Directed By Lorcan Finnegan

Starring – Nicolas Cage, Finn Little, Rahel Romahn

The Plot – A man (Cage) returns to the idyllic beach of his childhood to surf with his son (Little). When he is humiliated by a group of locals, the man is drawn into a conflict that keeps rising and pushes him to his breaking point.

Rated R for adult language, suicide, some violence, drug content and sexual material.

The Surfer (2025) Official Trailer – Nicolas Cage

POSITIVES

Besides being the newest addition to a variety of films that reaffirm my distanced stance on ever traveling to Australia, “The Surfer” is also a sunbaked cinematic splash-out that continuously rides the waves of elevated anxiety that Finnegan’s direction emphasizes so masterfully. Regardless of what you expect from the movie’s accommodating trailers, this is not the movie that you expect it to be, and a lot of that unpredictable element pertains to Lorcan not only imbedding a deep-seeded psychology to both the characters and editing techniques that appraise so much meaningful merit to the occasionally drifting and spontaneously surveilling imagery, but also the underlining anxiousness that steadily steers every tensely unbecoming interaction, with Cage often being humbled by the magnitude of a situation that he can’t even begin to remotely comprehend. Finnegan has always been great at crafting such uncomfortable environments for his magnified personalities to thrive under, but his documentation here towards this single stage setting of this Australian beach is every bit as glorified in grandeur from afar, as it is grittily grimy and coldly unforgiving from within, and with the balance of longtime Finnegan collaborator, Radek Ladczuk, scintillatingly seducing us to the ferocity and fantasy of the detectably unwavering heat from the permeating sun that is decorated endlessly throughout the movie’s intoxicating cinematography, the audience receive a glowingly immersive appeal to the movie’s integrity that paints such an unreliable transparency to the realities enclosed within this mystical beach, in turn weathering away the psyche and appearance of Cage’s protagonist in ways that mirror incredibly with his magnifying performance. As opposed to other films where Cage can be defined as unrestrained or unleashed, here I would consider his evolution to be more of a mental unraveling that speaks to the audience in a far more empathetic approach, with Cage effortlessly exerting the sad and continuously tortured approach to character that you can’t help but hope the best for. Despite the script taking his character down some darkly depraved situations, with a full-fledged evolution that makes this feel like an entirely different person all-together, Cage never loses sight of the humbled humanity that hangs and withers in the balance, and while we receive pocketed moments of tension-releasing onslaught from him against an incredibly mean-spirited group of cultists, Cage’s meticulous measuring in delivery keeps the film from ever getting away from his firm grasp on both the tone and the material, and the result is a far more sedated approach to psychological deteriorating than we’re used to from the overly theatrical actor, and it all serves as a constant reminder to how captivating his on-screen presence can truly be when one hundred percent of the movie’s focus rests solely on his experienced shoulders. As for the script, there’s plenty to be conflicted about with Thomas Martin’s exploration of these characters and the uniqueness of the world-building that enacts quite a few surprises along the way, however I took much appreciation in the scattering of clues, both visual and oral, that creatively illustrates just what is taking shape here, especially during a second act twist of sorts that cleverly reshaped the direction of the narrative while reversing the power roles of those involved. During this section, the script unloads some compelling social commentary about everything from localists to classism among societal labels that effortlessly attained an air of self-awareness to reflect upon the audience, and for my money it’s the single most intriguing section of the film that nearly made this an instant classic, especially in the way it ambitiously and fearlessly sacrifices the perceived confidence of the audience while forcing Cage’s character to confront his own irresponsible value to nostalgia that nearly costs him everything before the real meat of the story gets set to motion.

NEGATIVES

Unfortunately, this is a film that is very flawed from an entertaining perspective, especially in the deviation from the aforementioned plot twist during the second act, which regretfully went the safe and unconfrontational route towards producing something uncomfortable to send the audience home with. For my money, I truly wish that the script maintained course with this unforeseen reality, as it temporarily reshaped the film’s dynamics in ways that presented intriguing insight from the other side, but it instead deviates back towards the film that was promised, with some underwhelming decisions towards the direction of characters that led to not only a lack of pay-off in the initially established conflict of the movie, but also an ending resolution to the movie that I found quite underwhelming when compared to the magnitude of investment that I exerted to this once prosperously potential engagement. I wholeheartedly understand that there’s a poetic symbolism that goes with the final shot of the movie, I just don’t think it delivers in ways that will artistically inspire audiences to want to watch it again, especially considering so much of the film’s tonal foundation is built towards articulating such an uncomfortably anxious experience that isn’t as over the top as some of Cage’s more recent offerings. Also, at 98 minutes, the film feels a bit long for the expansion of its exploration, particularly during an inferior third act that doesn’t move the story forward as effectively or consistently as the movie’s first half. Once the script decides to deviate towards more of the conventional route with what was initially advertised, it leaves around 35 minutes left in the engagement, where the tedious elasticity of the movie’s pacing starts to feel evident, especially as the exposition works overtime towards answering some of the initially established questions that convolutes the moments when the execution starts to bring everything home, leading to some personal impatience with the resolution that at that point couldn’t come quickly enough. On top of this, while I previously commended the production’s editing techniques for scattering clues of reality within the many spontaneous images that continuously pop up throughout the movie’s duration, the other side of diminishing returns towards the creative concept comes with momentary intrusions during certain key sequences that removes some of the clarity in coherence of what’s established in focus with dialogue. I’m all for exploiting thoughts and memories in the back of the mind of our protagonist, especially when they tie so closely to what’s being discussed in the foreground of the interaction, however when those moments come with the kind of wandering focus that make it difficult to remain focused towards what’s transpiring before us, it leads to artistic confliction of the worst kind, and it makes me wish that the experimentation in the editing only persisted in isolated moments of reflection from Cage’s character, instead of noteworthy interactions with other characters, as everything that transpires in the latter makes it difficult for casual audiences to piece everything together in the ways that third act eventually calls for.

OVERALL
“The Surfer” is another psychologically stinging film from Lorcan Finnegan, who with the wave-riding resiliency of anxiously elevating direction and another gravitationally unraveling performance from Nicolas Cage, keeps the film from splashing in the undertow of its many conflicting artistic indulgences, cementing waves of cathartic rawness that effortlessly taps into societal prejudices, even as it flounders the promise of its many initially manufactured thrills.

My Grade: 6.8 or C+