Billabong Odyssey (2003)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Philip Boston

Release Date:

25 March 2004 (Australia)

Genre:

Documentary | Action | Adventure | Sport

Tagline:

Surfing doesn't get any bigger than this!

Plot:

Action sports documentary that follows the industry's best big wave surfers as they travel the world searching for the largest waves that nature has to offer. The journey spanned 18 months, 6 continents and produced up to 70 foot waves. |

Plot Keywords:

Wave | Surfer | Travel | Technology | Jet Ski

Cast

Shawn Barron	...	Himself - Surfer (as Shawn 'Barney' Barron)
Fred Basse	...	Himself - Surfer
Layne Beachley	...	Herself - Surfer
Ken Bradshaw	...	Himself - Surfer
Carlos Burle	...	Himself - Surfer
Taj Burrow	...	Himself - Surfer
Nick Carroll	...	Himself
Jeff Clark	...	Himself
Ken Collins	...	Himself - Surfer (as Ken 'Skindog' Collins)
Sean Collins	...	Himself - Surfline
Alistair Craft	...	Himself (as Alister Craft)
Craig H. Davidson	...	Himself (as Craig Davidson)
Vetea David	...	Himself
Shane Dorian	...	Himself
Mark Foo	...	Himself - Surfer (archive footage)
Donavon Frankenreiter	...	Himself (as Donovan Frankenreiter)
Brad Gerlach	...	Himself - Surfer
John Glomb	...	Himself
Eraldo Gueiros	...	Himself - Surfer
Cheyne Horan	...	Himself
Peter Hudson	...	Himself (as Capt. Peter Hudson)
Andy Irons	...	Himself
Noah Johnson	...	Himself
Malik Joyeux	...	Himself
Archie Kalepa	...	Himself
Mike Karvia	...	Himself
Brian L. Keaulana	...	Himself - Safety Coordinator (as Brian Keaulana)
Buffalo Keaulana	...	Himself
Keala Kennelly	...	Herself
Buzzy Kerbox	...	Himself
Rodney Kilbourne	...	Himself
Titus Kinimaka	...	Himself
Doug Knutzen	...	Himself (as Capt. Doug Knutzen)
Randy Laine	...	Himself
Sanoe Lake	...	Herself
François Liets	...	Himself (as Francios Liets)
Brock Little	...	Himself
Peyo Lizarazu	...	Himself - Surfer
Josh Loya	...	Himself - Surfer
Garrett McNamara	...	Himself
Peter Mel	...	Himself (as Mel Peter)
Sonny Miller	...	Himself
Bushy Mitchell	...	Himself
Dan Moore	...	Himself
Greg Noll	...	Himself
Patrick O'Connell	...	Himself (as Pat O'Connell)
Mike Parsons	...	Himself - Surfer
Chuck Patterson	...	Himself
Reid Pinder	...	Himself
Frank Quirarte	...	Himself
Rush Randle	...	Himself - Board Sport Futurist
Adam Replogle	...	Himself
Makua Rothman	...	Himself - Surfer
Anthony Ruffo	...	Himself
Bill Sharp	...	Himself - Project Director
Skip Staats	...	Himself
David Stanfield	...	Announcer
Sebastian St. Jean	...	Himself - Surfer
Raimana Van Bastolear	...	Himself (as Raimaina Van Bastolear)
Darryl Virostko	...	Himself (as Darryl 'Flea' Virostko)
Les Walker	...	Himself

MPAA:

Rated PG for thematic elements, some nudity and language.

Runtime:

USA:88 min | Australia:87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

USA:PG | Australia:PG | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Baja California, Mexico

Company:

Arenaplex Entertainment

Movie Connections:

Features "Dateline NBC" (1992)

Soundtrack:

Mundaka Outro

The longest 80 minutes of my life

The reason I saw this movie, a film which I would ordinarily not have given a thought to was because I work at my university cinema. I'm an usher and I was needed to fill in for someone else who couldn't make it. So, as you can probably tell already I had no interest in watching a movie about surfers and surfing. However, I was prepared to watch it through, and I started out with an open mind. Ten minutes in I was bored out of my mind, to the point where I closed my eyes and attempted to catch up on some sleep...unfortunately the obligatory heavy rock soundtrack stopped me from doing this. I understand that the waves shown throughout the movie are very impressive. Some of them are absolutely massive and I did occasionally find myself inwardly gasping at the enormity of the waves. However, after having seen 50 of them, in a row with various surfers battling against them I completely lost interest. It all became monotonous and dull because these shots were shown one after the other for five minutes at a time. There were occasional bright moments throughout the movie which succeeded in peaking my interest. The all too short and shallow look back at the beginning of the popularity of the sport was good but unfortunately didn't provide any insight. The small section about the newest innovations in the surfing world were also good, giving the audience an opportunity to see what surfing could potentially become in a few years time. But, both of these were cut short by more shots of the surfers and the waves, shots which might as well have been recycled for all the originality they presented.

The documentary, I'm sure would be of some interest to surfing fans and, for a brief moment would interest non-surfers. The waves were impressive and the way the camera managed to get inside the waves, capturing everything on film was impressive, but there was just not enough depth to keep any interest sustained.