Way more than just "Gnarly"

Rating: 9/10 (16 November 2012)

When viewing a movie centered on the sport of surfing, some may feel like they're on the outside looking in. But Blue Crush, a "summer box office guilty pleasure" according to the New York Times, directed by John Stockwell, does in an incredible job of displaying the surf world while drawing in the average American by employing the typical Hollywood love story. Most Americans think of the sport of surfing as a thing for Californians or Hawaiians and synonymize it with the words "hang ten," "righteous," and "gnarly." But in Blue Crush, Stockwell is able to connect the inner workings of one of the most dangerous sports in the world to the story of just a typical local Hawaiian girl aiming for her shot in one of the most prestigious big wave surf completions in the world.
Produced by Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment, Blue Crush stars some well-known actors in Hollywood like Kate Bosworth, Matthew Davis and Michelle Rodriguez but also adds an actress who can truly relate to the world of surfing in Sanoe Lake, an ex pro surfer and face of billabong. Kate Bosworth who stars as Anne Marie Chadwick, lives with friends and fellow surfers Eden (Michelle Rodriguez) and Lena (Sanoe Lake) and is trying to prove to her other local friends and herself why and how she earned her wild card admission into the Billabong Pipe Masters Competition. While attempting to balance a job as a hotel maid, her dreams and raising her younger sister, Anne Marie struggles to find who she is and how she is going to be able to continue the current lifestyle she is living. While on the job, she falls for pro football player Matt Tollman (Matthew Davis) and begins to lose sight of the competition she has worked so hard for but soon realizes she is out of her element and doesn't know what to do. She eventually figures out a way to balance all of the things in her life and how to be herself while maintaining a relationship with her friends, sister and boyfriend and manages to achieve success while competing in the Pipe Masters.
The key to making this movie such a success was the outstanding cinematography. Stockwell and Universal Pictures display masterful camera work anytime someone was on a surfboard, which was a lot. Shooting all different angles of the waves that the stunt doubles surfed on, from the views inside the pipe of the waves to even getting beautiful shots of the undertow and coral reefs, Stockwell displayed his brilliance by understanding the key components of what drive the very sport of surfing. On top of magnificent camera work, the story line is something so original and specific in the sense that it is a movie based around surfing and the surf lifestyle, yet so relatable to the average person who doesn't know much about surfing at all.
Granted this movie was shot in Hawaii and is about the sport of surfing, Blue Crush is a great all around movie that is not just a typical summer flick. It's certainly a movie for people who enjoy surfing or are surfing enthusiasts, but it is also a movie for the general population as it lures them with an exotic landscape and puts a twist in the typical Hollywood love story of romance, heartbreak and fairytale ending. I, being someone who has been to every site where this movie was shot, recommend this movie to all based upon the legitimacy it contains about the lifestyle of surfing and the entertainment and drama it provides to keep the movie goer hooked throughout the entire motion picture. It may not have won an Oscar, but it is definitely an excellent and intriguing motion picture that shows the "behind the scenes" view into the world of surfing while still being entertaining.