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I can’t say I’m the world’s biggest Nicolas Cage fan, but for the past seven or eight years, I’ve been loving Cage’s largely horror-driven renaissance. Granted, I don’t like everything he’s done in that time, but movies like Mandy, Color Out of Space, and Dream Scenario have made his name an immediate green flag for me. Every time I hear about a new Nic Cage film, I’m instantly intrigued, so naturally, The Surfer has been on my to-watch list for a little while now. The marketing kept the movie’s plot mostly under wraps, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from it, but I knew one thing. I was excited to see another big-screen effort from one of my favorite actors in the world, and that was enough to get my butt in a seat on opening day.
The Surfer was directed by Lorcan Finnegan, and it stars Nicolas Cage, Julian McMahon, Nic Cassim, Miranda Tapsell, Alexander Bertrand, and Justin Rosniak. In the film, Nic Cage plays an unnamed man who returns to the Australian town where he grew up, and he wants to take his son surfing. But almost immediately after he and his kid step foot on the beach, they learn that the locals there don’t take kindly to outsiders, even if they’re originally from the town. These belligerent residents force the pair to change their plans, but for some reason, the titular surfer stays in the parking lot even after his son goes home. From there, anything and everything that can go wrong for the poor guy does go wrong, and soon enough, everybody he meets, not just the jerks on the beach, turns his life into a living hell. I’m not going to bury the lead. I just got home from watching The Surfer, and I’m not entirely sure what I think of it. I need to let the experience stew in my brain a bit longer before I can say if I liked it or not, but there is one thing I know for sure. This is a very interesting movie, so at the very least, it gives viewers quite a bit to chew on. Let’s start with the protagonist’s descent into what may or may not be abuse-induced madness. Like I said, no matter what this man does, nothing seems to go right for him, and the filmmakers do an excellent job of finding new ways to push his buttons. Just when you think things couldn’t get worse for the poor guy, the script throws another horrible wrench his way, and to the surprise of no one, Nic Cage plays the role just about perfectly. As his character’s life unravels more and more, Cage tweaks his performance to reflect the man’s deteriorating mental and physical state. He changes his facial expressions, the way he carries himself, and even the way he talks to let you know this guy isn’t well, and there’s a moment involving a picture of his car that might even break your heart a tiny bit. On top of all that, as the locals pile on the abuse, you slowly start to wonder how much of this story is actually happening and how much is just in the titular surfer’s head. See, some of his tormentors soon begin to gaslight him and tell him he’s not really who he claims to be, and while you may not buy it at first, their case eventually becomes tough to ignore. In fact, almost from the very beginning, The Surfer has a bit of a surreal, dreamlike feel to it, so the more you think about it, the more it makes sense that our narrator would ultimately prove to be unreliable. Those psychological mind games are hands down the best thing about The Surfer, but they’re also somewhat of a double-edged sword. Sure, they have a fascinating effect on the main character, but the residents’ motives for their behavior come across as incredibly underwhelming, at least initially. For much of the movie’s runtime, it seems like they’re just being jerks for the sake of being jerks, and if you ask me, that’s not very interesting. These bland antagonists even start to get irritating after a while, so they just might ruin the entire experience. But then again, maybe they don’t. This is why I’m not entirely sure what to think of The Surfer yet. We eventually do get a real explanation for the locals’ abhorrent behavior, and their horrible antics also have quite a bit of thematic significance. So at the end of the day, it comes down to whether you think that payoff is worth it, and that’s what I’m still trying to figure out. For obvious reasons, I can’t say much about the characters’ real motives for being so horrible to the surfer, but I can talk about the themes their conduct embodies. At its core, this film is about what our culture likes to call “toxic masculinity.” It’s about men who think they have to let off some steam by acting like amoral savages every once in a while, and the story unmasks this mindset and shows it for the insidious lie it truly is. It’s a noble message, but personally, I wish The Surfer had gone a bit deeper into the sexual element of toxic masculinity. Everybody knows it’s wrong to be a jerk, but way too many people today still think being a man entails viewing women as objects. Our culture (and especially men!) desperately need to learn that real masculinity respects women and protects their dignity, and not exploring that disastrous deficiency in our society’s understanding of manhood is a huge missed opportunity. With all that being said, would I recommend seeing The Surfer? Well, it depends. I don’t think it’s a must-watch, but if you already wanted to see the film before reading this review, or if it sounds like something you think you’d enjoy, I say go for it. Even though I’m still not entirely sure what I think of the film, there’s enough good in it that I think it’s worth checking out, and as I hope I’ve been able to convey, if nothing else this is a very interesting watch that’ll give you a lot to chew on.
