Step Into Liquid (Not rated, probably PG) (88 min.) - Filmmaker Dana Brown follows in the wake of his father, Bruce Brown, who perfectly captured the surfboard experience in The Endless Summer and a sequel. While the son has better technology at his disposal than Dad did in 1966, Step Into Liquid feels like every other movie on the subject, full of stupendous waves - any camera loves that - but short on mystical insight into what sends these daredevils to sea in the first place.
Scenes filmed at familiar surfing spots such as the Pipeline off Oahu, for example, are impressive, yet repetitive. Participants in the sport may appreciate the little things these athletes do to keep a ride going, but the rest of us see the same mechanics over and over. Dana Brown trots out familiar talking heads: his father, champions Gerry Lopez, even Robert August, who starred in The Endless Summer. The message focuses on the durability of the sport, with generations involved, but Brown isn't an interviewer who wants to pick their brains much.
More successful are segments showing the sport's impact on places not usually associated with surfers. It's a hoot to see people in Sheboygan, Wis., paddling into a lake on a windy day to perhaps catch a 3-foot swell for a short ride. They are as intent as buff West Coast surfers, even if many of these Midwesterners are thicker around the middle. Another detour follows the three Malloy brothers to Ireland, where their surfing is a curiosity that inspires children to learn how to do it.
The photography, of course, is spectacular, with cameras mounted on helicopters above the waves and held by divers underneath. Certainly this is more up close than Bruce Brown ever had a chance to get with his movies. If only it could be as personal. Step Into Liquid is a visual treat that never rises above the level of a Discovery Channel program, although bona fide hotdoggers will argue that. I guess you had to be there. B
