The Perfect Wave (2014)

Fresh and Exciting

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Having used IMDb for 4 years, I just created my account here in order to review this movie.I put this movie on for my wife who is very much interested in surfing. I won't waste my time going into much detail about it; the first 80 minutes were not too disappointing, taking us around the world to beautiful locations and with a fair amount of surfing.But then it starts: the final 10-minute non-stop in-your-face attempt at religious conversion. The producers apparently thought it clever to lure unsuspecting viewers 80 minutes into the movie, make them expect a satisfying / love story ending... and then hit them with their real message once they had invested this time. The whole train of the movie is derailed as it veers 90 degrees off course and the viewer is left asking what in the heck just happened.Is Christianity so desperate for donors that it needs to employ these pathetic tactics?

Every Line is forced, and very unnatural. Every actor, especially the younger version of Ian, deserve a Razzle for worst actor. Actually, everything about this deserves a Razzle. This is a bad movie. Maybe the worst I've ever seen. The story is in a league all by itself. I mean seriously, who wrote this. They have no future. The big event wouldn't even happen in real life. I literally found myself laughing in the most dramatic part of the movie. I cried once, but not because it was moving, but because I laughed so hard from how bad it was. I'm ashamed to say Christians can actually dare to make someone's real experience so terrible. I mean, I feel guilty for laughing, but it was so poorly done, that I couldn't help it.

The film is a drawn out tale of a young man seeking to find the perfect wave but in the end finds a different kind of wave. Scott's character appeared aloof, as he should have, but it left the viewer unconvinced and unable to connect. His mother only laughed, cried, or prayed, leaving one with the sense Ian was really running away from the "perfect" family. While the cinematography was reminiscent of Endless Summer, showing superb footage of New Zealand, Australia, Bali/Indonesia, South Africa and Mauritius, and the first song set the tone early on with the waves, and made sense, the overly-loud musical interludes distract the viewer away from the plot. The characters were clumsy and the timing of some of their lines appeared forced and wooden. Ian, spoke without an accent, yet the car pulling into the family's driveway with a foreign license plate gave away that they were not in America, yet it isn't revealed where he lived until after the second act. Some parts, such as when Ian got stung were over-dramatized and drawn out too long, or his mother getting a sense that something was wrong with her son, with no explanation as to why or how, or praying on end, while the important parts, such as the "breakup," which were never seen, left the viewer guessing about Ian's friendship with Anabel, or how he is unaware of her relationship with the brother-in-law whom he was previously friends with. Unsure who the intended audience is, but this isn't a surf movie. While the main message is thought provoking, the movie leaves one asking a lot of questions, but ultimately leaves one with, "Why did I watch this movie?"

Being a surfer, I saw the poster and figured why not... I could settle for a mediocre storyline and even mediocre action so long as the riding was good.Unfortunately I got bad acting, mediocre storyline and ultimately a free church service.There were moments when the acting caused laughing in the audience, and truly took one away from the movie. And while the movie started out fairly decently, things got progressively worse. There were narrative areas which stated what could have been concluded in the end, about 40 minutes before the end, thus giving away half the mystery.The last 20 minutes however was the point where I wanted to walk out of the theatre. The movie took a dramatic turn from a movie about a man's desire to catch the perfect wave, into a direct and unashamed attempt at converting viewers to religion. Since it was based on a true story, there are elements that are inescapable and to be expected, but had I known that I would spend 20 minutes being preached to about how everyone needs to find God - I definitely wouldn't have gone to see this.