20130810: Documentary Review--80 Waves

Around the World in 80 Waves

1. American live action theatrical movie, released in 2010, 60 minutes, 
2. IMDB listed the film at 5.9/10.0 from 12 users' ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'no score yet' from reviewers, and 71% from 337 ticket buying reviewers.
4. There is a lot of travel involved.
5. Pipeline, Hawaii: wonderful water shots.
6. Hydrofoil: shots of surfers using a hydrofoil attached to the underside of the back of their boards.  It almost looks like they are surfing above the water.
7. Waimea Bay, Hawaii: large, heavy, turbulent waves.  Many surfers, many cameras, lots of traffic congestion (not shown).
8. Tavarua, Fiji: small island with lots of waves.  A lot of the perimeter of the island is controlled by a resort, though, and the movie makers could not film as well as they might since they are not all paying customers.  So 'Cloudbreak', one of the main attractions was not available.
9. Tahiti: impressive waves.  Lovely colors on the ocean water.
10. Bali: some fine shots of atmosphere, colors of the ocean, dancers, and the like.  Plus surfers and waves.
11. G-land, Indonesia: island of Java.  Waves were fast and turbulent.  G-land is a surf camp franchise system.  Lots of energetic waves.
12. Regulations for surfing on Hawaii.  The interviewee likened surfing to flying a plane...one needs to know the legal rules, and be trained at least to some degree.  How etiquette might be useful, but seems to be ignored since surfing is a 'selfish sport.'  He makes a good case verbally, and a few shots of beautiful waves almost covered in boats, helicopters, and surfers brings this home.
13. If you like beautiful images, this is a good 60 minutes to catch.
14. Five stars of five.

Cinematography: 10/10 Watch this on the best monitor you can find.  Definitely HD.  Most shots were exteriors.  The framing was excellent, focus crisp, with amazing lighting conditions.

Sound:  10/10 No complaints.

Acting: Not really applicable, but the talking heads do fine during the minutes they are onscreen.  Adam d'Esposito was the most frequently seen in the interviews, and he's photogenic and well-spoken.

Screenplay: 10/10 This is more about organizing clips camera work than pacing discussions and interactions among actors.  There were a lot of beautiful photography here.  The interspersing shots of people talking are short, to the point, and well-miked.  There was quite a bit more time spent on a great white shark spotted near Hawaii.  Other than that, it was wall-to-wall waves and surfing.