Riding Giants : 4 of 5

There's something therapeutic about surfing movies for me - I always have a new outlook on how to live my life after watching one! I didn't enjoy this movie quite as much as Step Into Liquid, but it was still completely awesome. Riding Giants looks at the history of surfing first, but quickly focuses on big wave surfing, starting with the famous Greg Noll, one of the first guys brave enough to take on Hawaii's north shore, through Laird Hamilton, who basically invented tow-in surfing. Just like most surfing documentaries, the images are spectacular and the soundtrack is well-chosen, and of course the interviews themselves are fascinating. I wasn't too thrilled with the editing style, though, since it uses a lot of quick cuts, fast zooms, and lots of edgy transitions (even though the editor says he toned down his usual style!), but the source material and films are so fantastic that nothing can spoil the thrill of watching them. The movie follows the lives and histories of these famous surfers by using tons of old photos, which have been transformed into a kind of three dimension style with CG processing, but unfortunately only touches on what I love most about surfing - talking about it as a life-changing force (done so well in Step Into Liquid). I guess I should stop comparing - Riding Giants is a fantastic surfing documentary that I plan on buying on DVD, since I already want to watch it again!