Second Emulation

Nick Cage's Beachside Breakdown: Exploring "The Surfer" and Its Red Pill Metaphors

• Shawn Juarez • Episode 82

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What drives a man to eat a dead rat rather than simply walk away from a beach? In "The Surfer," Nick Cage delivers a haunting portrayal of masculine desperation that leaves us both frustrated and fascinated.

We dive deep into Cage's 2023 psychological thriller where he plays a man returning to his childhood beach with his son, determined to purchase his father's old house despite his marriage having already fallen apart. When confronted by a territorial group of local surfers led by Julian McMahon, Cage's character faces systematic humiliation that pushes him to the breaking point – and beyond.

The film presents a disturbing journey as we watch Cage transition from suited businessman to disheveled beach dweller, making increasingly poor decisions while refusing to simply leave. From bartering his wedding ring for a phone call to attempting to eat vermin, his deterioration becomes a powerful metaphor for toxic masculinity and the lengths men will go to avoid addressing their actual problems.

What makes "The Surfer" particularly fascinating is its exploration of cult dynamics. The local surfers operate with ritualistic practices, including branding members with wave symbols and chanting mantras like "to surf, you must suffer." Their process of breaking down outsiders only to rebuild them within their value system creates disturbing parallels to real-world "red pill" communities and patriarchal structures.

While we give mixed reviews to the film overall, Cage's performance demonstrates why he's experiencing a career resurgence. His ability to portray mental breakdown remains unmatched, even when the script leaves him essentially alone on screen for extended periods.

Whether you're a Nick Cage completionist or interested in psychological explorations of masculine identity in crisis, "The Surfer" offers a thought-provoking, if sometimes maddening, viewing experience. Have you seen it yet? We'd love to hear your thoughts!

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  📍 Hi, hello, and welcome to Second Emulation! Oh my God, you guys, I’m so excited for you to listen to this episode—like, it’s going to be so good! Your amazing host is about to take you on a deep dive into all things movies, anime, gaming, and pop culture. Seriously, it’s, like, the best way to spend your time. So, grab your favorite drink, maybe a latte or something cute, and get ready to have the best time. Okay, love that for you! Here’s your host!

I'd like to welcome you back to another episode of Second Emulation where we talk about, poor or good. I was gonna say John Wick. Nick Cage movies. We talk 

all thing Nick, Nick Cage and Yes. All across the quality spectrum of his work. 

Yes, and I'd like to thank Emily for that intro. She's working hard doing the intro and the outro for us, but.

This movie that we're gonna talk about coming off the, off the heels of Bangkok Dangerous. Yes. And for those who don't know, we actually watched three films because the first film we were going, we watched, we didn't feel after watching it, it needed to be talked about because. In an area that's very sensitive.

We didn't know that as we watched the film. 

Yeah. Let's be real. The synopsis, this is me, Kiley, I convinced my brother to watch it 'cause the synopsis misled me to thinking it was a different kind of movie. Um, I thought it was gonna be like underground fighting. It turned out it was underground sex films, but like torture porn.

And that was not exactly what I. I thought it was, and it was just a very uncomfortable movie that I wouldn't recommend. Probably. 

Yeah. 

Yeah. It was not enjoyable on any level. 

Oh no. This movie we watched, um, was kind of like the replacement, uh, we felt like we had to watch two movies, so we did Bangkok Dangerous.

Yeah. To make up for the, to get that other movie out of our heads. And we did. Yes. And that led us to the Surfer, which came out last year. It has obviously Nick Cage in it as well as a well-known Australian actor, Julian McMahon. He played Cole and Charmed. If anyone was curious, that was my and also favorite movie.

He was a nip to, that's right. And then he 

was, uh, Victor von Doom in the first fantastic former Oh 

yeah. Back when it was Jessica Alba, who was the storm sue storm person. So he's had quite the illustrious career, but I don't think I've ever heard him use his Australian, his actual native accent. So this was nice to see.

That for those who don't know what the movie is about it's essentially, it is called the Surfer. So you can, you can guess that there, it is about a surfer, but it's, the synopsis says a man returns to the idyllic beach of his childhood to surf with his son. When he is humiliated by a group of locals, the man is drawn into a conflict that keeps rising and, and pushes him to his breaking point.

