Blue Crush (2002) |
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Blue Crush (2002) |
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| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Surfing |
Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary-John Stockwell (Director) Audio Commentary-Kate Bosworth, Michelle Rodriguez & Sanoe Lake Featurette-Making Of Deleted Scenes-+/- commentary Featurette-Filming Blue Crush +/- commentary Featurette-The Female Surfing Revolution Featurette-Wipeout +/- commentary Featurette-Riding The Waves (2) +/- commentary Featurette-Skateboarding +/- commentary Featurette-Blue Crush Promo +/- commentary Featurette-Surf Fashion Notes-The World Of Surfing Music Video-If I Could Fall In Love-Lenny Kravitz Theatrical Trailer DVD-ROM Extras |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 2002 | ||
| Running Time | 99:56 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (66:56) | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By | John Stockwell |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Universal Pictures Home Video |
Starring |
Kate Bosworth Matthew Davis Michelle Rodriguez Sanoe Lake Mika Boorem Chris Taloa Kala Alexander Rueben Tejada |
| Case | ? | ||
| RPI | $34.95 | Music |
Paul Haslinger Various |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) Hungarian Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0  (192Kb/s)English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
English Hungarian English Audio Commentary English Audio Commentary Hungarian Audio Commentary Hungarian Audio Commentary Hungarian Titling |
Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | Yes, more surf brands than you can poke a grommet at | ||
| Action In or After Credits | Yes, surfing action plays throughout credits | ||
It seems that at least once every decade Hollywood tries to capture the essence of the surfing lifestyle and put it on the big screen, with varying levels of success. The most notable from the 70s was Big Wednesday. In the 80s, we had the laughably bad North Shore (with the lovable Occy showing off his acting "ability"), and of course Point Break in the 90s. I haven't included the excellent Endless Summer II in this list because, despite its budget, I don't consider it to be a typical Hollywood production, and the amazing Bruce Brown is certainly no Hollywood style director!
With the odd exception, these attempts usually fall well short of hitting the mark. I believe there are a number of reasons for this, one being that the sport and its associated lifestyle are so unique, and it is very hard to capture the essence of it on celluloid. The weather and waves are unpredictable, the sensations so much more than visible and audible, and it's not as accessible to people as many other sports are (you have to live near the beach for a start, as well as be willing to spend ages learning and looking like a kook). Top this off with the fact that one of the only things funnier than watching an actor pretend to be a surfer is watching a surfer pretend to be an actor, and you've got a tough job on your hands trying to produce the goods.
Blue Crush does something new in the world of Hollywood surf movies by concentrating on women's surfing (in fact it was somewhat inspired by a top-selling women's surf video of the same name). It's the story of a young surfer, Anne Marie (Kate Bosworth), who lives on the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii with her sister, Penny (Mika Boorem), and two surfing buddies; Eden (Michelle Rodriguez) and Lena (genuine surfer Sanoe Lake). Ann Marie is in training for the women's Pipe Masters competition; a competition that doesn't actually exist in the real world because Pipeline is considered too dangerous a wave for a female surf contest, but the Director obviously thought it would make for a better story.
Along with wrestling the demons of a near-death experience at Pipeline three years earlier, Ann Marie also has the added problems associated with bringing up her younger sister, and trying to pay the bills on a low-wage hotel-cleaning job. As if this wasn't enough, along comes Matt (Matthew Davis), a rich and charming NFL quarterback, who catches her attention and wants Ann Marie to teach him to surf (pretty subtle pick-up line there Matt). As her fears manifest more and more, and Matt distracts her more and more, Ann Marie begins to care less and less about the contest and therefore comes into conflict with Eden, her long-time trainer and encourager. Which path will she choose in the end? Matt, or the Pipe Masters? Will she wipeout again? Will she ever smile while surfing again? Will her sister get on the straight and narrow? These and other questions are sort of answered before the credits start to roll.
Whereas most other movies of this type have gone with either trying to make actors look like surfers, or surfers look like actors (such as In God's Hands), Blue Crush actually goes with a bit of a mix. One of the three main characters, Lena, is played by an accomplished female surfer, all the male surfer characters are genuine North Shore locals, some of the best female surfers in the world have a few lines, and then Kate Bosworth and Michelle Rodriguez got enough training to make them look competent in the water and even get out the back in some pretty heavy waves. Hence we get a mix of believability and bad acting. So, as a movie that captures the highs and lows of surfing I'd say it comes somewhere in between Point Break (at the low end of the scale) and Big Wednesday (at the other end), and the main characters do a reasonable job of coming across as genuine surfers. They even look real, with sunburned noses and dry salty hair, as opposed to Hollywood tans and artificial blonde tips.
Some of the water photography is excellent, including some incredible underwater shots of people going over the falls at Pipeline. Combine this with the great sound, and you really feel like you're out in the water with spray blowing back off the waves all around you. The surfing scenes are all of a high standard, and although nowhere near the speed and power of men's surfing, there is no doubt that these women do really rip. These scenes certainly deliver on a visceral level, but having said that, you also have some atrocious head replacement shots with a greenish-tinged face plonked on top of a surfer's body that takes you right out of the movie. I'd imagine on a smaller screen this wouldn't be quite so obvious, but on a big screen it's almost cartoonish.
