Towering breaks and rising swells overwhelm the frame of Storm Surfers 3D, an action sports film so immersive that we viscerally share the thrill of its adventure-seeking protagonists. Designed to usher cinema-goers into the wild, dangerous orbit of professional Australian surfers Ross Clarke-Jones and Tom Carroll, the wide-eyed docu utilizes custom-made 3D mini-cameras attached to equipment and people to capture every concievable angle of the dizzying aquatic feats on display.
All of that technical preparation by directors Justin MicMillan and Chris Nelius pays off with a film that effortlessly blends the appeal and expertise of the target audience of surf-nuts with more traditional cinematic escapism, breaking down any barriers of interest with an unmistakably grand sense of natural wonder. When Clarke-Jones and Carroll take to the storm-agitated waters of Western Australia’s previously untamed Turtle Dove Shoals in Surfers hair-raising climax, we have already traveled with them on this journey, through its preparation, their own professional and personal joys and anxieties, and into the very heart of their exhiliration at the moment of conquest, when the world narrows down to sensation and defiance of death and the mundane.
That quest is the one that defines Storm Surfers as a larger-than-life entertainment and as a human drama worthy of the undeniably beautiful and terrifying footage presented. The surfers themselves are a couple of charming and engaging blokes who are unfurled before the audience with a grace and skill that enriches the action instead of distracting from it, both hailing from the annals of surf legend as champions with their own style and approach to the pasttime. Instead of basking in the boyish, innocent charms of surfdom associated with other films like Endless Summer and Bilabong Odyssey (featuring Tom Carroll’s older brother Nick), Surfers concocts a portrait of that eternally youthful mindset when the body it occupies has gradually gotten older.
Clarke-Jones is arguably the more unrestrained of the duo, milking every last drop of excitement and drama from tempting nature’s treachery and surviving the other side; he’s headed into his fifties but has lost none of his passion and drive, although his insistence in the face of constantly increasing danger sometimes smacks of a faulty arrogance. Exploring a more compelling middle ground of aging determination and matured understanding is Carroll, who’s also a more traditional competitive surfer whose innovative streak has led into the titular storm surfing. Carroll is fifty and he weds his enthusiasm for his lifestyle with concern for his family and what they would do if he fails to come back from one of these ‘missions’.
That peek into the interior hearts of both men is the trump card for the film; it cements them as Earth-bound humans who must weigh worldly cares with the desire to engage in something purely for the sake of its own tantalizing implausibility. The directors also know when to peek behind the surfers’ ideologies and show the consequences of water-logged lifestyles on their land-based families; Carroll’s daughters bask in his love and adoration while Clarke-Jones’ adult son is reduced to a spectator looking out to that fearless moving speck on the water.
Structured against this pit-stop on terra-firma is the planning and execution of the big surf moments, with Matson presenting colorful computer depictions that highlight the best secret spots for optimum wave-riding. This outfit may be the result of a few guys following a wild notion, but it’s not a slap-dash arrangement, as teams of skilled surfers, jet-skis, boats and even helicopters are tasked with chasing down these monsters and subduing them for the camera. After enduring digitally glorious but hollow visual onslaughts in Iron Man 3 and Man of Steel, I was honestly side-swiped by the tactile rush of being in the up-close trajectory of these adrenaline-junkies as they scale mile-high walls of water as if they were warriors assaulting mythological giants.
A final confession; I didn’t actually see Storm Surfers 3D in its intended third dimension, but via a screener on a regular hi-def television. The film has been so carefully crafted in that respect, edited out of powerful, draw-dropping footage to escalate viewer immersion, that one can still percieve the intended effect and marvel at what must be a singular experience in the format. Although many documentary pictures tailored for 3D seem small and inconsequential without the venue to prop them up, Surfers remains a full-bodied, sensational adventure in your average 2D, gaining another poignant dimension that has nothing to do with special glasses but everything to do with those two tenacious pioneers, riding their boards to the next moment of nirvana.
Storm Surfers 3D is now in limited release.