So he. He, it does go to an area that is, is not, uh, typically allowed for the locals. And I would say the people, the locals that have harbored, habited, habitated, whatever, the beach, they are kind of a cult almost. You know, kind of 

like after seeing this movie, it pull, it felt, I got a lot of like Lost Boy Lost Boy vibes from it the way.

Like the surfers, the, the natives who are like the beach boys or the beach bums and kind of like cohabitate or taking claim to the beach. It gave a lot of like the lost boys, like how they were very kind of cult. They were like, we do the, uh, we do this 'cause we want to, we're for free.

Type of mentality. 

Yeah. 

And it was just interesting because, um, like again, it's Nick Cage, uh, but it deals with this whole, I want to say, I like to say a midlife crisis. Um, a man who's down on his luck, who's like. Thinking that, you know, it's his one chance to like maybe reconcile and salvage a relationship.

His marriage, his marriage with his wife, who, you know, as you get further in the movie, you find out has already moved on. Yeah, and he hasn't, and like it's. It's like this kind of weird delusion where you tell yourself that like, it's going to be okay. If I do this, then you know, the, that good feeling that I had, you know, we will come back and we'll be a family again.

Even though like his wife has already indicated that she's moved on, moved on, she's pregnant, 

she's getting married to someone. She's getting married. Yeah. And 

so he still, what prompts this is like. He comes back home. The premise is like he comes back home to this area where he grew up and where his grandpa lived, and he wants to purchase 

his dad.

His dad's home. 

It's his dad. Okay. His dad lived there. 

Dad, grandpa, someone told, he lived 

there with his dad until his dad and his mom, until his dad killed himself. And I guess they had to leave because they weren't native. He wasn't. He wasn't an originally Australian or something of the Accord is, is what I got from that.

So he was coming back trying to purchase his childhood home. 

Yeah. And that was like the whole, it was his whole being like it was his whole thing. Like it, I want to say that it kind of like dictated. His, like each one of his actions. 

It absolutely did 

because, and maybe this is just like a, um, a thing that just happens with, parents who separate, like one of 'em ends up getting, uh, starts thinking these ideas that they can save or maybe even like, you know, present like a good environment or something that's good for their child and like try to like cover up all the bad.

So it felt like. This was his one thing that he experienced. He, he lived here, all the good things were here for him and that he could bring that to his son, and also his marriage. And it became the whole focal point, which is very different than Bangkok. And it was like very different seeing a different side of Nick Cage.

'cause normally most of the movies he's like over the top. But this one was like. To start off, 

he was over the top, but that was later on. Yeah. 

He, he, he does get over the top, but it's more so like he, is, I wanna say the human factor. Like he presented a different side, a more human factor before he runs.

And jumps off the deep end. Yeah. 

I will say it's been what, and the surfer came out last year and Bangkok dangerous was 16 years before. You could definitely see there's been a shift back into him. There was the what is it, not the Renaissance, but like the, regurg, is that the word? Resurgence?

Resurgence of Nick Cage. I think people he made, he's made some movies in the past five or six years that people have really, really enjoyed that reminded them that he is actually not a completely terrible actor. I think there was pig that people really liked. There was, um. The one with Pedro Pascal there's been quite a few, and then that was, there's been some duds too, but there's been a few that have been like, oh, Nick Cage, actually, you know.

He, he, I think he's pretty good. So I feel like he's maybe picking his scripts more, uh, he's being more stingy, so the quality is better. Like I would say the storyline quality is better than Bangkok dangerous. And so is his acting, is the story questionable, but, we'll, we'll get there. Mm-hmm. Um, it, he, you know, he's.

The plot is he's back at this place. He wants to take his son to this beach. The cultish group of surfers, who by the way, are not bums because they all have real jobs. Uh, they just also happen to spend every night there. Apparently. They don't allow him down there. He gets embarrassed and he decides he's gonna stay until he gets.

Hears about the deal on that, his childhood home that he is trying to buy, which looks out onto this beach. So that's pretty much where it starts. Did you have any favorite scenes?

I, I, I saw, because looking back on it, I don't think it's a favorite scene, but I think. Actually, yes. This, I would say this is, would be a favorite scene in this film is that when he arrives Nick Cage has like a prestige about him. He comes for money and so 

he's driving a Lexus, 

he's driving a, a Lexus that's like push to start, you know, very fancy.

You could tell he's outta place there. But like he's. He's work. I think when he, uh, my favorite scene is when he's trying to negotiate the deal on the house and on the phone. I think his son is either, there or he is out of the car. He's doing something, but there's like this exchange that he has with the brokerage person.

