Blue Crush 2

A decidedly underwhelming sequel, Blue Crush 2 follows Sasha Jackson’s Dana as she impulsively decides to fly to South Africa and surf in all the spots visited by her dead mother years earlier – with the film subsequently (and primarily) detailing Sasha’s ongoing adventures alongside new friends like Elizabeth Mathis’ Pushy and Ben Milliken’s Tim. (There’s also an inexplicably bitchy rival for Dana to contend with in the guise of Sharni Vinson’s Tara.) Blue Crush 2 establishes itself as a pervasively underwhelming (and sporadically incompetent) effort right from its opening minutes, as scripter Randall McCormick kicks off the proceedings with a poorly-conceived confrontation between Sasha and her father (Gideon Emery’s Joel) that’s rife with laughably overwrought chunks of dialogue (eg Sasha, in blaming Joel for her mother’s death, exclaims, “You shouldn’t have brought her to L.A! This is what really killed her, not the cancer!”) It does, as a result, become virtually impossible to work up any interest in or enthusiasm for Dana’s exploits in South Africa, with the less-than-engrossing vibe exacerbated by an almost astonishingly sluggish pace and an aggressively overlong running time. (The pervasive emphasis on the protagonists’ relentless revelry (eg they surf, they dance, they hang out, etc) certainly doesn’t help matters.) There is, as a result, little doubt that the film’s more overtly dramatic moments fall utterly and completely flat – Pushy’s efforts at winning a pivotal competition remains a rare exception to this – which ultimately cements Blue Crush 2‘s place as an ill-conceived attempt at cashing in on the mild notoriety of its predecessor.

*1/2 out of ****