Nicolas Cage Descends Into Sunburnt Madness In This Psychedelic Thriller

What if I told you there’s a new movie where Nicolas Cage plays a guy who endures abuse, theft, a beating, cons, insults, stares, a scorching sun hotter than anything we see in “Sunshine,” having to eat a rat, that rat biting him, mocking, discrimination, sunburn, extreme thirst and starvation — all because he just wants to go ride some sweet waves in a beautiful Australian beach in the days before Christmas? What if I added that at one point, Cage walks around with a rat in his pocket, only to then take that rat and stuff it into a local surfer’s mouth while yelling “Eat the rat!” over and over again (a line delivery destined to be part of the great canon of Nicolas Cage quotes)? All of these elements are just part of the appeal of “The Surfer,” the latest film in which Nicolas Cage plays a character that descends into madness. But “The Surfer” is also a rather poignant movie about male frailty and toxicity, localism, and why surfing is great, dude.

Nicolas Cage stars as a nameless character only credited as The Surfer, who wants nothing more than to have a nice day at the beach surfing with his son before showing him the house he’s about to buy — the house he lived in as a child — in an attempt to win him over at a tumultuous time with a divorce on the horizon. There is a slight problem with Cage’s plan, as a burly man in a Santa hat comes storming out of the water yelling “Don’t live here, don’t surf here.” 

Granted, the beach is technically public, but that means nothing to the men who have occupied the beach and claimed it as the land of their rather silly but still menacing surfer gang. Before age can push his cause further, yet another man appears, a very tan and very ripped guy clad in a bright red poncho named Scally (Julian McMahon) who warns Cage to just get out of the beach or else.

Irish filmmaker Lorcan Finnegan (the trippy “Vivarium”) walks a fine line in “The Surfer,” which has a very ’70s Australian New Wave aesthetic, with psychedelic editing and camera angles, daydream fantasy sequences, and lots of slow zooms that capture the feeling of being out in the scorching Australian sun — and you better believe there’s a lot of it. Even in the face of threats and mocks from the surfer gang, Cage’s character decides not to take the loss and leave, but instead, he stays the rest of the movie in the beach parking lot and its surrounding area, accompanied only by a homeless man (Nic Cassim) living in a broken-down car. The longer he stays, the more Cage starts losing everything he owns. First, he loses his material belongings, then his dignity, then his mind, and finally his grip on reality, as Cage’s surfer faces humiliation, scams, and threats from the tubular surfer gang.

“The Surfer” gets great mileage out of its sunny location, with Cage turning redder and redder as his days grow long, his patience shortens, and his sanity decreases. This is a very effective thriller, with Cage losing his grip alongside the audience as he wonders why this is happening to him, whether he’s being tricked, tested, or punished, whether he ever was a man of means (he drives a Lexus, has a nice watch, and is about to buy a darn good beach home) or if he was always the local homeless man. Cage is no stranger to stories of descents into madness, and he brings all of his experience and acting chops to this role, which is as gripping as it is fun to watch. Yes, fun.

Though the amount of suffering this man goes through nearly verges on misery porn, it’s thankfully balanced with a healthy dose of trippy visuals and absurdist comedy. With the camera constantly doing slow zooms into Cage’s eyes, the actor puts his entire range of emotions in every scene, going from screaming in rage to sobbing within seconds, while looking increasingly sunburnt. Though the tone can easily be too dour, Thomas Martin’s script also has plenty of humor, mostly stemming from the silliness of, say, a gang of surfers in dumb outfits or Cage refusing to go home despite every single sign the universe gives him to stop enduring this sunburnt hell.

“The Surfer” has a big twist in its third act that, while also very funny, offers some poignant commentary about male behavior and toxicity, and about the dangers of dumb people with a social media presence talking nonsense about man’s inherent predator behavior and how swell it is to unleash the beast. That being said, some of the late-film developments are too obviously telegraphed and take away from the surprises. Still, when it comes to Nicolas Cage movies where he fights insurmountable odds while losing his mind, “The Surfer” is a great time.

/Film rating: 8 out of 10

“The Surfer” opens in theaters on May 2, 2025.