HEAT WAVES

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

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THE heat-induced delirium is real in Irish director Lorcan Finnegan’s sunscorched 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 perfor mance 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 charac ter’s full-blown hysteria and linger in that sweet spot of sustained suspense before Finnegan’s picture teeters over into snort-inducing risibility.