An Immersive Blend of Intense Drama with Dark Humor (spoilers ahead)
Nicolas Cage has had a formidable movie career, which has truly escorted me through life, similar to the plethora of Samuel Jackson and Tom Cruise movies. Titles like Face-Off, Snake Eyes, Con Air, The Rock, and Gone in 60 Seconds truly are definitive of the action genre. Lord of War was also absolutely incredible. I still consider Castor Troy, (Nic Cage‘s character in Face-Off) to be one of the most ruthless and coolest bad guys in movie history.
It can be argued that from around 2011 when he did the Ghost Rider and voiced The Croods, that his career was taking a proverbial dive and neither Tokarev nor Grand Isle did any help in rectifying that. However, like a down-and-out UFC fighter coming off his 3rd loss but then who makes a fiery comeback, Nic Cage has quenched the thirst of his horde of fans by, in the least few years, selecting some incredible scripts/productions to which he has lent himself.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent MUST be mentioned here, as well as his career defining performance in Pig. These certainly stamped Cage’s grandiose comeback as one of Hollywood’s most prolific.
Now enter Cage’s latest offering The Surfer, written by Thomas Martin and Directed by Lorcan Finnegan. Entirely shot onsite in Perth Australia on one single beach, the film tells the intense story of a loving father who wants more than anything, to buy back the house of his childhood which overlooks the gorgeous vista and picturesque setting of Yallingup beach. The hardcore local surfer gang, however, has other plans and both hilarity and suffering ensue for our protagonist as we watch him sink further and further into oblivion at the gangs of said gang and other locals.
The film currently has a rotten tomato score of 87%, which I think is accurate. It releases on the 2nd of May 2, 2025 in the United States but it has already been shown at Canne in May of 2024 with great acclaim. In contrast, 1 person in my Cinéphile circle did not approve of the film saying it lacked intelligence and was a pointless script. I must respectfully disagree and here’s why: The film is a beautiful blend of intense drama with dark humor, whereby our protagonist’s descent into suffering mirrors the oppressive summer heat which escalates as Cage’s frustration pushes him steadily towards boiling point. In the very least, this is also a stunning showcase of Cage’s ability to portray characters on the edge.
Lorcan Finnegan’s direction critically achieved this mirroring as we see our protagonist baking in the Australian summer sizzle. Glimpses of lizards crawling over road-tar, cacti baking in the heat, mating calls of locusts in the boiling bushes, and a few close-ups of blazing rays fuming off the Sun. All these simple yet impactful shots really made the audience feel that relentless Australian heat as we watch Cage steadily become more and more outraged. In this way, the film does do a wonderful job of immersing the viewer in the world of struggle that Cage endures arduously along his character’s journey, and when it gets psychedelic, this immersion is also achieved. There is a scene where he is tripping, which effectively hypnotized me to the point where I wasn’t sure if it was Cage’s character’s dream or his reality.
When I saw it last week at the SXSW movie festival, Cage himself presented the film in person onstage whilst wearing a glittery black sequin suit, black Stetson and pink shades. He said he wanted to dress psychedelic in order to “honor the psychedelic quality of [his] little movie”. I agree.
I’m excited for audiences in the United States to make witness to this psychedelic new Nicolas Cage film, and I’m handing this one a solid 4 stars for keeping me absolutely thrilled throughout the show, start to finish. Cage fans will rejoice with this movie and I have rejoiced along with them.