Chasing Mavericks (2012)

Perfectly adorable

Absolutely brilliant

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

When young Jay Moriarity discovers that the mythic Mavericks surf break, one of the biggest waves on Earth, exists just miles from his Santa Cruz home, he enlists the help of local legend Frosty Hesson to train him to survive it. Chasing Mavericks is what i like to call "truly inspiring" cause it really is and both leading men Jonny Weston and Gerard Butler have a great chemistry together and it really feels realistic but it's also touching and threw the heart many times. Jay's relationship with his girlfriend, his mother and his coach all come full circle in the end when he gets to face the big wave and it's just terrific not just as a film but as a story as well it's real and it's not fiction plus it's amazing how sometimes fate can turn on you. Chasing Mavericks is a movie that every movie lover and surfer love should check out and you will definitely enjoy it. (10/10)

The final film directed by Curtis Hanson (before his death in 2016), who could deliver with films as "L.A. Confidential" (1997) and "8 Mile" (2002) in the past, was not able to see his vision for "Chasing Mavericks" through in the season 2011/2012, so that fellow director Michael Apted needed to finish the picture in order to make the U.S. release date on October 26th 2012 for Fox 2000 Pictures (an affiliate of 20th Century Fox). The result misses a directorial signature and further gripping situations to connect with an audience. A typical story of living the American dream beyond borders and restrictions in case of character of Jay Moriarity, performed by an pale to faceless looking commoner Jonny Wetson, who gets mentored by the surfing legend Frosty Hesson, portrayed by an distressed looking Gerard Butler. Both actors can not build the chemistry to bring "Chasing Mavericks" to life. Instead the movie drips through sequences of beautifully shot point-break-waves and underwater scenes, which feel disconnected from any character evolution.The main character's purpose or better to obsession of chasing the perfect wave, the maverick, gets neglected through uninspired screen-writing by Kario Salem, who gives the Jay Moriarity the all-too-well-known treatments of being absent from school, working for his surf board, getting to know the girl of his dreams and must fight off an far from hostile looking bully gang.In between Jay meets with mentor Frosty to analyze waves, write reports on his observations and gets the occasional free meal, because his mother, performed by an recalling "Leaving Las Vegas" Elisabeth Shue, is unable to take care of her son and build a proper relationship, which towards the end of the movie fades away into oblivion.All the relationship in "Chasing Mavericks" seem underdeveloped. Character conflicts feel close to indifferent to the audience. Nevertheless there had been a chance to make the relationship between Jay & Frosty charged-enough to build some kind of suspense for Maverick-riding-final, when Frosty's wife dies under him on an occasional visit by Jay at their house. The young and the old man have no common moment to deal with Frosty's loss, which would have build a connection to the opening sequence rescue by Frosty, who pulls out death-seeking, reckless-behaving Jay out of the water of razor-sharp rocks all-around to become his substituted father.Hard to recover, who directed what in this picture, so "Chasing Mavericks" stands there as an rare example, when over-exhausted artists get to the point of giving up their profession for the sake of a peace-seeking homestead. The conclusion of "Chasing Mavericks" is unsatisfactory and underlines the fact that a director needs to be in his full state of power and balance to take a movie production on, which deals with the dream of self-fulfillment itself.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

This was an excellent movie, really worth watching. It follows a young man named Jay on his journey to follow his dreams. is shows her viewers the power of love, perseverance and willpower en definitely makes you think about your standards in life. Based on a true story without making it an unreal dream. Would recommend for everyone!

In this case that means I'm not sure what to say. Bits and pieces of this movie work but I can't say the same for the way it all fits together. They try to tell story of a child with absentee dad, obsessed with surfing and more specifically a menacing break in N California known as Mavericks. He is eventually mentored by gruff local surfer named Frosty. The main characters are all aptly played, Butler in particular as Frosty. Some of the surfing footage is well done and attractive. But the movie doesn't give us any insight on why the characters say or do the sometimes odd things they say or do. And it's also very episodic - this happens, then that happens, then that happens - without a bridge between the events or a sense of elapsed time. I like a surfing movie as much as the next guy or maybe more, but this was more of a tease than the real deal.