By using home movies and other archival film of some of the earliest big-wave surfing efforts — as well as a lot of equally jaw-dropping, modern-day footage — "Riding Giants" nearly puts audiences in the water with the athletes. To say that it's a rush is putting it mildly.
The film may be your only way to get close enough to the thrill of the sport without breaking — or at least seriously spraining — something.
This documentary feature is one of the best made on the subject of surfing, which includes Bruce Brown's "Endless Summer" movies. It's also one of the best films this year, either fictional or nonfictional. If your pulse isn't pounding, maybe you need to check to see if you have one.
The term "giants" refers to huge swells in the Pacific, which sometimes reach as high as 50 feet. Among the first documented pioneers braving them was Californian Greg Noll, who does his best to downplay his contributions to the sport.
"Riding Giants" also tracks the progression of big-wave surfing, climaxing with the efforts of Laird Hamilton and others to take the sport into uncharted territory (they use jet skis to tow them to the biggest swells, far from land).
But it's not all fun and games. The film points out the sport's many dangers, recounting the tragic 1994 death of Mark Foo, who was arguably the top surfing athlete in the world at the time.
With his definitive skateboarding documentary and now this film, director Stacy Peralta is quickly establishing himself as a real talent in the world of documentary filmmaking. (You almost wonder what he could do with subject matter other than board sports.)
The film duplicates some of the stories seen in 2002's "Step Into Liquid," a fine movie in its own right. But it goes deeper into them, and it's more satisfying, believe it or not.
It helps that all of the subjects are interesting people and have fascinating tales to tell. Noll, for example, could have been the sole focus, and the film still would have been terrific (the sight of the slightly portly Californian making bang-bang finger gestures as he finishes yet another spectacular ride is one of the most memorable images seen in a movie this year).
"Riding Giants" is rated PG-13 for scenes of sports-related violence (surfing "wipeouts"), occasional use of strong profanity (including one of the so-called "R-rated" curse word), and use of vulgar slang terms and gestures. Running time: 101 minutes.
E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com