Critic Ebert has a very complete and accurate review, and I will not repeat any of it here. I bought "Blue Crush" as a used rental DVD, real cheap, and it is a perfect disk. The basic story has been told many times, but it is done here better than many. However, there is one thing that moves it from the "ordinary" to "outstanding - the cimematography and the sound.
After most of the first hour of the film sets up the characters and the situations, we are treated to surfing the Hawaii "pipeline" by surfers. One DVD extra shows how they do "face replacement" so that the pro surfer appears to be star Kate Bosworth. With many cameras in the waves, and sometimes under them, we get a unique perspective of being on top of a giant wave, or being inside the wave as it is breaking. All the while a very aggressive sound mix makes you feel like you are there also. This is definitely a good DVD to have for demonstrating the quality of your digital 5.1 surround sound system with good powered subwoofer.
I suspect anyone who saw "Blue Crush" at home, on VHS or DVD, with sound fed into the TV speakers has seen a different movie. That's because the sound track plays such a key role. This isn't a great movie, but a very good one. I believe its most realistic IMDb rating is somewhere around "7" or "8".
