I actually had the chance to get an early copy of Chasing Mavericks from my Library when they first arrived about 3 months ago. But the Trailer just didn't blow me away. I love Surfing movies and have a certain level of expectations when it comes to this genre of film. What I saw in the trailer reminded me a lot of North Shore and to some degree Point Break. Even though this is the true story of Jay Moriarty, if you have seen North Shore you will be very familar with the similar story beats of Mentor training Student in the ways of how to not only surf, but to live life. And if you've seen Point Break, it's all about catching that once-in-a-life-time Wave, which is Jay's (Jonny Weston) ultimate goal here.

Chasing Mavericks is a good movie, but it's not one that I would put up there with the all-time great Surfing Flicks. There were a couple of things that I wished they had done a better job of. The rule for screenwriters is to get in and out of a scene as quickly as possible and to trim away any excess fat. There were a lot of scenes that were just way too short to really offer the viewer any chance of connecting with and I think having so many short scenes does harm to building any kind of character development. This is a true story, so naturally I want to learn as much as possible here. The other thing I think Curtis Hanson dropped the ball on was not clearly establishing Jay's surfing skill level early on in the movie. There's a short scene where he is teaching some other kids, but to the average viewer that doesn't know about Jay, they are going to miss something here. When it comes to surf movies, I do expect to get these types of scenes. It's a minor gripe is all and doesn't wreck the movie in any way. Definitely worth a Rent for sure. Gerard Butler, Elizabeth Shue and Leven Rambin round out the cast.