Riding Giants Critic Reviews

An exhilarating, often mind-blowing history of surfing.Read the full review

Traces the sport to its Polynesian beginnings, then zooms in on the genesis of 20th- century Southern California surf culture -- the boards, the bikinis, the laid-back cowabunga.Read the full review

Every sport, and every sports film, must have its superman. The role is filled here by Laird Hamilton, who, we are told -- and, more astonishingly, shown -- took "the single most significant ride in surfing history." Seeing is believing. Read the full review

By land or by sea, there aren't many movies that can move you like that. Read the full review

Giants has SO many insistent high points, in fact, that its breathlessness threatens to turn monotonous. Read the full review

Riding Giants is about altogether another reality. The overarching fact about these surfers is the degree of their obsession. Read the full review

It's a film hopelessly in thrall to the thrill of big-wave surfing, and for all its rambling shapelessness, it conveys that excitement in an infectious, conspiratorial manner. Read the full review

Offers a highly engaging immersion into a culture of larger-than-life characters driven by their thrill-seeking instincts.Read the full review

Because the waves get progressively higher in Riding Giants, Stacy Peralta's historical surfing documentary, some of that thrill is sustained throughout this overlong but entertaining movie.Read the full review