Dawn Patrol (2015)

When you think of Hawaii you think of resorts, surfing, TV shows, etc. but this movie shows you the seedy underbelly that everyone knows is there but nobody talks about. Washed up blue collar families, dead ends, petty rivalries, gangs, desperate people on the dole, too much pot and booze, and a chance to escape that never materializes.It'd hard to watch people make bad choices but the self-destructiveness is all too understandable and while you want them to make better decisions you can see why they don't. I thought the characters, families, and plots really resonated, and were rendered with intense realism even while being far from uplifting. I thought the Hawaiian background was very true to life and not what you normally see.While the acting was raw and amateurish I thought it was very powerful in that it depicted how real people would probably behave under the circumstances. The plot twist mentioned in the summary was a little awkward but served to give the story more meaning from a racial and equality perspective.Overall I feel like I found a hidden gem on Netflix and am glad to have watched it.

I love surfer movies, so I was excited about this one, having gone on dawn patrol myself quite a bit. While the waves and surfing scenes were great, and they captured elements of surfing culture well (I should hope so, since the Eastwood's live in Monterey/Carmel, CA), there was a lot of racist vitriol towards Mexicans in this film that just made it unbearable. Ummm, Mexicans surf too and aren't all in cartels. Stop using lame rival premise so that you have an excuse to spew racist names. Beyond that, the sound was terrible, like the editors didn't adjust the back sound properly. It was slow moving, crappy dialogue, and made the all the women seem slutty and without depth. So yeah, I would like the hour of my life back, and thought it was so shitty I had to sign up for IMDb to share with the world that it isn't worth their time. The one redeeming quality? Scott Eastwood is easy on the eyes.

I was skeptical at the beginning but this movie kept me hooked. The story is simple but engaging and the actors are really good, starting from Scott Eastwood (really like the father !) and Kim Matula, convincing small timer cutie. What was more interesting was the overall evolution of the story and the analysis of the characters...normal people with weaknesses and an average interesting life.Overall is worth watching : do not expect fireworks or much action. Is a simple and fair movie, well written and directed and it's a good proof of most of the actors.

I have long been a fan of Jeff Fahey so initially sat down to watch it just because Mr Fahey was in it., The story and the characters did hook me though and I am very pleased I watched it. Without giving too much of the plot away, the characters are mostly flawed but also mostly likable as they do what they feel they have to in order to keep their families together......and I can mostly sympathise with them all to a certain extent. Particularly loved the ending too.The bio is all wrong though. Yes John is held at gunpoint and he tells his story in a series of flashbacks......but it is not set in a distant desert......it's set in California and the sand they are trudging through is a beach near Malibu in California, not a "distant desert" at all.