He's like, well, how much is, uh, are they asking for? They say they, you know, they've increased their bid. And he's like, well, how much can you know? Is it now, oh, I can, get more money to like, of a loan to secure if they can sell it to me and I can purchase it now. And this whole update where like his brokerage or the mediator's, like, we give you, five days until that house is purchased.

Yeah. 

And then if you can, you know, acquire the funds. Cool. And so that whole kind of like, I say it's my favorite because you kind of get that hint of desperation. Like he really needs to like for this to fall through for him otherwise, like he doesn't have anything else. Yeah. And so you kind of see that this desperation for me, that's a, you know, a favorite kind of scene because again.

It's Nick, like Nick Cage is really selling it. He's on this phone. There's no one else around him, and he's just talking to someone, another voice, like there's no other person there. And so he's really selling it. 

Yeah I think he does sell it. That's true. I would say one of my favorite scenes has to be, um.

When he, so mind you, the choices this man is making already in the beginning, a part of you is, like you said earlier, thinking, oh, he must, he's having a, he's definitely having a crisis of some sort because he's. I feel like his marriage must have fallen apart. And so he thought to himself, when was the last time I was super happy?

Oh, it was at this place. I'm gonna buy it and it's gonna fix everything. So you can tell he's desperate, like his hope is hinged on this so much. So he's not even recognizing that his ex-wife is getting remarried and is pregnant. Um, and there's no possibility. For that, for them to reconcile. He still wears his wedding ring, so like there's no way.

And so he's there, he decides to have his water bottle. He, you know, that he refills at the bathroom right next to the beach. He doesn't have cards on him, which in a way makes sense because abroad they are more contactless pay, so that makes sense. But he also doesn't have a charger for his phone.

And he decides to not leave, which I think is absolutely insane. Like, why wouldn't you leave? First of all, it's hot as hell. You're in a suit, which means you're, you're not in the best state. You're definitely not drinking enough water. You're not eating food. So like he, he just stays and decides to stick it out and it.

He makes the dumbest choices. He keeps leaving his car unlocked. He like leaves his pizza and it gets knocked over. One of mine is when he has to go to the bathroom to get water because he's so dehydrated and hot and he takes off his shoes and his jacket. And then the, the homeless man who was living in his car whose son had previously been affiliated with this cult and died, he steals.

Stuff. And Nick Cage just runs out and he steps in glass and he's really shocked as to how his, his shoes were taken. And I'm just like, what in your mind possessed you to take off your shoes in the bathroom and not bring them with you into the stall? Like the delusion is, is what my favorite scene is. I just don't understand the train of thought, all the things he does.

I'm like, why wouldn't you have. Why wouldn't you make a better choice? Like, why wouldn't you lock the doors when he leaves the pizza on the roof? Why wouldn't he put the pizza in the car when he notices that they're antagonizing him? Like, why wouldn't you protect yourself in certain ways he does not.

Yeah. Like it's, and maybe he, we, it's safe to assume that he himself, the character he plays. Is like supposed to be disheveled, not thinking clearly. Yeah, they're most focused 

because he is desperate 

because he is desperate. But like also his, like his stranger danger sense isn't on full alert because at all, again, he's not like, he's not aware of a surroundings.

He's not, as you mentioned, he, you know, buys a pizza from someone and because he hasn't eaten all day, puts it on his roof of, on the, yeah, the roof of his car. Steps away only to find that the pizza's been knocked down by, the cult members. At what moment made you think that it'd be okay to walk away?

Mind you, why did he decide to leave at that point? Yeah, like, like lots of decisions he made were not in his best interest. Interest, but also they just add on to like the distress that he's already experiencing. Yeah. Like the favor, another. Seeing, and I don't call it my favorite, but it's like, it's just another domino that falls into place that I feel like causes Nick Cage to spiral.

And I think this is when he tries, his phone dies, so his phone is dead. He doesn't have a charger to charge his phone. His, I think is the car battery. It is dead. It is dead. Yeah. So he goes and tries to barter for coffee from this like cabana makeshift coffee cart. Mm-hmm. And the guy's like, sure, but I, you, you know, I need money.

He, and he tries to have go I, my car. My sister said, we're in a place of technology that he, everything is tapped to pay, but. He didn't think to bring like actual cards 

or even cash or cash, the currency of the area. Like I understand I don't pay with contactless, but I was abroad when they did it before the US did.

