This is vicarious cinema at its best.

| Aug 5, 2008

Easily bearing comparison with Bruce Brown's seminal The Endless Summer, this stands as the second-best surf documentary ever made.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 1, 2006

It's all pretty swanky.

| Feb 9, 2006

Like an adrenaline rush, Riding Giants is fun for a while but it ends on a comedown.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 30, 2004

Instead of weighing the film down with spaced-out surfer-dude quotes, director Stacy Peralta traces the sport's origins back to the ancient Hawaiians.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 9, 2004

Before seeing Riding Giants, my ideas about surfing were formed by the Gidget movies, Endless Summer, the Beach Boys, Elvis and lots of 온라인카지노추천 commercials. ... Riding Giants is about altogether another reality.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 20, 2004

Peralta has a knack for taking a niche sport and drawing out its universal appeal.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 19, 2004

From the film's opening seconds, in which a lone surfer emerges from a wave's whitewater to the strains of first organ, then choir music, we can see that the filmmaker has come to sanctify his subject rather than explore it.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 15, 2004

There's no denying that much of this is spectacular.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 13, 2004

| Original Score: B- | Aug 7, 2004

The film's utterly deadpan approach sets it apart from such previous surf movies as The Endless Summer and Step Into Liquid, which were as much adventure travelogues as anything else.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 6, 2004

A loving, entertaining tutorial.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 6, 2004

By the end, you're numb from the waves of information crashing down on your head but you're also worn out and happy, unexpectedly touched by the story of men who climbed the highest mountain around.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 6, 2004

Compelling watching.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 6, 2004

It's a big wet kiss to the heroes and history of an ancient water sport.

| Original Score: B+ | Aug 5, 2004

As he did with skateboarding in Dogtown and Z-Boys, documentarian Stacy Peralta explores the culture, not just the activity, arguing that surfing is as much a lifestyle as it a sport.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 5, 2004

An aficionada of the saltwater documentary, I am thrilled to report that Riding Giants, Stacy Peralta's exhilarating account of the revolution and evolution in big-wave surfing, is among the best of this breathtaking genre.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 29, 2004

Giants offers a thrilling, informative history of a sport-subculture.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 16, 2004

An entertaining if audience-specific look at the history of surfing.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 16, 2004

A top-notch surfing documentary.

| Jul 16, 2004