The so-called plot is very generic, and besides the roles being reversed with the female athlete being the one with the choices, it could be any one of a hundred other sports films made over the years. The love story didn't work for me at all, and I found it hard to really care much about many of the characters. Mika Boorem did a great job as Kate, but didn't really have much screen time unfortunately, and I thought Lena was the only one of the main three characters that had any real compassion. As for Ann Marie, did we really need to have it rammed home so many times that she's a bit scared about hitting her head on the reef?! What ever happened to subtlety in filmmaking? If you're not a 12-year-old male who just enjoys seeing young women in bikinis, then you may find large sections of this movie to be rather tiresome.
As a surf movie, Blue Crush succeeds in providing us with a smattering of great shots out in the water, but this isn't enough to redeem it from the fact that as a story it fails on most levels. This one should only really be considered worth viewing if you're a surfer or someone who at least has an interest in the sport, and wants to watch women charge one of the most dangerous waves in the world. On that level I certainly got some enjoyment out of this film.
Oh, and any studios out there; can someone please release Endless Summer II on Region 4 DVD?!
This transfer could have been reference quality, but for a few unnecessary problems. As it stands though, it's still very good. The movie was shot using both 35mm film and Super-8 video, and while it is very occasionally evident (7:54), mostly the quality is completely seamless.
The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, which is the original theatrical aspect ratio, and it is 16x9 enhanced.
In general the transfer is very crisp and sharp, with only a few scenes in the water that are softer. In fact, starting at the 81:21 mark there are some very out-of-focus shots which I first thought might have been deliberate to give the sensation that the character would be feeling. However, the director mentions in the commentary that it was due to the mist from the water, and he decided to leave it in the film to add effect. Throughout the darker scenes in the girls' shack, during dawn/dusk shots, and a number of night scenes, both shadow detail and blacks were excellent. I didn't see any low-level noise.
Colours are generally bright and vibrant, with the occasional darker, more moody scenes (dependant a lot on the weather). The beautiful greens and blues of Hawaii, with its lush vegetation, crystal clear water and blue skies are presented excellently, and really draw you into the film. Flesh tones are spot-on as well, which is quite important when there is so much flesh visible!
I didn't notice any MPEG artefacts, however there were a number of annoying instances of film-to-video artefacts. Firstly, right from the 1:50 mark we are subjected to edge enhancement on the horizon that is very noticeable. It continues throughout the opening scenes (2:10, 3:18 around the trees), and can also be seen in a number of the outdoor beach scenes (82:50 for example). The second problem was aliasing, which has way too many examples to list, but mostly it was due to the main characters' car (4:06, 17:12, 63:10). We also get some lines on the road at 16:55, and a couple of instances of air-conditioning vents that jump out at you (42:55, 54:32). If edge enhancement and aliasing are artefacts that you are sensitive to then some parts of this transfer may cause you some discomfort to watch.
There are seven subtitle streams on this disc. I sampled the English stream, as well as the two English commentary streams and found them to be fairly accurate to the spoken dialogue, although not always 100% accurate. I like the idea of providing subtitles for commentaries, since sometimes the people doing them tend to mumble, and I wish more DVDs had them.
This disc is an RSDL disc, with the layer change occurring at the 66:56 mark. It was in the middle of a scene and although not overly disruptive it could have been better placed. In fact, there was a complete blackout scene transition only three minutes before the layer change, which would have been ideal.
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This disc really delivers in the sound department. During one of the commentaries the director mentions how importantly sound was treated in this movie, and it really shows.
There are four tracks on this DVD; English Dolby Digital 5.1, Hungarian Dolby Digital 5.1, English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded, and a second Audio commentary also in Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded. I listened to the English Dolby Digital 5.1 track, as well as the two commentaries.
Dialogue was perfectly clear and understandable, even during some of the more aurally intense scenes. A lot of the lines were done using ADR due to the fact that it was almost impossible to record dialogue whilst the actors were out in the water. This wasn't a problem though, and generally the audio sync was excellent.
The musical score by Paul Haslinger was complemented by a number of recent songs from artists such as Chad Hugo and Justin Stanley. I must confess to finding a lot of the music a bit out of place for a surf movie, with rap and hip-hop quite prevalent. Maybe things have changed a bit since my keenest surfing days, but this certainly isn't the type of music that used to be associated with surfers. A couple of the louder songs really helped the mood of some of the surf scenes though. The score itself didn't really stand out as either bad or good.
Surround activity was both plentiful and immersive, from the roaring of waves all around you, to the subtle drips of a leaky shack (45:44). There weren't many moments when the surrounds weren't doing something to draw you into the movie.
You know all those 2.0 soundtracks you've listened to over the years, when your big expensive subwoofer was sitting in the corner snoozing? Well, this track certainly makes up for all of those ones. Your sub will be shaking the room from the opening scene out at Pipeline, and will continue to do so for all the surfing scenes, as well as adding bass to the music and various engine sounds. If you ever want to demo a subwoofer in a shop, then this would be a good DVD to take around with you.
