Much Better Than It Looks on the Box

Rating: Null/10 (30 September 2005)

I LOVED it-- especially how it came out at the end. I was incredibly involved in it by then, & all the characters were amazing as it developed. Even though I'm in North Cali now, I'm was born in Orange County hospital in '71 & spent hell of summers right there around Huntington Beach & Venice in the middle of it with all my uncles & cousins, the little girl of hippies & bikers & skaters & surfers.
The beginning was misleading-- as it looked like it was gonna be a Point Break macho unemotional action fantasy when the gang/locals/Vals crap was going on. I though they were going to get all that wrong & make it a stereotype, but later on, they got it very right & brought out those elements pretty much as they really were. All the actors really did a thorough job-- the young kids are gonna be great, & I didn't even recognize Heath Ledger he was so good at "becoming" his role. The cameos with the real characters was hilarious & very very cool. I was truly happy with the way the film went--it turned out to be very realistic, entertaining, sexy, & dramatic, & they obviously took hell of *beep* from real life events around Huntington Beach, Santa Monica, 12th & PCH & the Pacific Ocean Park pier up to the 80s through punk. There was plenty of violence & apathy around there then when all this started was developing, class warfare, asswhole rich "coke head freaks" from the affluent valley & poor lost hungry boys like that living in squats on the coast & fighting for fun, to feel alive, tearing up the town, raging against not having a place or purpose or future. It's not just a typical "skaters' movie"-- it's a great movie regardless for exploring all that in a thoughtful non-stereotypical, non-judgmental way, & for getting at the fact that these young men had so much heart & love for each other despite the hard knocks & the demands of trying to deal with the problems that came along with the come up.