Release Date – 9th May 2025, Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 39 minutes, Director – Lorcan Finnegan
Waiting for a call to confirm his purchase of his childhood home, The Surfer (Nicolas Cage) is confined to a car park in the Australian heat, days before Christmas, being attacked and manipulated by a group of surfers who hold the below beach for themselves.
The Surfer feels like someone set out to make a cult Nic Cage film, or just rather the perception of a Nic Cage film pre-Mandy, and definitely pre-Pig. It largely banks on the fact that Cage takes on the lead role of The Surfer, and appears to rely on him to push the film while director Lorcan Finnegan conjures up a strange style to boot.
Confined to a car park in the Australian heat days before Christmas Cage’s ‘the surfer’ is waiting for a call to confirm his purchase of his childhood home. However, the area has changed from what he remembers it. When trying to go down to the beach with his son (Finn Little) to surf near the start of the film, they’re instantly turned away by the local men who appear to hold the beach for their own. Thus ensues a ‘this is a local beach for local people, there’s nothing for you here!’ mentality. A set of events sees The Surfer stuck in the car park, running out of money and phone battery, and seemingly being tortured by those who have set themselves up on the beach – but, as one person claims about them marking their land “if it stops them beating the botox out of their wives so be it”.
What unfolds is a fairly familiar story and set of events, however director Lorcan Finnegan, who has brilliantly created unease before in underrated 2019 horror Vivarium, seems to be aiming for a trippy, off-kilter style to the overall tone of the film. It creates an odd feeling, particularly as it becomes increasingly forced, within a very familiar film. It’s a strangeness that’s enhanced by a quasi-fantasy score lingering in a handful of scenes, particularly in the early stages as Cage’s character tries to get his bearings before he properly starts to break down when his possessions go missing or his car is messed with – although the question of why he can’t just walk off and find help down the road does come to mind.
In addition to this, if this is supposedly designed as a hopeful cult Cage flick, I found myself asking whether any of it was meant to be funny. While not getting any laughs from me it seemed as if the film was trying to get some chuckles, perhaps from its hammered style conflicting with just how recognisable the film and its overall narrative are. Is the behaviour of the central character, his reactions to the increasing frustration and pressure that he’s experiencing, and in part putting upon himself, and the trippy-adjacent surroundings meant to be comedic? It’s something I can’t answer for certain, it seems as if it may be trying to be, but at the same time that could be something in the aesthetic backfiring to give that impression.
By putting a forced style over substance, and relying on Cage – who successfully doesn’t entirely appear to go full Cage for much of the duration – The Surfer stumbles and feels consistently uneven. Largely down to the fact that much of its events feel familiar despite what’s trying to happen tonally. It leads to a messy and confused feeling film which doesn’t seem to realise that it’s digging its own hole and therefore keeps going with increased speed. Therefore failing to engage, and leaving me uncertain as to whether any of it was meant to be humorous or not.
The Surfer’s narrative is very familiar, which makes the odd tone feel both all the more forced and unwarranted, especially considering the ambiguous nature as to whether it’s meant to be funny or not.
Just A Little Bit Random 