Windrider

"Windrider" is a movie that's quite hard to find nowadays. It's never been released on DVD, and it didn't sell that many VHS copies when it was released on that format years ago. This is despite the fact that one of its stars is a pre-famous Nicole Kidman. There's extra interest for some fans of Kidman since in this movie she takes off her clothes a couple of times. But does the rest of the movie have anything good to offer? Well, it's nicely photographed, and the windsurfing sequences are energetic. There is also a nice musical score. But the movie is ultimately forgettable. It's never really BAD, but you will have seen the characters and the various plot turns in many other movies before, resulting in the movie having no surprises at all. Best watched as a background movie when you are busy with some activity at home.

I have just watched this movie on late-night TV & it reminds me of when I saw it the 1st time at the Beechboro Drive-in in Perth's north eastern suburbs back in 1986/87 as an 18yr old. It was good then, but much better now, 24 years later. Only a local would pick up on the scene backgrounds that were far from accurate, e.g. when they were filming the final sequence off Trigg Beach, when you saw the coast from the water there was no crowd, or buildings even, as the actual windsurfing would've been shot further north beyond the suburbs. The film is a great period piece that any Aussie would enjoy.. the clothes, the hairstyles, the cars, etc. Tom & Nicole are definitely very cute together. If you have never been to Perth, as the movie shows, there is plenty of beaches & plenty of sun. I loved seeing the movie again.

1. Interesting to see Nicole in her first leading role. 2. Nicole's nudity .... my gosh, she is very small

It seems like they made a movie like this for every cool activity in the 80s, and since windsurfing was at the height of its popularity it got the treatment too. Think Top Gun with much lower stakes and one tenth the budget. Despite a bad script and some marginal acting, I actually enjoyed this movie. Forget about the cliché plot and you can actually get a kick out of the clothes and hair and all the other 80s elements. The film is shot in Australia so for an American it was fun to pick out the cultural differences as well. Also, Nicole Kidman stars as a rock star, putting on a good performance and giving the film an excuse to fill the soundtrack with some era appropriate synth cheese. The windsurfing scenes will only appeal to the real hard core since the sport has changed so much in the last couple decades, but again I enjoyed the look back.

Saw this late on ABC, can see why they put it on in middle of night. This is amateur hour, watching this 'car crash',the dialogue, editing and special effects - shark/seal scene! - get worse and worse. When the 2 larrikins get honked by garbage truck and their retort is "Up yours, garbage breath", scriptwriters! Then when there is a drag between PC and the yobbos the dueling banjos start. Only interest is seeing young Kidman, Matt Parkinson and Alan Dale (Dr Karl) ironically in the band, Karl nursing muso ambitions early on.

On a side note, it would be more helpful and balanced if negative and positive reviews were put up as it seems that user reviews are only added when someone really likes the film. This leaves the user reviews unbalanced and some 'terrible' films get very high rating. Subjective, of course