Blue Crush Review
by Rose 'Bams' Cooper (bams AT 3blackchicks DOT com)August 19th, 2002
'3BlackChicks Review...'
BLUE CRUSH (2002)
Rated PG-13; running time 106 minutes
Studio: Universal
Genre: Action/Adventure
Seen at: Celebration Cinema (Lansing, Michigan)
Official site: http://www.blue-crush.com/
IMDB site: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0300532
Written by: Lizzy Weiss, John Stockwell
Directed by: John Stockwell
Cast: Kate Bosworth, Michelle Rodriguez, Matthew Davis, Mika Boorem, Sanoe Lake, Faizon Love, Kala Alexander, Chris Taloa
Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 2002
Review URL:
http://www.3blackchicks.com/2002reviews/bamsbluecrush.html
I really really REALLY didn't want to see this movie at first. I'm not much on teen-type flicks, and this one had "Bammer won't like it" written all over its trailers. Leave it to my 3BC partner, The Diva, to put it all in perspective for me, by telling me to look at it like it was VERTICAL LIMIT, with sand instead of snow. Good call.
THE STORY (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**)
Anne Marie (Kate Bosworth), her friends Eden (Michelle Rodriguez) and Lena (Sanoe Lake), and her younger sister Penny (Mika Boorem), are stuck in paradise: Maui, Hawaii. Roommates with no family support, the three older girls work as hotel maids by day, catering to the nasty tourists who do things to their rooms that are best left unspoken (and, believe me, unseen). But Anne Marie has dreams of a better life; she lives to surf, and trains to compete in the Pipe Masters surf competition. If she wins the extremely challenging competition, she may gain fame and fortune. But three things get in her way: her recurring memories of a bad surfing accident; local male surfers Kala (Kala Alexander) and Drew (Chris Taloa), who want her to *earn* her spot on the waves; and Matt Tollman (Matthew Davis), a visiting pro football player who Anne Marie finds herself falling for, in the days before Pipe Masters begins.
THE UPSHOT
Some might think a comparison of BLUE CRUSH to VERTICAL LIMIT is at best a backhanded compliment, at worst, an insult. Both would be wrong. The key point for me is that, even in its mindlessness, VERTICAL LIMIT was a dazzling, exciting, beautifully shot film - and in this, it has a lot in common with BLUE CRUSH. Going in with lower expectations for both films, I was able to enjoy them for what they were, and for the most part, ignore what they were not.
The imagery and soundscape in BLUE CRUSH is a delight for the eye and ear. I'm not sure how much (if any) of the visuals BLUE CRUSH were computer-generated, and frankly, I don't care. I enjoyed seeing Water treated as a supporting character, much the same as Fire was an uncredited cast member in BACKDRAFT. The shots of undulating waves, the vision of fierce chicks conquering the tide, and the sound of the crashing surf, almost made me want to grab a boogie board...or at least a ticket to Maui.
Where BLUE CRUSH failed to make the greenlight grade is in its lack of attention to its storylines. While I gave it the benefit of the doubt there, too - after all, VERTICAL LIMIT certainly didn't blaze any storytelling trails - BLUE CRUSH dropped the ball too many times, choosing instead to concentrate on a comparatively lame and obligatory love story. Three young women, forced to fend for themselves as maids in "paradise"? Mere lip service paid to it. Young sister Penny, a rebel with a cause, heading toward life in a trailer park? Dropped it. The dark and sultry Eden, living vicariously through her perky Barbie friend? Fumble. Native Hawaiians having Issues with White mainlanders invading their territory? Oops...they dropped it again. And the only other storyline developed - Anne Marie's fear of all-out surfing - made her ascension to greatness, seem even less tenable. Frankly, though I liked Kate Bosworth (and the rest of the cast), I never believed in her character.
Still, in spite of its story's shortcomings, BLUE CRUSH is a flick that needs to be seen on the big screen, preferably in a theater with the latest sound system and honkin' huge speakers. The cast is amicable enough, and if you go in knowing that its beauty is pretty much all she wrote, you won't be disappointed.
BAMMER'S BOTTOM LINE
Though its story is only surface deep, the visuals and enveloping sounds of BLUE CRUSH make this surprisingly decent flick worth a summertime look-see.
BLUE CRUSH rating: flashing yellowlight
Rose "Bams" Cooper
Webchick and Editor,
3BlackChicks Review
Entertainment Reviews With Flava!
Copyright Rose Cooper, 2002
EMAIL: [email protected]
http://www.3blackchicks.com/
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