And I understand that, but you can't tell me that. People are not also having cash when you're in a place you're not accustomed to. I always have both just in case I lose my phone or I lose my cards or I lose my cash. I have multiple ways to pay for certain things, but immediately he doesn't. Yeah, he doesn't, he doesn't think Maybe I should go to a hotel.

Yeah. Like, and the reason why this is my favorite scene because like, here's the grown man. The situation for him is di I guess dire and he's willing to forfeit his watch and have it, also his phone to be charged by this, uh, coffee stand. A cashier or the business owner for just a piece of co for a cup of coffee.

I'm like, I myself would never be in a situation where I need to barter for a cup of coffee. I would've just bartered be like, Hey, is there like a triple A or anyone that can come down and help me char jump my car so I can like, take myself to a hotel?

Or even a, a food. Or food. Like I'm surprised he went for coffee.

Yeah, that's, that doesn't, coffee's more expensive than a, like a pastry. He would 

dehydrated him. 

Yeah. So, so that's, I 

it's like my favorite scene because like the things he's going through, like. The, I won't say the danger sense, but like humans need food. Humans need water. You know, they need these things to sustain themself.

He just goes right to coffee. Doesn't think about like, I'm gonna need food 'cause I haven't ate, or my car battery's dead. I need to like get it jumped. Which it later does, he later gets it. Jump started by a good Samaritan. But like, the, like the things, the checklist that he needs to do, like to make sure that he's okay is out the window.

Yeah. There is no sense of there is no sense of, uh, what do you call it? Self preservation. Self preservation, yeah. He's got no, no self preservation abilities. Uh, he is completely like. Putting the house first, which, okay, fine, but a little bit of that too doesn't make sense when you think about the multiple opportunities where I would think, I would assume that someone's desire to survive would overtake whatever else they were going through.

Like for example, when he, he. He's so hungry. He tries to eat a rat, a dead rat. Which is absolutely insanity. Like why not just leave at any point you could have left, sir, what, what is going on that you're, you're at a point where you're willing to eat a dead rat. So basically, essentially, he also has bad vibes from the speech because that's where his dad killed himself.

So he keeps flashing back to that. There's also, like we said, a homeless person who is living in a his car because his own son was killed by, he believes the gang that he was involved with or the cult that he was involved with, led by Julian McMahon. At some point he even leaves on foot, I'm assuming, 'cause his car is there and Nick Cage starts sleeping in his car because they tow his Lexus.

So it's just like the these ideas, I just don't know how he got there when thinking about how to, you know, and all he wants to do is get a call from the realtor to confirm that he got the house. And instead of going to a hotel or somewhere else, he tells the realtor to call the payphone. Like of all the choices he could make, the, this is what he's doing.

It, he is on, he's at a desperate line. But I would say my second favorite scene is when he goes The Good Samaritan who had helped him, uh, you know, charge his battery. Mm-hmm. She comes back and she is, she likes to take pictures. Uh, she comes back to take more pictures and at this point, I, it's been days since the last time she saw him, and he's completely, dehydrated.

He's hungry. He looks like a homeless person. He looks delusional, like he's been doing a lot of drugs. He definitely, uh, would, he's de deterring a lot of people because he seems extremely, you know. He seems like someone you wouldn't wanna talk to. He's talking to her and she clearly feels bad for him.

So she gives him water, her water, and then he asks her if she remembers him, and she's like, yeah. She shows him a picture of his, of him in front that she took of him in front of his car, that she helped charge, and this man had been pushed down so quickly in a few days. He believed that he didn't have a car.

He was homeless, that he was living there. Like he, they pushed him to a point where he really did believe that he was, you know, he, he was the bum or whatever. And him being like, what? I have a car just that voice he did when he did that scene made me laugh so hard. Just why? It's one of my favorites.

Because it's ob. It's ob, it's absurd. And yet it's so funny and this poor woman is just like, are you okay? So yeah, I enjoyed that scene as well. 

I think my least favorite scene would be like, um, and this is where like we've gotten to the point where, uh, the directors have literally just how far can we push Nick Cage?

Yeah. In, in a movie before he. Like he internally snaps. And so this scene is like, I, I think it's like them trying to explain or trying to convey that Nick Cage's character has already had a mental breakdown. Um, I think 

he's had many, but yeah, 

many. We'll just say one of several like the internal breakdown where he's become so manic that he's.

