Riding Giants 2004

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: There's no denying that much of this is spectacular. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Awe-inspiring documentary about the history of big-wave surfing. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: An entertaining if audience-specific look at the history of surfing. Read more

Allison Benedikt, Chicago Tribune: Peralta has a knack for taking a niche sport and drawing out its universal appeal. Read more

Bill Stamets, Chicago Reader: This is vicarious cinema at its best. Read more

Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle: Giants offers a thrilling, informative history of a sport-subculture. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: [T]his film ranks right up there with last year's Step Into Liquid as a top surf doc. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: 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. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: 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. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: A loving, entertaining tutorial. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: It may take willpower not to run directly from the theater down to the nearest shoreline, just for a whiff of whatever saltwater magic sauce the big-wave stars featured in Peralta's vibrant docu are on. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Compelling watching. Read more

Jane Sumner, Dallas Morning News: It's a big wet kiss to the heroes and history of an ancient water sport. Read more

Joe Donnelly, L.A. Weekly: It's at Maverick's that Giants delivers the immediate excitement of big-wave riding and connects the viewer personally with the close-knit, daredevil Maverick's crew, most of whom are still active. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: Peralta shows himself to be something of a big-wave challenger here by breathing in bigger gulps of geography, history and culture. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: Even those who've never waxed a board will be engaged and amazed. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: This is vicarious daredevilry at its best. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: The waves get progressively higher in Stacy Peralta's overlong but entertaining historical surfing documentary. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Peralta has done a marvelous job at showing the intimidating waves and the guts it must take men (and occasionally women) to ride them. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Before seeing Riding Giants, my ideas about surfing were formed by the Gidget movies, Endless Summer, the Beach Boys, Elvis and lots of TV commercials. ... Riding Giants is about altogether another reality. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: 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. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Christy Lemire, Journal News (Westchester, NY): Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: 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. Read more

Time Out: It's all pretty swanky. Read more

Scott Foundas, Variety: Offers a highly engaging immersion into a culture of larger-than-life characters driven by their thrill-seeking instincts. Read more

Benjamin Strong, Village Voice: 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. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: A top-notch surfing documentary. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: An exhilarating, often mind-blowing history of surfing. Read more