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Riding Giants
Sony Pictures Classics


8.3

based on 28 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 3 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

Dogtown and Z-Boys

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for brief strong language

Starring Laird John Hamilton, Jeff Clark, Greg Noll, Brian L. Keaulana, Titus Kinimaka, Dave Kalama, and Darrick Doerner

This documentary takes viewers along surfing's timeline, highlighting the group of extraordinary adventurers that emerged: surfers who, not satisfied with the mere recreational and social aspects of the sport, began searching for bigger and bigger waves, pushing the boundaries of performance to explore the "unridden realm." (Sony Pictures Classics)

GENRE(S):	Documentary
WRITTEN BY:	Stacy Peralta Sam George
DIRECTED BY:	Stacy Peralta
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: January 4, 2005 Theatrical: July 9, 2004
RUNNING TIME:	101 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA / France

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

An exhilarating, often mind-blowing history of surfing.

100

Portland Oregonian Staff (Not credited)

A more sober, less in-your-face documentary than Peralta's great skateboarding flick.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White

May well be the most thrilling and educational surfing movie ever.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

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.

LA Weekly Joe Donnelly

The Maverick's sequence is perhaps Giants' most viscerally exciting and poignant.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

One of the best surfing documentaries ever filmed.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

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.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

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

Chicago Reader Bill Stamets

This is vicarious cinema at its best.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

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

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

The risks these guys take seem outlandish, their accomplishments otherworldly.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

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

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

For those dazed and dazzled by surf anarchists Noll and Clark, Hamilton comes off as the sport's technocrat, but he boldly goes where no surfer has gone before.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Magnificent if overlong and oddly structured surfing documentary.

Variety Scott Foundas

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

Village Voice Benjamin Strong

Peralta has become a more relaxed filmmaker, and when he trusts the haunting sight of a giant wave breaking to speak for itself, the movie reaches the sublime heights of its subject.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

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.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

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.

Empire Adam Smith

This story is emblematic of the passion, obsession and solitary poetry of surfing.

Chicago Tribune Allison Benedikt

It's the tales from Noll and his mates, now older and chubbier, that give heart to what otherwise could have faded into PBS special-land.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

A breathtaking visual history of big wave surfing. This is vicarious daredevilry at its best.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Every time Riding Giants starts feeling a little too insidery for casual viewers, along comes another, even bigger wave, daring these puny mortals to conquer it.

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

Offers a thrilling, informative history of a sport-subculture.

Dallas Observer Bill Gallo

Stacy Peralta may think otherwise, but this 101-minute homage to the heroes of surfing is nothing if not a monument to their self-absorption--and to his own. That's probably inevitable.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Peralta includes amazing archival footage to demonstrate just how far surfing in general permeated American popular culture, but also narrows his focus to follow the evolution of the surfboard itself.

Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis

For those who do enjoy being smacked around by the ocean, for those who thrill to the romance and hype of extreme surfing and dig the outsider aspect of this rarefied culture or at least its marketed cool, this film will likely be their ticket to ride a board by proxy.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Too long by about 20 minutes, and arguably too obsessed with the lineage of names only of interest to other surfers, this is a vicarious kick.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

There is plenty here to enjoy for beach bums and fans of bikinis and six-pack abs, but others are likely to find themselves hopeless wet blankets.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Vince H. gave it an 8:
I wasn't a big fan of Stacy Peralta's "Dogtown & Z-Boys", so needless to say I wasn't expecting much when I went to see this. But I must say I was pleasantly surprised. Peralta has crafted a hugely entertaining and insightful look into the lives and death-defying activities of big wave surfers. He not only makes us understand the risk and danger, but also the pleasure and transcencdence these guys must feel when they catch a big wave. The segment with the endearing Laird Hamilton was my fav.

RayRay gave it a 9:
Simply a spectacular movie. If you've ever experienced a sense of wonder watching a ski movie, a surf video, or a skateboard flick, you'll be pulling your hair out watching some of these guys challenge these faces. The Mavericks sequence is particularly touching. This is truly must-see film in my book.

Chad S. gave it an 8:
As a fan of most major sports, especially baseball, it intrigues me to see the same paradox turn up in "Riding Waves", which is trying to gauge greatness comparisons across generations. You can't call an athlete the greatest-of-all-time; greatest of his/her generation, yes. The advent and ongoing advancement of technology and weight training make for circumstances that are hardly static. Laird Hamilton is the Barry Bonds, and Greg Noll is the Mickey Mantle of surfing. "Riding Waves" is at its apex, comedy-wise, when Noll is talking; and exhiliration-wise, when Hamilton is in action. Stacy Peralta delivers the goods for surfing fanatics, and human interest stories for film fanatics. Peralta's next goal should be to make the definitive, or, at least watchable, dramatic surfing-themed film.

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Riding Giants Sony Pictures Classics

Riding Giants
Sony Pictures Classics