Film Review: THE SURFER (2024): Nicolas Cage Goes Bonkers (Again) in an Interesting but Shallow Would-Be Thriller

The Surfer Review

The Surfer (2024) Film Review, a movie directed by Lorcan Finnegan, written by Thomas Martin and starring Nicolas Cage, Finn Little, Rahel Romahn, Alexander Bertrand, Julian McMahon, Rory O’Keeffe, Sally Clune, Nic Cassim, James Bingham, Austen Wilmot, Talon Hopper and Brenda Meaney.

Nicolas Cage stars in director Lorcan Finnegan’s dark morality tale, The Surfer. Either it’s a morality tale or a warning to people to get the hell out of Dodge while they still can when weird things start to happen. Cage ate a bat in Vampire’s Kiss and now, a little less than 40 years later in The Surfer, he bites into a rat. By the time this rat appears in Cage’s character (known as “The Surfer”)’s car, the viewer will probably know whether or not they like this movie. After seeing countless Cage performances over the years, it’s easy to point out why this is not one of his best films, yet some people may enjoy it for its bizarre premise and wild acting by the always capable Cage.

As the film begins, Cage’s surfer character and his son, The Kid (Finn Little), arrive in a beach town where the surfer wants to buy a home that will bring him closer to his childhood. He’s trying to negotiate a deal, but when he thinks he’s got the house locked in, someone comes back with a higher offer than his, thus jeopardizing the surfer’s attempt to buy the home. The Kid doesn’t seem like he wants to be with his old man and the local townsfolk on the beach forbid non-residents from surfing in the waters. Things get crazier when it seems that the surfer and the Kid can’t get to have any fun in the area they find themselves temporarily situated in (mostly because of the town bullies).

Pitbull (Alexander Bertrand) and Scally (Julian McMahon) seem to have aggressive attitudes, but this only pushes the surfer closer to trying to achieve his goal. One problem, though: There’s no way in hell people can just roll into town and treat this beach like they belong there. You have to earn the right to go in the water and the surfer and his son seem a little mixed up in terms of both the nature of their bond together and how they will attempt to execute their plans to enjoy their time in the offbeat community they find themselves immersed in.

Nic Cassim serves as The Bum, who later on, seems to make more sense to the surfer than he did at the film’s outset. Nobody wants to talk to a bum, but soon the tables are turned when Cage’s character starts to behave in an over-the-top fashion. Cage does that a lot in his films and, eventually, the actor sinks his teeth into his performance as the surfer starts stumbling around town in an awkward manner which suggests he can’t get along with the people in this community no matter how hard he tries.

As the surfer starts drinking and licking up dirty puddles on the ground while acting like a bum himself, one of the people the surfer is associated with reminds him of his past normalcy through a picture that was taken before all the craziness. You’ll certainly want to see how the people on the beach change their tune towards the surfer when he puts up something of a fight against them. One may be able to figure out that the surfer isn’t playing with a full deck unless, of course, he’s surfing. This film doesn’t put him and his son in the water with boards until the very last moments and, by then, it was too late to save the film from the world of the obscure.

Cage is no stranger to oddity and has constantly reminded us why it is necessary to see every movie he makes. You never know how a Cage performance will turn out as the actor is probably the most unpredictable star working today. This film basically sees Cage’s surfer character transform from a well-dressed dad with a job to a bum looking to get what’s rightfully his without justly earning it. Cage predictably nails the part in the most unpredictable way one could imagine.

Let it be said, The Surfer, is flat-out bizarre at times. This film moves along at a slow, but steady, pace and the action isn’t always easy to see coming. When the surfer starts to suggest waiting for a call from a key character on the pay phone by the beach, it’s easy to see how desperate the surfer is. He does things that boggle the mind such as eating garbage, but there’s a purpose for all of this so rest assured the pay-off will arrive. It just may not be everybody’s cup of tea, for various reasons.

The Surfer is intriguing. Cage is playing a man who’s obsessed and one who is pushed past the breaking point, but can he have his happy ending and get the house he wants? You’ll probably already know the answer if you’re paying attention to the movie’s wild plot twists throughout its opening stages. As the final revelations weigh in, though, the movie ultimately becomes less and less likable and much more offbeat than it needed to be.

Cage came back to stardom with his role in Pig several years back. The Surfer is a far cry from Pig, yet it has a quality about it that makes it seem like it could become a cult classic one day. However, for now, it’s just a routine Cage vehicle with a lot of craziness adding up to more of an opportunity for the filmmakers to let Cage overact rather than letting him deliver a truly great performance that he’s certainly capable of. I’m on the fence with The Surfer, but I’m not recommending it unless you love Oscar-winning actor, Cage, at his weirdest and most wild. In The Surfer, almost anything goes. It’s almost like a male’s version of Black Swan replacing ballet dancing with surfing instead except there’s precious little surfing in The Surfer after all that. Go figure.

Rating: 6/10

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