In God's Hands

What can you say about a film that has thirty minutes of fantastic surfing footage but not much more at all? Well, not much more at all.

In God's Hands stars three non actors (that's pretty obvious) who are also top surfers. They're the real thing. Patrick Shane Dorian, Matt George and Matty Liu really do ride this 40 plus foot monsters in this film, and really are towed onto them by jet skis. And all of that is pretty awesome.

I didn't find the sound track all that appealing but I think I've been wiped out in a bit of a Morning Of The Earth time warp for twenty years now. That surfing flick, which I saw in a hall in the Coff's Harbour decades ago, just has to be one of the best films for me ever.

But none of those Morning Of The Earth waves were the monsters that these lads snake down, and get murdered under.

So the surfies out there, and there's plenty of them, will just have to see this fantastic wave action and they'll just have to see it on the big screen. They won't expect much more than just waves with human's sliding down them and they won't be disappointed.

it is easy to criticize it. or define as a not the best movie. but it has a great virtue - the honesty. than - a kind of poetic image about a hobby. beautiful images. and something else who reminds a documentary. sure, it is not great or memorable. but it presents a not complicated story in correct manner. the passion, the death, the friendship, the small circle of few people, the personality of each, the advises for survive, the joy, pain and a kind of romanticism who can impress. a film about a risky sport and more than a hobby or competition. the good point is the portrait of a special form of solitude in middle of powerful solidarity. the strange form of hunting, adventure and madness. not the great script, not an extraordinary film. but, most important, a honest one.

If it weren't for the stunning footage of surfing in this film, it wouldn't even be worth writing about, let alone watching.

The writing, dialogue and story, is so ghastly, it's difficult to tell what Zalman King was thinking. Does he hate the sport? Did he realize that the highly polished, kinetically charged surfing sequences would have made a great documentary, and so he decided to show his contempt for them by slapping on empty-headed melodrama?

In the beginning there's some ludicrous high jinks in some African country (name of the country? I don't know -- New Orleans, I think, or maybe Hong Kong), followed by some scenes aboard a freighter (a freighter with no discernable purpose, manned by a crew of three), followed by a sequence at a surfer training camp (?), followed by scenes wherein one of the main characters gets struck down with a terrible sickness (yellow fever? small pox? heat cramps?), and then gets well. It ends with a bunch of surfing followed by a bunch of surfing.

The dialogue is hollowed-out, cheesy ersatz Kerouac, mostly from a fellow who talks into a tape recorder for some vague future purpose (Dennis Hopper in "The American Friend," anyone?)

On the upshot, if there was money spent on anything for "In God's Hands," it was the film stock and the cameras. Rarely has cinematography been this glisteningly, unabashedly beautiful, without a specific color scheme suited to the story (i.e. war movies, westerns). It rivals anything John Toll achieved in his photography for "The Thin Red Line." In the end, however, this film is reduced to being a ninety-six minute screen saver, and belongs in the same trash bin as Hype Williams' "Belly" and Claude Lelouche's "A Man and a Woman."

This film is definitely not for everyone. It is less about story, and more about life. It has a Zen-like quality about seeking for the pursuit of happiness. I am not a surfer, but I love this movie. As one who is an avid mountain biker, this film provides a dream of being able to enjoy a sport and a lifestyle to the max. Anybody who loves adventure sports would thoroughly love this movie. Not only is it fun to watch for the lifestyle, but the cinematography is absolutely amazing. It's hard to find better.

The story and acting are laughable, but the surfing footage is ALL-TIME great!

My recommendation is to rent this DVD, turn off the sound, and put on some heavy, loud music. Then just FF to to the wave riding scenes and let your eyes feast on the 35mm footage of GIANT surf riding. It is absolutely mind-blowing. This film contains some of the greatest big wave surfing ever caught on film.

Don't miss the tow-in body-board riding of Mike 'the Wizard" Stewart. WOW! His '360' maneuver garnered the biggest cheers of the night at the opening showing of this film.

The acting in this movie is so bad that it is actually pretty funny. Shane Dorian is an amazing surfer, but maybe, just maybe, should stick to his day job. Not sure if Shane will be putting an Oscar on his mantle anytime soon. His opening line drew raucous laughter from a San Diego opening night movie crowd (and it was not supposed to be a funny line).

So, watch this movie with your favorite heavy music playing. Oh, try to watch it on a big screen.