A Onda dos Sonhos

Blue Crush. I have this really stupid habit of putting the names of the movies that I loved on the wall of my room. I spend hours deciding whether or not to put up the names of the movies making notes of its pros and cons. It's a tough job!!

Today, so very strangely, with the opening scene of Blue Crush I wrote its name between ‘The Matrix' and ‘Underworld'. I knew I was going to love the movie even before I had seen it. And truly enough I loved the movie.

What I loved so much about the movie was the story. It was a story of struggle against the odds to survive, to live for a dream. Isn't it the intensity of our struggle with our inner demons and external nightmares that determines the person that we grow up to be. The theme – I have a dream, never fails to win me over. If you don't live for your dream what will you live for. The art direction was awesome. If nothing else go to see this movie for the photography. The underwater shots - breathtakingly beautiful. The movie setting was perfect and the waves huge. The spirit of never-say-die that the movie leaves behind is undeniable. I also loved the fact that the leads both were set in different financial backgrounds. To see the trio of friends working as maids seeing to the luxury of the rich in a posh uptown hotel was an experience.

Kate Bosworth does a really good job playing the role of a promising surfer who has a nightmare to live down. Michelle Rodriguez is Hollywood's toughest girl. Its about time she gets to prove her worth instead of being given the second lead. This tough girl can take all of Arnie, Stallone, Vin Diesel and give them hell in their own home turf. I may have watched the movie originally for Michelle Rodriguez, but who really stole my heart was Lena. She has this bright outlook at life that truly brings to life the essence of being alive. Kate B's sister, Penny, going wayward growing up was also great.

The music was really cool. I'll admit I'm mostly a punk rock/ sometimes heavy kinda boy, but the song that I'll be humming for a long time will be `Cool Summer' from the movie soundtrack.

In the end I always write about the glitches in the movie. Today this will remain blank. I found none. Brian Grazer in an interview talked rather proudly about this movie and the surfing stunts in it. And to God, he has a definite reason to be proud. And its called Blue Crush.

For all you wanna-be critics out there trying to be negative about the directing and cinematography, lighten up! This film is excellent in the fact that it does not try to be more than it is... a surf flick. Its obviously not trying to win an Oscar or a bafta. cant any of you simply enjoy a feel good movie? the filming of the waves and the surfing was top class and even though the acting was not Oscar worthy in any way shape or form i think it was impressive that they embraced the surfing culture and used local people in this film.

For all of you out there who like to just enjoy a films and don't feel that you need to be completely baffled, shocked or made to think you will enjoy this. Yes it is predictable but who cares its just a bit of fun.

For all of you who hated this film just because the plot was predictable and the acting was substandard i draw your attention to a gentleman named Sigmund Frued; "Some times a cigar is just a cigar"

The best we should reasonably expect from a movie like `Blue Crush' is that we will be treated to some stunning footage of surfers riding the world's greatest waves (along Hawaii's Pipeline, natch) to personal fame and glory. We certainly get that in abundance - but what we have less right to expect, perhaps, is that the film will offer anything else of any real quality. After all, we've been to these kinds of movies before, harking all the way back to those halcyon Bleach Blanket Bingo days when Gidget, Moondoggie and the rest of those addle-brained, teeny-bopper cut-ups aspired to nothing higher than a life of eternal youth spent wallowing in the bleach-white sands of Santa Monica or Malibu. In the case of `Blue Crush,' therefore, I am happy to report that the screenplay - by Lizzy Weiss (based on a magazine article by Susan Orlean) -provides just enough touches of realism to keep this new film both life-sized and interesting. And the majority of the credit goes to the film's protagonist, Anne Marie Chadwick who, much to our surprise, engages our sympathies from first moment to last.

Anne Marie is no bubble-headed, bleached-blond bimbo with nothing on her mind but winning the big Pipeline competition. Although that is, indeed, part of her life's plan, Anne Marie is, also, an intelligent, pragmatic young woman, fully aware of both her strengths and weaknesses and just trying the best she knows how to make her life work for her, the young sister in her charge and the two surf buddy girlfriends she lives and works with. Anne Marie is also riddled with insecurities, as she struggles to overcome the fear instilled in her by a near-fatal accident in that very same spot a few years earlier. Meanwhile, she and her pals work hard trying to eke out a living as maids at a posh hotel, earning just enough money to keep a roof over their heads and pay some of their bills so they will be free to head to the coast at the first sign of prime `Surf's Up' conditions.

The acting in the film is really quite impressive. As Anne Marie, Kate Bosworth lights up the screen with her subtly nuanced, poised and dignified performance. She knows how to use understated facial expressions to convey the thoughts and feelings of the character she is portraying. Equally compelling are Michelle Rodriguez and Sanoe Lake as her fun-loving buddies, Mika Boorem as her little sister, and Matthew Davis as the professional football quarterback who becomes her love interest. Director John Stockwell, to his credit, manages to keep the majority of the scenes intimate in tone and realistic in nature, rarely allowing the narrative to wander into overwrought melodrama or teen-movie farce. Even the obligatory fight scene is kept restrained and believable.

There are occasional weaknesses in the film – a gaggle of snooty football wives and groupies who snub Anne Marie for being too lower class for their tastes are the primary offenders – but, on the whole, `Blue Crush' turns out to be a much better film than its subject matter would ever lead us to expect. That comes as a particularly pleasant and un-looked-for surprise here in the shank of the summer movie going season.

In Hawaii, Anne Marie Chadwick (Kate Bosworth) is a local surfer girl, who had an accident three years ago when she was on the top of her career. She almost died in a huge wave, but now she is preparing for an international competition, with the support of the best friends Eden (Michelle Rodriguez) and Lena (Sanoe Lake), and her younger sister Penny Chadwick (Mika Boorem). Anne is traumatized with her accident, and is quite afraid of the big waves, but she aims to achieve a sponsor to follow her career and have the necessary financial support. Some days before the competition, she has a crush on the football player Matt Tollman (Matthew Davis). 'Blue Crush' is a good popcorn film, having a shallow story but compensated by the wonderful places and the big waves in Hawaii, and the very beautiful young cast. An excellent entertainment for a Saturday or Sunday afternoon for the whole family. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): 'A Onda dos Sonhos' ('The Wave of the Dreams')

BLUE CRUSH (2002) **1/2 Kate Bosworth, Michelle Rodriguez, Matthew Davis, Sanoe Lake, Mika Boorem, Faizon Love. Better than anticipated surfer flick with the twist on the genre by focusing on a Hawaiian based determined young female athlete (Bosworth) attempting a requiem two years after a near fatal accident while competing is buoyed by her family of friends and a vacationing quarterback (Davis) factoring as an unexpected blossoming romance. The connect-the-dots plotline of social graces hinder the otherwise excellently lensed moments of visceral, adrenalized thrills in shooting a curl with massive walls of water in all its colorful fury by cinematographer David Hennings while director John Stockwell (who co-wrote the screenplay with Lizzy Weiss' adaptation of Susan Orlean's magazine article) balances the melodrama affectively with the totally awesome hydrodynamiques on display. One gripe: would it have killed the filmmakers to show some more of the paradise playland for a travelogue begging to be showcased?