Riding Giants

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.