He looking, he's waiting for a phone call from a payphone. And the local kids are like teasing him about it, trying to prevent him from getting this call. And it's my least favorite scene because at this point, he doesn't really have anything left. He has no car, he has no phone. He has no food.

He's now taking up residence and what used to be the old man's car. Now it's now his car. At what point does his character say, enough's enough? I'm just gonna walk it and go home. Yeah. Or go to nearest gas station and get help. He doesn't. 

He doesn't. 

And they, they beat him down even more. They tease him to pretend the, the payphone rings, he goes to answer it.

And like the payphone, for those who don't know payphone is what, you know, we used to have before cell phones and the cord of the payphone is cut. And at this moment I'm surprised he didn't snap and just go after and try to kill these young individuals. Because that would've been a last straw, like the last straw was also a couple last straws ago.

But the fact that he's just allowing himself to be subjugated in this manner by the locals is really bad. 

It's, I would say interesting too because he still puts trust in them. Even after they have continuously harmed him or made fun of him, like the, the cafe person or the, the little popup coffee cart, he, him pretending the watch was his the entire time and not giving Nick Cage's phone back or like the cult leader stealing his surfboard or them towing his car.

The police officer that he thought was supposed to be helpful. Being a part of the cult and his realtor too, uh, pretending like he doesn't know him. They've all shown that they, you know, that they are not on his side, and yet he's still, when he's like begging for the payphone, he gives them his wedding ring because they say that they'll let him use it if he trades his wedding ring.

And so he does, and I'm like, dude, what, at what point did you, do you think that they're going to do. They're gonna, oh, hub pulled their end of the deal because they didn't and they don't. 

Yeah. And I, I don't know what prompted, uh, Nick case to jump onto this script. Maybe he was like, you know what? I've done enough.

I'm just a glutton for punishment. Now I want to convey how of a mental breakdown I can have on screen. Well, 

Nick Cage is great at portraying a mental breakdown. He did a great job. It was very believable. Yeah. Like 

it was just, and it's like. He's also like the new knit cage because he has hair now. Like his hair isn't thinning out, so Oh yeah.

His 

widows peak is, 

his widows peak is gone. So like, it's 

weird. It's 

definitely different. It's definitely different, but like it's like it's know, it's been working hard doing films and now it's an adjustment and he's now having a reemergence. 

Yeah, he's having a reemergence, 

which is good. 

It's good for him.

Definitely. I would say one of my least favorite scenes is, so the whole cult thing, they're almost the equivalent of red pill men in a way. They're a group of men and they are definitely a cult because they brand one another with a symbol of the waves. They basically are in this macho, machismo type structure where the leader is telling them and dictating how they should be behaving, quote unquote, as men.

And that in order to surf, they have to suffer. 



Or, uh, as something that they chant a lot. Yeah. 

I probably missed that undertone 'cause I was like, man, these guys are just whatever. I think I had already checked out. Well, and 

then they're also doing drugs, so they're, they're definitely, I don't know if it was ayahuasca or what they were doing, but they were also doing drugs together because Nick Cage eventually does deteriorate to the point where he goes, ape.

Crazy on these people and beats up one of the guys who's kind of acting like one of their Bo their muscle men. And he beats him up and almost drowns him in the ocean. And at that point, the cult leader comes and says, you did it, you proved yourself like all of this was a test. Because in order to surf, you have to suffer.

And then they, baptize him essentially and bring him to the little hut that they stay in. And when he wakes up, all of his stuff that they took is there and like. His car is gonna be brought back. Like they give him back his watch, his phone, all of those things. And then he goes on a, a spiritual journey of, uh, of drugs with them and yeah, it was just that, that, so that's what I noticed.

Like they were doing all these crazy, crazy things. They were definitely a cult. I don't know to what degree. I don't know. I think it's really easy for people to get sucked up into like the beliefs of it, but it turns out that the guy was leading power and that he most likely had the homeless man's son murdered because the homeless man was also interested in that girl that the cult leader was sleeping with, who was a teenager.

His son and 

then he killed the man's dog. Ah, 

yeah. 

Yeah. And he's, when the, when Nick Cage asks him if he killed the man's son, he's like, I didn't do it. Which is always code for, I didn't do it, but I know who did. So yeah, I that's, I didn't, I thought the cult aspect was interesting, but I didn't really enjoy it.

