Somewhat disappointed by last night's Marin premiere of "Step Into Liquid," the surfing documentary whose original trailer was just about the best 5 minute film I've ever seen. The highlight of the trailer was a sequence in which the basso profoundo announcer says "And including..." (sea begins to rise) "...the much anticipated footage from..." (ocean is now a vertical wall) "... the Cortes Bank." (fly speck surfer drops in to the opening chords of The Butthole Surfers' "They Came In," followed by 30 seconds of absolutely insane big wave surfing). But it turns out that sequence was edited from sequences throughout the movie. The truth is, the climactic Cortes Bank sequence is pretty much a bust visually, as they never get the cameras in position to shoot the wave face. It's epic surfing, with a 66 footer, but honestly, the best filming in the movie is from good ol' Hawaii, where they have helicopters and swimmers and shore-based telephotos. And the narration is cheesy. AND to top it all off, the Cortes Bank session is set to a The Sheila Divine song, not the perfect-for-an-action-sequence "They Came In."
But still, it's probably the best action movie of the Summer.