Billabong Odyssey

As exciting to watch as any Warren Miller ski film, Billabong Odyssey also has the sensibility of a good PBS documentary.

While Billabong Odyssey ultimately resembles an infomercial more than a coherent cinematic exercise, its spectacular images of well-toned athletes battling with the world's largest waves should find a receptive audience of those so inclined.

Narrower focus may lend this less crossover appeal than "Step Into Liquid," which was practically a recruitment poster for the surfing lifestyle. But such a tight focus might also make Billabong a repeat must-see for more dedicated boarders and wannabes.

With its emphasis on global positioning devices, Jet Skis and computer-designed surfboards, Mr. Boston's film is very much concerned with the stuff and very little with the spirit of professional surfing as practiced today.

The slim story gets swamped by the stunning visuals.

Pretty much everything here -- tow surfing, hydrofoil boards, token bit on women surfers -- already appeared in this summer's equally halfass "Step Into Liquid."

Follows a narrative arc as choppy as a messy windswell, and the result is a dog's dinner of profiles, repetitive narration, safety tips and banal "insights" into the joys and dangers of cresting waves that sometimes reach 70 feet.