The Endless Summer 2

Whether you are a surfing guru or just a grommet, you'll love this film. Following in the footsteps of the friends that travelled the globe in search of the endless summer in Bruce Browns 1966 classic, Pat and Wingnut follow the surf from South America, through Africa, Indonesia and Australia. The photography is exceptional, the people they meet (Laird Hamilton, Jerry Lopez, Robert August to name but a few) fascinating, and the scenery incredible. Bruce Brown brings to the screen like no other can what is essentially an intraverted and elite lifestyle, and for the duration of the film, you feel a part of that life. It will leave you searching frantically on the internet for a longboard and a cheap flight to Fiji.

This movie is one of the best surfing movies that I have seen. The scenery is awesome. Not to mention the lives and personalities of the surfers in it.

I'm a New York City boy, have what I claim are the whitest legs in America, and I have never surfed, but I love watching Surfer movies (even the hokey ones from the mid-sixties). Endless Summer 2 is beautiful. Great video, and even the obviously staged bits work because we're all in on the staginess. The guys are likable and fun.

One Kahuna of a Complaint, however, is--I want to Hear some of those Waves crashing. You've got great video, but the music often gets in the way of the sensory pleasure. I see beautiful waves, but the gift of the Sound all of that powerful water makes is taken away from me.

Those beautiful sunsets and sunrises need Natural Sound, not Man-Made music. In Indonesia I wanted to HEAR the noise all of those cars and motor-bikes were making. SOUND puts the viewer there. You took all of the natural sound out, then added little bits around the music in the Edit.

Keep the musicians OUT of the Edit Room.

I found this sequel much better than the more-famous "Endless Summer" which had been made 30 years before this film. That was good, but this is far better and a big reason is better camera lenses and techniques.

The photography in here is spectacular and I'm not a fan of surfing but this is amazing footage....and who isn't awed by huge waves? The camera puts you inside and underneath some of these mammoth waves and they aren't just spectacular; they are beautiful.

As in the first film, the narration and the travelogue is interesting and humorous. Bruce Brown, the man who narrated both films, is consistently entertaining in this area as he navigates us to distant countries and islands. We see, for example, the beaches of Australia, France, Fiji, Alaska, Indonesia, Africa, on and on - just magnificent scenery.

Also featured are wild animals, poisonous reptiles, a topless beach and assorted other goodies. It also was interesting to see familiar faces from the mid- 1960s movie and see how they've aged.

It all makes the 110-minute film interesting for anyone, surfers or not.

this film lives up the hype of being even better than the legendary original. the style is precisely that of the original, but the leap is the technical quality of the photography. much of the photography is so beautiful and astonishing that it looks like james cameron computer generated it. you watch it, thinking "how the heck did they film that?" now i am a jersey boy, born in nyc, know nothing about surfing. but i know a great film and this is one.