For Whom The Atolls and Why It’s No Trilogy

Horizontal in bed and tucked beneath a heavy duvet, I watched the premier of For Whom The Atolls, as a light rain pattered the porch outside my window. Despite the soothing external atmosphere, electric right-hand barrels lit up my face with enough blue light for a week of insomnia as Seth Moniz, Ethan Ewing, and Griffin Colapinto traded an exorbitant number of waves on the equatorial atolls of the Marshall Islands. 

First thing’s first, the edit is epic. The water color is an otherworldly blue, the waves are slabby, and the surfing is flat out hardcore. For thirty minutes of non-stop action, we are berated by deep carves and racing barrels. Moniz, Ewing, and Colapinto flaunt their frontside prowess like peacocks, leaving no debate that these are some of the most talented and well-rounded young surfers in the world.  

For Whom The Atolls takes place in late January of 2020, in the crux of a pre and post Covid world, just prior to the closing of borders everywhere. In fact, the last scene– the last session of the edit, takes place the morning of their premature evacuation from the Marshall Islands to the United States and Australia respectively. 

The uncertainty of the rising pandemic is clear throughout the edit, most obviously in the last-minute destination change from Micronesia to the Marshall Islands, but also in the rushed manner that the edit appears to be filmed in the first place. The vacuum of b-roll footage alongside the lack of different surf spots emphasizes how much of a strike mission this trip really was. As the credits roll, we learn that the entire edit was created off of four surf sessions alone. 

This is not to take away from For Whom the Atolls at all. In fact, this is probably my favorite edit since Noa Deane dropped Head Noise (which will always be my #1) back in 2018. That being said, this was the product of a tightened time schedule and a rapid change of plans.

Thanks to the quick thinking of Billabong and Stab, and the mind-melting surfing of Moniz, Ewing, and Colapinto, the project was more than salvaged, and something genuinely beautiful was put on display for us all to witness. But given the initial scope, I’d have to imagine that there were a lot of cards left on the table. 

This edit was marketed as the second coming of Billabong’s Trilogy, and all the way up to the release, we had no real reason to question it. I mean, we all knew that nothing could ever really compare to Trilogy. Come on. Andy Irons, Taj Burrow, Joel Parkinson? Directed by Taylor Steele? Are you kidding? That’s an untouchable group and an untouchable surf movie (not to mention an absolutely all-time soundtrack). But hey, like their Trilogy predecessors, Seth, Griffin, and Ethan are proper rippers and are well established on the professional tour. Sure it wouldn’t be the same, but there is no reason it couldn’t be close. 

Unfortunately, the shrunken time frame threw all of this out of the window, ultimately limiting For Whom The Atolls to an extended edit, but nothing more. In comparison, the composition of Billabong’s Trilogy is complex, featuring individual solo segments, group sessions, and laugh out loud side stories that take place all across the globe. 

When Trilogy was first released in 2007, Taj was 29 and the current #2 ranked surfer in the world, Andy, also 29, was a three-time world champion, and Parko, age 26, was about to win three Triple Crowns in a row.

These were three of the world’s best surfers, all in their prime, not only sharing a sponsorship sticker, but also valuable screen time. Friends and enemies, sharing laughs and beers, trying to one-up each other on every single wave. Without once mentioning this dynamic, it’s the core of Trilogy, and really what made the film so memorable. 

Luckily, Seth, Griffin, and Ethan have time. They are 23, 22, and 22 years of age respectively and on track for lengthy careers as professional surfers. Griffin’s fluidity is reminiscent of young Parko’s, Seth has a frontside snap that rivals the speed of Taj, and Ethan and Andy share the powerful body type that can do serious damage on an open face. Sure, these comparisons aren’t a perfect one-to-one, and maybe I’m clawing in the dark here, but I think, deep down, that I just want it to be true. 

I want Billabong to release a Trilogy 2.0 and I believe that it’s going to feature Seth Moniz, Ethan Ewing, and Griffin Colapinto.

However, For Whom The Atolls simply is not it. 

The time constraint made the whole thing feel rushed and gave way to flattened-out edit, despite being saturated with unbelievable surf. In a few years I’d have to imagine that this crew will have a couple world titles under their belts (Lord John John permitting) and then a real storyline of competition and friendship can start to take shape. Until then, lets just call For Whom The Atolls what it is:

A gnarly and envy-inducing edit of three buddies getting barreled and throwing buckets of water for thirty minutes straight.

Hell yeah.

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Side note: I remember watching Trilogy on repeat with my best friends in the backseat of my buddy’s mom’s Honda Odyssey. We would take turns pausing the movie to see who could take the best “photo.” Because of the delay between the remote and tiny tv-screen, we would constantly mess up and pause it in the awkward moment of someone just landing an air or coming out of a turn. This would always make us laugh so hard. I remember these moments better than most of the surf sessions that they preceded.