Step Into Liquid, the water’s fine (a movie review)

Our movie review segment continues. Whoop whoop. Today—Step Into Liquid. And our unfiltered thoughts on the matter.

Not time to read? There’s a micro-pod for that.

I love Riding Giants. Love it, love it, love it. I didn’t watch it until a few years after its release—I was into horse riding then, not yet surfing. But needless to say, I am who I am because of Riding Giants. Step Into Liquid (2003) actually preceded Riding Giants (2004) by about a year—even though people often mentally group them the other way around.

Both movies came out in the early 2000s, when big-wave surfing was entering mainstream awareness, and tow-in surfing had made it possible to ride waves previously considered “unsurfable”. Mavericks also became a cultural symbol—not just a surf spot.

same era, different energy

If you’ve watched both, you’ll remember there’s an overlap in the big-wave stories, involving both Laird Hamilton and Mavericks. But that’s where the similarities, at least for me, end.

Step Into Liquid was written and directed by Dana Brown, son of The Endless Summer’s Bruce Brown. According to the Encyclopedia of Surfing and Surfer’s Journal, it was—quote—“undeniably an Endless Summer derivative, but also marvelous in its own right and for its own reasons.”

The movie took three years to make and cost $2.5 million. According to the Encyclopedia of Surfing, it made $20 million. According to Wikipedia, it made just over $3 million. The internet can’t agree. If it’s any consolation, it can’t agree on how much Riding Giants made either. So let’s just move on, shall we.

where it shines

The more fun fact is that it was originally supposed to be called The Endless Summer III. And honestly, it would’ve worked just fine.

Because where Step Into Liquid really shines isn’t the big-wave surfing or footage of Taj Burrow, Layne Beachley, and Laird defying gravity. It’s the quieter, stranger stories.

Dale Webster surfing consecutively for 14,642 days (a few less at the time of filming). Texans surfing oil-tanker waves in the Gulf of Mexico. Yes—the Gulf of Mexico. Always. Even the genuinely corny Malloy brothers choosing Ireland as their surfing destination. It’s cute. Cosy.

While Riding Giants is a great primer on surfing and surf culture—fascinated with very big waves—Step Into Liquid keeps asking a different question: how many different ways are there to surf?

And that makes it fantastic viewing.

Watch it.

Author: The Wipeout Weekly team