Film Review – The Surfer

May 1st, 2025 | POSTED BY Allen Almachar

Talk about a run of bad luck! The things the protagonist goes through in The Surfer (2024) could test the resolve of just about anybody. All “The Surfer” wants to do is take his son out on the same Australian waves he rode as a youngster. And yet, forces beyond his control not only prevent him from doing that – it turns his existence into a living nightmare. One thing leads to another that leads to another, causing The Surfer to spiral into a pit of mental and physical despair. For a place as beautiful as the Australian coast, it sure harbors some evil that compounds upon one single person. Even Job would look at him and think, “Geez, this guy has it rough!” 

And who else would have the bravado and creativity to take on such an off-kilter role than the one and only Nicolas Cage? If there is one thing Cage cannot be accused of, it is taking the easy road with his performances. Just when we think he’ll go right, he veers left. Just when we think he’ll go up, he’ll come down. He always tries to find the road less traveled with his characters, and that is what makes him endlessly fascinating as an actor. That approach continues as the titular Surfer. Cage makes the character seem constantly uncomfortable. The Surfer has a lot of plans, including buying his childhood home near the beach, and taking his son (Finn Little) surfing to grow closer to him. But a group of male residents – led by the menacing Scally (Julian McMahon) prevent The Surfer’s plans from coming to fruition. “Don’t live here, don’t surf here!” is the rallying cry against any non-locals.

Director Lorcan Finnegan and writer Thomas Martin set the stage as a clash of two opposing forces, both of which display the absurdist nature of traditional masculinity. For The Surfer, he wants to prove to his kid (and to a larger degree, himself), that he can set a goal and achieve it by any means necessary. He constantly makes calls to ensure that he will get his childhood house before anyone else. He views the water as a nostalgic refuge from the stagnation of everyday life. For Scally and his minions, there is a toxic, tribalistic element to how they see and claim the beach as their own. They bully and antagonize anybody unfamiliar to them (even worse for those who aren’t Australian). They initiate new members into their crew with a nighttime ritual that is primal and aggressive. And when their sleezy tactics are called out, other townsfolk brush it off as “Boys being boys.” 

At first glance, we would suspect the narrative of setting up a scenario of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object: The Surfer vs. Scally and the locals. And for a large chunk of the film, it is precisely that. But the further things go along, the more we realize that Martin and Finnegan have something else on their minds. The story eventually becomes the gradual deconstruction of The Surfer. Through the intimidation of Scally, the general distrust of the community, and a host of unfortunate incidents, The Surfer gets stripped of just about his entire identity. Things get so bad that he couldn’t escape the beach if he wanted to. There is a clear psychedelic tone that creeps in, where The Surfer starts seeing everything and everyone turn against him. Paranoia turns into his defining trait. The narrative becomes less interested in the tension between The Surfer and the locals and more on whether The Surfer can even keep his mind intact. So many bad things happen to him that he can barely hold onto his sanity.

What I just described sounds like the perfect arena for Nicolas Cage to exhibit his brand of creativity. To his credit, he tries his darndest to explore whatever extremities there are with the role. From being physically beaten down, verbally abused, to partaking in all sorts of disgusting behavior – the way he allows himself to be tormented approaches masochistic levels. And let’s not even talk about all the unspeakable things he does with a dead rat! But the more we watch The Surfer suffer, the less interesting the film becomes. It’s one mishap followed by another, with The Surfer seemingly taking the cruelty without much resistance. The writing/directing tries so hard to make things as unconventional as possible. Something a small as The Surfer standing up for himself gets sabotaged. Even when he attempts to save face against the locals, it’s met with even more humiliation. The Surfer has, apparently, resigned himself to living in hell. It was frustrating to witness how little levity he had. 

The cinematography (Radek Ladczuk) captures the environment with harsh yellows and oranges. As picturesque as the beach and surrounding areas may look, the visuals also translate the overbearing heat. Heat waves come rising out of the ground, distorting images as though everything were being cooked inside a microwave. Whenever The Surfer falls into his episodes of fantasy or memory, little flashes of light shine across his face, as if he were trying to stare directly into the sun. As things get progressively worse and The Surfer starts to lose his grasp of reality, so too does the cinematography become more surreal. During sequences where The Surfer feels trapped, the camera takes a closeup of his face while he appears to be submerged under water. The claustrophobic effects further exemplify his inability to escape.

While I applaud The Surfer going for something different and unusual, there isn’t enough substance to carry the narrative from beginning to end. Cage is nothing less than watchable, but seeing his character go from one unfortunate circumstance to another was exhausting. It felt like a whole lot of commotion for something that stumbles its way to an end. For die hard Nicolas Cage fans – or fans of movies that don’t adhere to customary storytelling beats – there might be something here for you. But admittedly, it’s not for everyone.

Finn Little, Julian McMahon, Lorcan Finnegan, Nicolas Cage, Radek Ladczuk, The Surfer, Thomas Martin