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Upon first inspection, this disc looks absolutely stacked. Further investigation reveals that there is a lot of padding as far as extras go, but there are also some quite worthwhile items to be found.
The main menu is animated with scenes from the film and Dolby Digital 2.0 audio playing in the background. Sub-menus are static. All menus are 16x9 enhanced.
This commentary is actually only billed as being John Stockwell, and considering his ten year old son, Casper, says about twelve words, and Rick doesn't fare much better, you can see why. Stockwell, however, is more than enough to keep this commentary interesting. He talks pretty much throughout the whole runtime until the copyright credits appear, and is very easy to listen to. He covers a lot of aspects of the film and the trials of making a surf movie in Hawaii during the big winter swells, as well as tossing in a few interesting facts and stories. For example, the three lead women didn't wear any make-up for most of the film, which is why they actually look like real people. He also points out all the cameos from famous surfers and North Shore locals. Basically, if the film is of any interest to you, then this commentary will be as well.
This commentary is much less informative than the first one, with a bit of repeated information as well. It involves the three leading ladies just chatting about different scenes and reminiscing. Sanoe Lake is actually absent for the first thirty minutes or so, but when she arrives there isn't much change in the content. If you get annoyed by Americans saying "like" a lot, then do not listen to this commentary!
A substantial number of deleted scenes totalling around 18 minutes. These are all presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, but not 16x9 enhanced. The video and audio quality is fairly average, and there is an optional director's commentary for them all.
This is a standard extended trailer, with lots of interview snippets of people saying how cool the movie is, or how much they enjoyed making it. There are a few behind the scenes shots and the occasional tidbit of information, but no real substance. The featurette is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced.
This is a short montage of the camera work that was used to get the water footage, set to a Dolby Digital 2.0 music track. It's actually quite interesting to see the different methods that were used, and there is an optional commentary from the Director explaining all the ins and outs of shooting from the water. There's also some split-screen shots where you can see before and after the face-replacement process. The featurette is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced.
A short segment of interviews talking about how far female surfing has come in recent years, intercut with some shots of the girls in action. This is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced.
Another montage, this time of the best wipeouts that were captured while filming. Besides a couple of classics, there aren't actually that many wipeouts of any note, and you can see more than this on your average surf video. The featurette is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced. There is also an optional commentary by the Director, where he comments on all the wipeouts being genuine, and tells you who the surfers are.
Short collection of shots of the real surfer girls who doubled for the actors. Not a bad little extra, this can also be viewed with an optional commentary by the director. This is also presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced.
Just like the above, except this concentrates on the men. Some decent surf footage, but like the female version, the video is not the best quality. As above we get an optional commentary where John Stockwell tells us who the surfers are, and talks about the difficulty of water shooting.
Yet another extra with optional commentary by the Director (I get the feeling he enjoys commenting on every single aspect of his film). This is just over two minutes of footage shot on the skate ramp that was built for the party scene in the movie, with Stockwell commenting on the skating community that exists on the North Shore (all the surfers skate when it's flat).
This is a collection of some of the best surf footage, which the Director informs us was cut together as a means of promoting the film to studio executives. Not a bad little collection of shots. Presented in 1.85:1, not 16x9 enhanced.
Sanoe Lake and Billabong rep Jessica head into a surf shop and show off some of the latest women's surf fashion. Different, but not exactly riveting viewing. This extra is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.
A number of text pages containing information on surfing, covering the lingo, boards, and wave nomenclature, amongst other things.
This music video is presented in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio, with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. It was obviously made for the film since the video is a mixture of Kravitz singing, and some surf/skateboard action, with the three lead actors making appearances as well. Note that this extra also includes an advert for the film soundtrack before the start of the music video.
The trailer, presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, but not 16x9 enhanced. As is usually the case it makes the film look more dramatic than it really is. Not the best video and audio presentation.
I couldn't get any of the DVD-ROM content to work on my PC, even using the version of Interactual player that came with the DVD. It would only play the movie itself.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;
The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;
The discs are practically identical besides the different language tracks. So if these aren't a concern to you, then I'd go with the local PAL version.
Blue Crush is a movie that provides some visceral thrills with its surfing scenes, but does little else in the way of providing story, or generating character interest. Definitely only one for those interested in the subject matter (that being surfing, not bikinis).
Video is very good, but could have been better but for a few unnecessary flaws.
The audio transfer is excellent, especially in the bass department. This is reference quality.
Extras are plentiful, and offer a mixed bag of quality. One decent commentary, some deleted scenes, and extra surfing footage make up most of the substance.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Omni 3600, using RGB output |
| Display | Sony 1252QM CRT Projector, 250cm custom built 16x9 matte screen. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. |
| Amplification | Onkyo TX-DS797- THX Select |
| Speakers | Accusound ES-55 Speaker set, Welling WS12 Subwoofer |