Hulu may not have a lot of original movies like some of its streaming rivals, but it does have some very interesting independent films.
One of the movies coming to Hulu later this month is The Surfer, a recent thriller starring Nicolas Cage as the title character.
This isn’t the kind of film that will garner any Oscar buzz for Cage, but it’s an easy choice for the one Hulu movie you have to watch in September.
The Surfer may not have enjoyed a wide release in theaters, but it seems like the kind of movie that could quickly become a streaming hit. Now, it’s time to share the three reasons why you should watch The Surfer.
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Nicolas Cage Does What He Does Best
After a lot of years acting in less-than-desirable films, Cage seems to have found his niche again by appearing in indie films as gloriously unhinged characters. In The Surfer,” Cage is the title character, and he isn’t even given a proper name. He’s just a father trying to rebuild a connection with his teenage son (Finn Little) through a shared love of surfing by revisiting the area he grew up in.
When the Surfer is denied by a gang of local surfers, it completely disrupts his plans to restore his place in his family. Cage has a gift for making even his over-the-top characters relatable, and there’s something very sympathetic about the way he plays the Surfer’s plight. He goes through some very extreme misfortune by asserting his rights and standing up to the surfer hooligans, and the Surfer pays a high price for refusing to back down.
It Features Julian McMahon in His Final Role
Nip/Tuck star Julian McMahon passed away at the beginning of July, making The Surfer his final film role. As Scally, McMahon is the closest thing to a villain that this movie has. Scally is the leader of the local surfers who try to keep anyone outside of the area from being in their ocean. What some people may not realize is that there really are surf gangs who behave like this while bullying any newcomers.
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Scally is at least fairly polite when delivering his ultimatums. McMahon plays him like an affable surfing guru, and he’s kind of likable even while trying to push the Surfer out of the neighborhood.
‘The Surfer’ Forces the Audience To Question What They’re Seeing
Strangely enough, The Surfer reminds me of The Game, a ’90s thriller starring Michael Douglas. The two movies cover some very similar themes as the main characters lose the things that define their identities. For Cage, that gives him the green light to make the Surfer increasingly off-kilter and borderline deranged.
To be honest, that’s exactly what I expected from The Surfer. Giving Cage’s on-screen character a mental breakdown raises the question of how much of the film is set in reality, and how much is taking place in the Surfer’s mind. The movie arrives at an answer by the end. But considering the way things play out, it feels allegorical and open to interpretation.
The Surfer is now streaming on Hulu.
