Guest Review: Chasing Mavericks

So young Daniel of Daniel's Film Reviews has written up a guest review of Chasing Mavericks. Be sure to check out his site and leave some feedback, as he's continually looking for advice and of course, readers. 

Chasing Mavericks

Release Date: October 26, 2012

Director: Michael Apted & Curtis Hanson

Stars: Jonny Weston, Gerard Butler, Elisabeth Shue

Runtime: 120 min

Tagline: Legends Start Somewhere

Chasing Mavericks brings the audience knowledge of the life story of Jay Moriarity. The year is 1994, and the location is Santa Cruz, California. 15-year old Jay Moriarity has always loved surfing, and has idolized local legend Frosty Hesson since childhood. When Jay hitches a ride on the roof of Frosty's van, he finds out that the myth of the Mavericks surf break, one of the biggest waves on Earth, is very real. He gets it in his aspiring stubborn head that he must ride this wave, and Frosty offers to teach him to survive it.

A lot of the content in C.M. is material that you've probably seen about ten times before, and the story feels simply between average and a bit above average. It's just that unfortunately average true underdog story, who just wants to beat the odds and come out a winner, with just a little determination and heart. Despite its average story , it still does offer an enjoyable experience and a story that someone could easily like a lot, or even love.

The true story is pretty nice, and it's all about following one's dreams and just aspire to become something, or some such bogus bullsh*t. If you do know Jay's story and everything before you see it, it isn't necessary to check this one out. Unless you're really curious, but if you know beforehand, it may not be as enjoyable. It also might be a rewarding experience for you if you went in knowing as little about his story as possible, and go in without many expectations at all. It's just some really nice scenery and a fairly average tale.

Jay knows what it is like to be independent, as he has grown up (for the most part) without his father, and his mother works a lot. He finds a fatherly figure within Frosty, and it really is nice to watch their relationship grow over the course of the feature. Jay also learns great lessons of how to observe, and lessons of fear from Frosty. The chemistry created between the two is great. Also, the chemistry created between Jay and Kim is too, great. At times, the relationship between Jay and his best friend Blond, feels, oddly enough, awkward.

The beginning with Jay younger and Kim younger and Frosty younger, almost makes it feel like a whole different plot. That goes on for about fifteen minutes, but then it jumps ahead seven years to 1994, where the majority of the film is set. I didn't like how that was done.

The acting is good, and the main performers bring good chops to the table. I haven't seen a lot of Jonny Weston or Leven Rambin. Well, I've seen Rambin in her small role in The Hunger Games, but that's about it. There is also some incredible scenery and fine cinematography offered.

As far as surfing films go, this one was great. I've never been a huge fan of surfing, but I did enjoy this more than Soul Surfer. In that one, they really just chewed (really feasted) the scenery. Speaking of S.S., the success of that probably inspired Fox to make a surfing flick, for young Moriarity, for the 2012 Fall season.

The great thing about Jay and Frosty's relationship is that it doesn't feel like a teacher-student relationship, but a true friendship.

The climactic surf sequence is fairly quickly paced, but others just drag on; and at times the relationships that build on the land are greater than those draining surf sequences.

SMALL SPOILER ALERT. 

This isn't a large spoiler because it doesn't spoil a key element of the film, so read with much risk.

Somehow, the fact that the Mavericks is real is leaked, and citizens around the area come, right during the final surf sequence when Jay wants to ride the huge wave that's coming. Some watch, and some amateur surfers want to try out the waves. Even some boats go out. For me, I hate how the filmmakers execute this. It really takes a number on my attention, because Jay is supposed to be the focal point, but at times I'm really distracted by all those boats in the water. It's mostly bothersome to me because the filmmakers really don't have to follow the story by the letter. They should have just left out the boats, then I'd be content.

END OF SMALL SPOILER ALERT.

There isn't a lot of humor offered, but the few jokes are pretty funny. There's some poignancy here and there, but most of it can be pretty inspiring.

Gerard Butler (he also is executive producer), Jonny Weston, Elisabeth Shue, Abigail Spencer, Leven Rambin, Devin Crittenden and Taylor Handley star.

Sometimes, Chasing Mavericks feels just a bit too average. There's some nice humor cinematography, and great scenery. Sometimes some scenes drag on, but the better scenes certainly outweigh those poor ones. It's worth checking out if you want to check out a nice inspirational story, but that's about the only big thing that makes C.M. stand out so vibrantly.

70/100