challenge it is for Anne Marie to tackle the big waves after her 'drowning incident', they allow her blonde hair to get to her head, turning her into a ditz without sufficient explanation.
The affair which takes place between Anne Marie and Matt (played by Matthew Davis) is far too incidental, and not developed enough for the number of scenes that were spent on it. The romantic sections fall quite flat, having become waterlogged with predictability. They have taken all the right lines from the romantic genre, but there is no substance behind them, so they become ineffectual. For example, close to the end of the film when Matt turns up for the famous motivational speech, just in the nick of time, and says, 'I know how talented you are,' you wonder, he does? He's seen her surf for all of ten minutes, so unless he is a stalker as well as a football player, that simply doesn't add up. In fact, the fact that he is the one who gives the motivational speech at all is a complete sell-out.
The movie stars relative unknowns, but that is not a bad thing. However, the choice of lead character is a tad questionable. Rodriguez gave a much stronger performance, and was the only one who brought any seriousness to the flick. However, she isn't blonde enough for the surfing Barbie-doll that the writers created, so that probably explained their choice.
However, it was the waves that truly ruled this movie. The surfing shots are beyond excellent. It is actually easy to ignore the rest of the movie and simply watch it for the waves. A lot of intensity and danger is shown in this sport, which often seems like just another way to idle. There are ways in which, surfing had never looked that cool or dangerous. It clearly shows that the 'Crush' in the title speaks of far more than a fleeting romance, because the waves can easily crush a surfer.
The surfing is a part of what helps to save the movie, despite its many flaws. Additionally, a bit of humour is injected, saving it from being quite boring. There are quite a few funny moments, especially those involving the football star Leslie, played by Faizon Love. It is simply a shame that they abandon the great, female-bonding potential and half-heartedly chased the romance wave.