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Everybody loves an underdog, but what happens when the underdogs are so emotionally damaged and hopelessly outgunned they have zero chance of winning? That's essentially the premise of Thunderbolts*, the latest superhero adventure from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I found it just about irresistible. I had no idea how this rag-tag band of B-listers was going to overcome their inner struggles and defeat their seemingly unstoppable foe, but I knew one thing for sure–I couldn't wait to find out.
Thunderbolts* was directed by Jake Schreier, and it stars Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. In the film, five former supporting MCU characters–Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, and John Walker–finally get their time to shine. When Ghost, Yelena, and Walker are sent on separate but intertwining suicide missions by corrupt CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, they unwittingly awaken the Sentry, a godlike, nearly omnipotent superhuman created by de Fontaine’s team of scientists. At first, the Sentry seems like he’ll be earth’s mightiest hero, but he quickly breaks bad, forcing the trio who unleashed him to team up with Bucky and Red Guardian to save the day. As you can probably guess from the premise, Thunderbolts* is a very character-centric movie. Sure, it has the jokes and action we’ve all come to expect from the MCU, but like any good superhero team-up, it stands or falls largely on the strength of its five protagonists. If they don’t work, the film will almost certainly fail, and thankfully, they’re an absolute blast…well, mostly. The first half of Thunderbolts* focuses primarily on that initial trio–Ghost, Yelena, and Walker–plus the Sentry (known only as Bob at this point in the story), and their dynamic is a bit hit or miss. In particular, the comedic chemistry between the arrogantly overconfident John Walker and the more competent assassins Yelena and Ghost is pretty entertaining, but a lot of the jokes fall flat as well. At times it almost feels like it’s an even 50/50 split, so despite a number of great moments, the humor here doesn’t quite have the special sauce that’s made the MCU such a joy to watch for nearly two decades. In contrast, Bob is an absolute revelation. Actor Lewis Pullman plays the role with a sympathetic vulnerability that’s instantly magnetic, so from the moment we first meet this guy, we can’t help but love him. In fact, I’d even say the character is at his best when he’s not wielding his insane powers. He becomes a bit stiff once he transforms into the Sentry, but when he’s just a regular guy, he’s a joy to watch every time he’s on screen. Around the midway point or so, Bucky and Red Guardian join the titular team, and once they come to the fore, Thunderbolts* runs on all cylinders. Bucky enters the superheroic fray with a Winter Soldier-esque action scene that reminds us why he’s such a great character, and actor Sebastian Stan doesn’t lose a step until the credits begin to roll. But as great as he is, the real star of this show is Red Guardian. Just like in Black Widow, he’s here primarily for comic relief, and he provides the secret ingredient the first half of Thunderbolts* was missing. He brings a special brand of comedic confidence that’s almost childlike in its innocence, so whenever this guy opens his mouth, you just know he’s at least going to bring a big smile to your face. Those great characters are the heart and soul of Thunderbolts*, but they’re not the only thing this movie has going for it. It also features a whole bunch of really fun action, and when Sentry’s dark side rears its ugly head, he’s genuinely terrifying. The guy looks like he was ripped right out of a horror flick, and he goes about his business with the kind of easy, serene calmness that’s somehow all the more chilling for its lack of effort. He just might be the darkest villain the MCU has ever put on screen, and that darkness is reflected in the film’s themes as well. Most obviously, everybody in this movie has a grisly past. To take just a couple of examples, Bucky was a mind-controlled Hydra assassin for decades, and John Walker once used the Captain America shield to publicly murder a man in brutal fashion. These are far from the squeaky-clean superheroes we often get from Marvel, so at its core Thunderbolts* is primarily about redemption. It gives its characters a chance to reject their sinful pasts (without, of course, using the language of sin) and start over by using their abilities and skills for good, and if you’re a Christian, you can’t help but see that as a powerful point of contact with the Gospel. Going even darker, Thunderbolts* also deals with themes of loneliness and depression, but the movie never becomes overly glum. It tackles these grim ideas only to shine a hopeful light on them, so if you’ve ever experienced similar afflictions yourself, you’ll be sure to appreciate the way our titular heroes overcome their mental health struggles by finding love and acceptance in this crazy new family. In case you couldn’t tell, I really enjoyed Thunderbolts*. Sure, it’s not quite top-tier Marvel, but it’s pretty good. The film ultimately overcomes its first-half flaws and ends up having all the heart, humor, and action moviegoers have come to expect from the MCU, so if you’re a fan of the long-running superhero franchise, I recommend checking out this latest entry. You won’t be disappointed. I’ve been pretty excited for Until Dawn, but not for the reasons you might think. As I said in my review of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, I’m not much of a gamer anymore, so I’ve never played any of the Until Dawn video games. I am, however, very familiar with the man who directed this film, and I love his work. He made the surprise 2016 horror gem Lights Out, he revitalized the Annabelle franchise with Annabelle: Creation, and he even dipped his toes into the superhero world with the two Shazam! movies. He’s one of the best genre filmmakers working today, so I couldn’t wait to see his latest project even though I had zero experience with the source material.
