Review: The Surfer (2024)

It’s no secret that Nicolas Cage has been getting even better with age and that this current era of his career has been filled with wild surprises and unconventional risks. The Surfer is—and I say this with no hyperbole—one of the best films Nicolas Cage has ever made. This is a wild ride. 

Cage plays a father who has returned to Australia, the country of his character’s birth, where he plans to buy the house he lived in as a boy. The house overlooks the beach and an endless ocean, the perfect place to raise his own son, surfing the same waves that he surfed as a child before life took a tragic turn and he had to leave paradise.

But there are cracks in the dream: the house may be lost to a higher bidder, and even worse, a distance grows between Cage and his son that seems irreparable. Worst of all, the beach is guarded by a gang of toughs who have a “you don’t live here, you don’t surf here” policy, and they’re willing to guard their waves with violence. These roughnecks are led by Julian McMahon, unrecognizable from his Nip/Tuck days, and as Cage finds himself increasingly isolated from comfort and safety, confrontation seems inevitable. 

Over the course of 100 minutes, the beach becomes a nightmare that unfolds essentially in real time, as Cage is thrust into a fever dream of escalating violence and circumstances far beyond his control. Under the Australian sun, he becomes starved, dehydrated, and desperate. To reveal any more would be to rob you, the reader, of the multitudes this film contains. Suffice it to say, Cage gives another benchmark performance as a man pushed not only beyond human limits, but beyond his very sanity. 

As a film lover, I believe The Surfer offers knowing nods to film history and other thrillers such as Breakdown, Point Break, and even some of David Fincher’s work. And yet, despite those cinematic connections, this story feels wholly original and fresh. Director Lorcan Finnegan brings a distinctive style to this movie: visually, the filmmakers have employed a 1970s patina that gives the film a retro style, bathing the frame in warm oranges that amplifies the Australian heat. The musical score is also a throwback, and sounds as if it were written in 1975. If you love exploitation movies from the golden age of the drive-in, The Surfer is going to feel like visiting an old friend—if that friend were a psychotronic hallucination. The movie is remarkably realized by its creators and makes an impression that isn't likely to be forgotten soon. 

The Surfer is a bad trip set on the edge of paradise, and another jewel in the crown of an actor who continues to challenge both audiences and himself alike. Highly recommended.