A Onda dos Sonhos

Anne Marie Chadwick (Kate Bosworth) is a local surfer girl with best friends Eden (Michelle Rodriguez) and Lena (Sanoe Lake) aiming to surf the Pipe in competition. Her little sister Penny (Mika Boorem) is getting more rebellious especially when their mother leaves town. She struggles against testosterone driven surf culture, and her disgusting job as a hotel maid. However the arrival of pro football quarterback Matt Tollman (Matthew Davis) may distract her away from her goal.

On the surface, this movie has beautiful babes in beautiful exotic locales. Beneath the surface, there is a compelling underdog story. It has emotions. She has to overcome her fears. Kate Bosworth is good as a girl unsure of herself. Rodriguez is the girl with attitude to spare. It's more than a simple exploitation film.

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.

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')

Critic Ebert has a very complete and accurate review, and I will not repeat any of it here. I bought "Blue Crush" as a used rental DVD, real cheap, and it is a perfect disk. The basic story has been told many times, but it is done here better than many. However, there is one thing that moves it from the "ordinary" to "outstanding - the cimematography and the sound.

After most of the first hour of the film sets up the characters and the situations, we are treated to surfing the Hawaii "pipeline" by surfers. One DVD extra shows how they do "face replacement" so that the pro surfer appears to be star Kate Bosworth. With many cameras in the waves, and sometimes under them, we get a unique perspective of being on top of a giant wave, or being inside the wave as it is breaking. All the while a very aggressive sound mix makes you feel like you are there also. This is definitely a good DVD to have for demonstrating the quality of your digital 5.1 surround sound system with good powered subwoofer.

I suspect anyone who saw "Blue Crush" at home, on VHS or DVD, with sound fed into the TV speakers has seen a different movie. That's because the sound track plays such a key role. This isn't a great movie, but a very good one. I believe its most realistic IMDb rating is somewhere around "7" or "8".

Pretty enjoyable story about beautiful women do extreme surfing to prepare for a competition and one of them (Kate Bosworth) falling in love with a football player. I love that John Stockwell directed this and a few years later directs Into the Blue which is also based around water with a different story I absolutely love that movie! Unfortunate how Blue Crush has a 5.7 it deserves better even a little.