Until Dawn was directed by David F. Sandberg, and it stars Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Odessa A'zion, Ji-young Yoo, Belmont Cameli, and Peter Stormare. In the film, a woman named Melanie went missing a year ago, and now, Melanie’s sister Clover and four of her friends–Nina, Max, Megan, and Abe–retrace her final steps looking for answers. The group ultimately find what they were looking for, but the truth comes at a steep price. They end up in a Groundhog Day-esque time loop where they come under attack by a different bloodthirsty monster every time, and if they can just survive until dawn (hence the name!), their nightmare will finally be over. As you can probably guess from that plot synopsis, Until Dawn doesn’t fit neatly into any one horror subgenre. Rather, each new iteration of this night brings a whole new brand of terror, so David F. Sandberg gets to try his hand at a few different types of scares. He gives us a lot of the typical cliches we associate with these various subgenres, but to the surprise of no one, he executes them so well you won’t mind the lack of originality. As usual, he excels at crafting creepy visuals, effective jump scares, and edge-of-your-seat suspense, so if you’re a big horror fan like me, you’ll get a real kick out of this whirlwind tour of the genre. The unpredictability of each new night also keeps us on our toes as we eagerly await the next deadly threat, so I can’t reveal the specific dangers our main characters have to face. It would spoil some of the fun, but I can tell you that they’re not always the typical horror villains you’re probably expecting. Sure, we get a few tried-and-true genre staples, but there are also a couple of surprises you won’t see coming. It’s a pretty nice cornucopia of terror for most of the film’s runtime, but at a certain point, it feels like the script just runs out of steam. See, while each new version of the night brings its own unique horrors, there’s also a lot of carryover. Monsters can pop up again numerous times, and by the end, Until Dawn starts to get repetitive. We begin seeing the same monsters around every corner, and that’s a real bummer because the creativity of the scares is the only thing this movie has going for it. The characters are decent at best, and the plot is little more than an excuse to showcase all these different horror subgenres. To be fair, there was quite a bit of potential here for genuine depth. Anybody who’s ever spent a lot of time with the same group of people knows that even the best of friends can eventually start to annoy one another, so it would be fascinating to see that dynamic play out in a horrific scenario like this one. There are so many rich possibilities inherent in this story, but unfortunately, Until Dawn almost completely ignores them. Instead, the film is content to feed us feel-good platitudes about refusing to escape the ordeal unless the entire group makes it out alive, and while I appreciate the pro-human-life sentiment, that kind of surface-level moralizing is no substitute for engaging storytelling. It’s a huge thematic disappointment, and at the end of the day, that’s the big problem with Until Dawn. There’s simply not much going on here beyond the fun horror, so once that began to get stale, the movie started to lose me. Don’t get me wrong, I never checked out entirely, so I don’t think this is a bad movie. It’s just not particularly good either. It’s fun to watch once, but when the credits begin to roll and you walk out of the theater, you’ll be ready to move on with your life and never think about this film again. |
Jp Nunezis a longtime film buff and theology nerd with master's degrees in theology and philosophy from Franciscan University of Steubenville. His favorite movie genres are horror, superheroes, and giant monsters. Archives
July 2025
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