Good idea lost in the noise

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

An interesting hybrid of surf movie - the waves that Kahuna dreamt about - a surfers El Dorado with documentary realism blended with the fictions of and nightmare scenarios of exotic locations and the narcotic world of the glorious search for the ultimate wave, evolving into the criminal milieu of smuggling and bounties of cash, terminating in broken dreams and disaster, but redeemed by the specter of majestic waves, which unify all the disparate themes. Oblowitz, certainly warms to his subject, leading the viewer on a descent into the under-life and beyond, telling his tale in an entertaining and at the same time morally instructive manner - the viewer feels that the experience is both worthwhile and stimulating - especially with this well constructed documentary's tale of human weakness and it's consequences.