It didn't fit. Yeah. And the thing is, the reason why it did, I felt like it doesn't, it didn't fit. And one of my favorite, one of my not so favorite scene is that when they brand, like all these members have brands, they're like, nothing fancy. They couldn't like attack two, but they're getting branded by a symbol that was previously used in the fifth element.

Yeah. Which. It didn't make any sense. It's like, this represent the ways, and I was like, I saw that. I was like, oh shit. They're just repurposing this symbol from like the fifth element. That's kind of, I mean, that's what Colts do. 

The, the Nazis took the swastika, which was a religious symbol up until that point.

No, I 

don't think they knew that's what it was. They, to them it represents the ways, but I'm thinking like when they made this film, like they're like, we need something that represents this cult. And I'm like, oh shit. It looks like, yeah. You know, the like. And for those who don't know, it might be outdated.

My aging myself a bit, but the fifth element,

Bruce Willis, it has 

Bruce Willis, but it's a whole different botch. And like these elemental crests are just squiggly lines for squiggly lines, but they're the way they're positioned. Um. On these toomes you represent different elements. Yeah. And so when I saw that, I was like, oh shit.

Fifth 

element. I also kind of thought of avatar that too. The last airbender with the water tribe symbol. Yeah, that 

too. 

Yeah, they, there's that, there's definitely that. I would also say, um, the cult to me. The way that they used it as being people, locals not liking outsiders. 'cause they even beat up a French couple that wants to swim on their beach.

I don't think that's, it should have been equated with that because there are places, and I mentioned it when I was watching with my brother, that places in Hawaii that don't like. Tourists to come to those, to their beaches, not because they don't allow them, but because they've destroyed it.

And so I feel like whenever there are locals who are trying to preserve an area mm-hmm. They, it's for a good reason. But the movie made it about a cult thing, and so it made them really aggressive and macho, and it's only men. Um, which is already problematic. But yeah, so the quote to me didn't make sense.

But then the guy, the homeless guy comes back with a gun and decides he is, he's, you know, gonna threaten them. And at this point, Nick Cage's son, oh, they also make him light his car on fire, light the homeless person's car on fire, which he does. 'cause he really wants to swim on that beach, which is like really a showcase of what he's willing to sacrifice.

And how low he's willing to go to, to swim in those waves. 

But it, what you mentioned earlier, I think actually is a good representation of the, like this cult and like what it represents is the whole manosphere red pill community because it does, you know, once it Nick Cage's character is beaten down to the pulp, and he is like, I'm finally accepted.

They retain to him all the stuff that he has, but it also informs him that he's gonna be taken care of. Yeah. Like that he's gonna get the loan, the money to purchase the house. He's not gonna have to worry about any issues. Like, they're gonna be part of the community of what, respected, high paying individuals, working class individuals.

Yeah. Like 

they said that they'll, they have people who work in the bank, they'll secure him the money. People all, because he's in this cult now and 

he, and he was one, he's actually a local. Yeah. Who's left and come back. So like it, it also like gave the parents like these individuals, especially the leader who's also like, comes from wealth is very connected.

But it does get to that, that you may said that atmosphere. A red pill, like these individuals are very bro type, that they can break down someone and then almost in a sense, rebuild him up and give him a place to belong. Yeah. Because he, he, Nick Cage was fighting for so long to prove to everyone, like, I, I lived here.

Yeah. I belonged here. That's the house that I, my dad, had, and that's where I grew up. I used to watch, so he was, you know, with all things happening, he kept. Recounting that narrative that I used to live here I am a local, I just left and came back and I don't know why you guys are treating me this way.

And he kept recounting everything that happened to him. He goes, I like, he had to like keep saying. He was a local that he used to serve there. Yeah. It's 

almost a, a metaphor for the patriarchy because he kept having to convince them that his existence there was valid. Exactly. But he also refused to remove himself from that fucking structure because he refused to leave and so he continued to participate.

In this narrative that they had by staying, he could have left and removed himself, but he stayed. And when he ultimately was accepted, it was like, it made him happy because he wanted to swim in the waters. And it just was an interesting take on how far someone would be willing to go just for this, this one thing that he thought was gonna save his family.

Which it wouldn't. It wasn't going to. Yeah, 

I, I agree with you. I think. I don't think he talks to his wife and I don't even know where his son comes from.

Yeah, because his son is going to school. So why is he, is he in a car and it's Christmas? 

