The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema & Tv
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
      • Shows
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMovie reviews

Chasing Mavericks

Chasing Mavericks | Movie review
3 July 2013
Niki Shakallis
Avatar
Niki Shakallis
3 July 2013

Sports dramas are generally predictable and anyone expecting Chasing Mavericks to break the mould will be sadly disappointed, yet there is an elevating and magical quality to this compelling biopic of surfing legend Jay Moriarity, who tragically drowned aged 22.

Co-directed by Curtis Hanson and Michael Apted, the film begins with an eight-year-old Jay being saved from death by local surfing hero, Frosty Hesson (Gerard Butler). Seven years later, Moriarity (Jonny Weston) requires the help of his saviour yet again: Frosty has 12 weeks in which to train the teenager to ride one of the world’s largest and most dangerous waves, the supposedly mythical Mavericks surf break, which in reality occurs near their home town in California.

Butler’s portrayal of the aloof mentor and father figure is almost too controlled, the character’s connection with the audience is never fully established and it’s left to newcomer, Jonny Weston, to carry the cliché-ridden narrative with endearing finesse. The two angst-filled surfers slowly develop a mutual need for one another and this, alongside breathtaking footage of the duo (and stuntmen) braving the waves, would have been sufficiently entertaining. However screenwriter Kario Salem interlaces a myriad of sub-plots to keep emphasising the same point: Frosty and Jay are troubled.

Mad Men’s Abigail Spencer depicts Hesson’s wife with disconcerting stoicism, deftly managing his reluctance to bond with his own children. Elisabeth Shue is brilliantly cast as Jay’s unreliable, single mother, but the teen’s ability to juggle the pressures of a gruelling training schedule, school, employment, paying the bills and a local bully, a backstabbing best friend and confusing signals from a love interest (Leven Rambin) seems far-fetched.

Those outside of sporting circles are sadly unfamiliar with the feats of the tenacious young surfer, but Chasing Mavericks will leave Brits in no doubt as to why his name and legend deservedly live on across the pond. As the film swells to its climax, the audience is rewarded with a heart-stopping sequence of angry, gargantuan waves and the terrifying danger facing Jay’s tiny figure explodes through the screen. Thus, despite its convoluted subtexts, Chasing Mavericks is a wonderfully uplifting film that will inspire even hardened cynics never to give up on chasing their dreams – but only if they’re prepared to work as hard as Jay Moriarity to achieve them.

Niki Shakallis

Chasing Mavericks is released nationwide on 5th July 2013.

Watch the trailer for Chasing Mavericks here:

Related Itemsreview

More in Movie reviews

Lucky

★★★★★
Jacob Kennedy
Read More

Justine

★★★★★
Abbie Grundy
Read More

Foster Boy

★★★★★
Jim Compton-Hall
Read More

Judas and the Black Messiah

★★★★★
James Humphrey
Read More

Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell

★★★★★
Jake Cudsi
Read More

The United States Vs Billie Holiday

★★★★★
BP Flanagan
Read More

The Sinners

★★★★★
Emma Kiely
Read More

What Lies Below

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Wrong Turn

★★★★★
Musanna Ahmed
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Creation Stories
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Detroit Stories – Alice Cooper
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Judas and the Black Messiah
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Gatsby at Cadogan Hall: An interview with Jodie Steele and Ross William Wild
    Theatre
  • Laura Mvula – Under a Pink Moon
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The Sorcerer’s Apprentice at Southwark Playhouse Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Justine
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Ninjababy
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • The Girl and the Spider (Das Mädchen und die Spinne)
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • Lucky
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Spotlight: Lauren Everet and Soup Kitchen London, striving for food security and social equality
    Food & Drinks
  • Da Capo
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • My Favourite War
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Typical at Soho Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Detroit Stories – Alice Cooper
    ★★★★★
    Album review
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Big Deal at Madame Jojo’s | Live review
Bumpkin in Chelsea launch party | Restaurant review