HEAT WAVES

SUNSOAKED SURF THRILLER SET DOWN UNDER GIVES NICOLAS CAGE THE CHANCE TO DO WHAT HE DOES BEST... SPIRAL OUT OF CONTROL

- REVIEWS BY DAMON SMITH

THE heat-induced delirium is real in Irish director Lorcan Finnegan's sun-scorched psychological thriller, drenched in toxic, chest-beating machismo.

The Surfer slowly winds up Nicolas Cage like a clockwork toy then unleashes the Oscar-winning actor on an Australian beach and neighbouring car park to deliver a trademark performance of steadily mounting madness.

Screenwriter Thomas Martin crams the second half to bursting with nuttiness, confident that Cage will shuffle towards the precipice of his character's full-blown hysteria and linger in that sweet spot of sustained suspense before Finnegan's picture teeters over into some snort-inducing risibility.