Stranded

When you think of Hawaii you think of resorts, surfing, TV shows, etc. but this movie shows you the seedy underbelly that everyone knows is there but nobody talks about. Washed up blue collar families, dead ends, petty rivalries, gangs, desperate people on the dole, too much pot and booze, and a chance to escape that never materializes.

It'd hard to watch people make bad choices but the self-destructiveness is all too understandable and while you want them to make better decisions you can see why they don't. I thought the characters, families, and plots really resonated, and were rendered with intense realism even while being far from uplifting. I thought the Hawaiian background was very true to life and not what you normally see.

While the acting was raw and amateurish I thought it was very powerful in that it depicted how real people would probably behave under the circumstances. The plot twist mentioned in the summary was a little awkward but served to give the story more meaning from a racial and equality perspective.

Overall I feel like I found a hidden gem on Netflix and am glad to have watched it.

I like the idea of blue collar surfers trying to figure out their lives. Surfing is often associated with beautiful tropical places or the more glamorous parts of Southern California. But this time our setting is the semi-depressed Ventura. It's a town with a mixture of working class whites and Latinos.

Many reviewers have mentioned that the characters were mostly hideous people, so why would we care about them? Well, I don't think you have to like any characters in order to appreciate a film. However, I do think you need to understand why other characters would like a particular character. I didn't get that part at all with this one.

You have this so-called "Golden Boy" younger brother who is supposedly a heroic gutsy surfer and womanizer, but there is every indication that he is a self-absorbed low-life otherwise.

I guess you are supposed to assume that since his family and friends are all white trash, that they liked him for his guts and glory, and for his loyalty to his community.

Having said all that, I think our true main character, Clint Eastwood's son is supposed to be a fairly decent guy. Even when he punches a lesser skilled fighter, he doesn't beat him up. Later, he tries to do the right thing amidst various people's conception of what that means. But you can root for him.

The best performance is by a young blonde who plays the neighborhood slut. She was convincing. Perhaps that is partially because she was an unknown actress. So instead of picturing her in some other roles, you just believe her as this girl.

Our main guy makes very little money repairing surfboards, but he rides around on a tiny dirt bicycle that seems fit for a 14 year old. This guy is supposed to be at least in his mid-20's and pushing six feet tall. Perhaps they were milking his poverty a bit.

No one ever explains why our Mexican gangster is living there and doing that life, if he comes from wealth.

There is a good moral conflict, some gritty realism, a unique setting, some sexy scenes set up well, and a few minor stars involved. The beginning however will lose many viewers, because there is no indication of some of the good stuff coming. I originally gave up after 15 minutes.

Also, instead of someone telling our main guy to get some guts regarding revenge or surfing, they should tell him to go to school or get a real job. At one point his dad does say, "You are better than all this." That was a good line. I would have liked to hear more dialogue like that.

Also, give us a little more back story on the parents, the girls, and the Golden Boy.

Nice try, but missing a bit more depth and context.

Let's see, a bunch of unlikable characters doing unlikable things. Throw in an absurd story line, and you have a loser of a film.

There wasn't a single character I cared about or had any sympathy for, including the "hero" of the story.

Even as a "B" movie, this was bad. With so many other movies out there, please, don't waste your time on this one. Why it got made is a mystery. Why it failed so badly at the box office isn't. It got limited release in theaters, and was on disk 5 weeks later. That should tell you something. As does the 0% critic score and 9% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Need I say more?

I have long been a fan of Jeff Fahey so initially sat down to watch it just because Mr Fahey was in it., The story and the characters did hook me though and I am very pleased I watched it. Without giving too much of the plot away, the characters are mostly flawed but also mostly likable as they do what they feel they have to in order to keep their families together......and I can mostly sympathise with them all to a certain extent. Particularly loved the ending too.

The bio is all wrong though. Yes John is held at gunpoint and he tells his story in a series of flashbacks......but it is not set in a distant desert......it's set in California and the sand they are trudging through is a beach near Malibu in California, not a "distant desert" at all.

The movie actually had a decent plot to it. It starts with Scott Eastwood as a marine about to be executed and then it tells his story of how he got into this mess through a flashback, as a surfer who gets into trouble.

Dawn Patrol had good twist and turns to it and great potential for drama, but the dialog in the film was horrible, and i'm really surprise by how bad the acting was to this dialog.

The whole thing reminds me of movies like the Crying Game and the Sixth Sense, were the movie has a surprise twist at the end, and this one was cut together well enough to get an eyebrow raised, but the biggest difference between those movies and Dawn Patrol, is that those movies are worth sitting through.

Well cheer up, Scott Eastwood, I don't think your daddy did anything worth seeing until his, thirties anyway. This movie is just too dull and uninteresting to put anytime into it.