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Throughout his lengthy Hollywood career, Nicolas Cage has starred in everything from mainstream blockbusters to quirky indies, giving often over-the-top performances that add drama and a little bit of craziness to any role he takes on. And the seaside psychological thriller The Surfer is no exception.
The Surfer stars Cage as a man who returns to the beautiful Australian beach where he grew up and first discovered his love of surfing. He’s planning to spend some time surfing with his son (Finn Little), so he can surprise his son with the news that he’s buying his scenic childhood home. When they get to the beach, though, they encounter a group of locals who refuse to share the surf with outsiders. Determined to fight back, he returns to the beach, where tensions between the surfer and the band of bullies continue to escalate.
It soon becomes obvious that this is one man who isn’t going to back down. He knows what he wants: he wants to buy the home where he grew up, and he wants to surf at his old beach. So as he camps out in the beach’s parking lot, making phone calls to secure the last bit of financing for the house, he keeps an eye on the locals who terrorize the beach. Gradually, the stand-off starts to intensify—because while this character refuses to give in to bullying, the gang of locals refuses to give up their control. They’ll do whatever it takes to drive him away—whether it means stealing his surfboard, vandalizing his car, or just making him think he’s losing his mind.
As the gang’s intimidation tactics increase, their psychological schemes mixed with the steaminess of the summer heat and the retro style of the filmmaking cause it to feel a little fuzzy. The character has the occasional flashbacks and visions that make it clear that he’s slowly losing his grip on reality—but, of course, that’s where Nicolas Cage shines. The constant mind games cause his character to become more and more unhinged. And though the story is strange and hazy and almost dreamlike, Cage keeps it entertaining in his own eccentric way.
The Surfer definitely isn’t a mainstream kind of thriller. It’s strange and sometimes a little confusing—and you definitely won’t know where this one is going. The tension eventually builds to something that you won’t be expecting—but Cage himself is the film’s greatest draw.
You can join this battle at the beach when The Surfer arrives in theaters on May 2, 2025.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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