Like we see his son and then throughout the whole film we don't see his son again until the end.

And it's like, where was his son? Did his son drive in a car? Did his son come back? Like does the wife drop him off? There's no explanation. Yeah. For how long he was there and so yeah. What would you rate this movie? 

I would give it a two. It is better than Bangkok dangerous it. Nick Cage acted well and all of the actors did a good job.

I just, it was not for me. Yeah, it just wasn't for me. 

I would give this a. A half a star. 

Wow. You like it less than Bangkok Dangerous. 

Bangkok dangerous has some action. And at least you know the other people, the other supporting cast, carried the story. This one. Damn, they did not.

They really didn't like it. It was like, again, it's, it's the example I use. It's Nick Cage. In a room with a lot of mirrors. He has nothing else to work with, but this time, instead of mirrors in a studio room, it's him in a parking lot with no one else, him just talking the cars. Empty cars. 

Yeah. 

And so, yeah, like, it's his, his acting chops are good.

It's just like as, as you can see in the film. He has like rarely, he has rare, rare interactions with other cast members in the movie. A lot of it's just him alone. That is true. Acting with like certain objects. 

Yeah. And I'm like, give him real castaway vibes. Yeah. But he's not as good of an actor as Tommy.

Why did he accept this to be like, I'm just gonna be outside by myself. You know, maybe he 

really wanted to do it. I don't know, man. But yeah, it was a lot of him alone. I feel like we see a lot of Nick Cage alone falling apart in movies, and I'm very curious as to what, what's that in his life. But, all right.

I rated it a two. I thought it was definitely more interesting. It's still not the favorite Nick Cage movie I've ever seen. 

Nah. And with that, we're gonna move into our next section where we both pick out two reviews. We're gonna read from users on letterbox, and also state what rating they gave for the film.

I'm gonna go first. So this is from Cobb Username Cobb. Generally, I felt like I was losing my fucking mind watching this clum. A complimentary they gave it three and a half stars. 

They gave it three and a half, huh? Yeah. 

I mean, I feel like Nick Cage, he has a, a movie gambit scale that goes from five to one.

It's just over the place. 

Yeah. Mine, uh, was one from Alicia. And they, she gave it one and a half stars and she said surfing is not even his job. His job is just beach. And he is so bad at it. And that made me laugh. It really is. He really is so bad at it. 

Oh, that's right. You are supposed to go back to work.

Yeah, he didn't, he like, 

he, he was supposed to be back. I'm not sure like how long the weekend was, but whatever. Like how long it was, but he was supposed to be back the following day to go to work. And then just over, like that just didn't happen. Like, no, his boss didn't call him or anything, say, Hey, where you're at?

Like it, it was mentioned once and totally forgot about and I'm like, oh shit. Yeah. So technically we don't know if he still has a job or whatever he's doing or he's, I think he's in real estate agent or something. 

Yeah, he's a, I think he's real estate. I don't know. Mm-hmm. 

So I'm gonna read my number two, which is from user Brian help.

I'm still in the parking lot, still sitting at an outback that I haunt. Three and a half stars. 

That's it. Oh man. Mine is from Ricardo Rodriguez and he rated the movie four stars, which I think is hilarious. But. His review said men really will do anything but go to therapy. Huh. And that's, uh, that's the most accurate thing I could say about this movie.

He would rather do that than go to therapy. Maybe he should have got a marriage counseling. Maybe he shouldn't have been there. He shouldn't spent any time with his son, but instead he decided to sleep in his car.

And you know what, it actually does sound like it does ring a lot of bells for like.

Again, what the, I'm assuming the underlining for this film is like manosphere red pill call, like with guys, they'll do anything else but it really address the problem that they're really having. It's like, go to therapy, or I can just take this knife and stop myself and the pain will go away, like go to therapy or there's a snake here, I'm gonna let the snake bite me and then, suck out the poison.

Don't do again to that user's names, review, do anything else except go to therapy, which I agree with. 

Yeah, I agree. I agree too. Like they, and they would be willing to do anything but go to therapy. Mm-hmm. And I think that's hilarious. 

Yeah. And as we are drawing close to the end of this episode, do you have any final words?

Um, just the most important one. As we all know, I lost my hand. I lost my wife. Johnny has his hand. Johnny has his wife. Last time he had a full head of hair too. 

Oh yeah. And with that, we'll conclude this episode. Catching the next one. Bye 

bye.

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