Riding Giants
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: July 9, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
80
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
27
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
An exhilarating, often mind-blowing history of surfing. Read full review
100
Portland OregonianStaff (Not credited)
A more sober, less in-your-face documentary than Peralta's great skateboarding flick. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Traces the sport to its Polynesian beginnings, then zooms in on the genesis of 20th- century Southern California surf culture -- the boards, the bikinis, the laid-back cowabunga. Read full review
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerBill White
May well be the most thrilling and educational surfing movie ever. Read full review
90
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
One of the best surfing documentaries ever filmed. Read full review
90
L.A. WeeklyJoe Donnelly
The Maverick's sequence is perhaps Giants' most viscerally exciting and poignant. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Every sport, and every sports film, must have its superman. The role is filled here by Laird Hamilton, who, we are told -- and, more astonishingly, shown -- took "the single most significant ride in surfing history." Seeing is believing.
90
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
By land or by sea, there aren't many movies that can move you like that. Read full review
90
Chicago ReaderBill Stamets
This is vicarious cinema at its best. Read full review
88
New York PostJonathan Foreman
Magnificent if overlong and oddly structured surfing documentary. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
For those dazed and dazzled by surf anarchists Noll and Clark, Hamilton comes off as the sport's technocrat, but he boldly goes where no surfer has gone before. Read full review
88
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
The risks these guys take seem outlandish, their accomplishments otherworldly. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Giants has SO many insistent high points, in fact, that its breathlessness threatens to turn monotonous. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Riding Giants is about altogether another reality. The overarching fact about these surfers is the degree of their obsession. Read full review
80
VarietyScott Foundas
Offers a highly engaging immersion into a culture of larger-than-life characters driven by their thrill-seeking instincts. Read full review
80
Village VoiceBenjamin Strong
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 full review
80
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Because the waves get progressively higher in Riding Giants, Stacy Peralta's historical surfing documentary, some of that thrill is sustained throughout this overlong but entertaining movie. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
It's a film hopelessly in thrall to the thrill of big-wave surfing, and for all its rambling shapelessness, it conveys that excitement in an infectious, conspiratorial manner. Read full review
80
EmpireAdam Smith
This story is emblematic of the passion, obsession and solitary poetry of surfing. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
A breathtaking visual history of big wave surfing. This is vicarious daredevilry at its best. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleCarla Meyer
Offers a thrilling, informative history of a sport-subculture. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Every time Riding Giants starts feeling a little too insidery for casual viewers, along comes another, even bigger wave, daring these puny mortals to conquer it. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneAllison Benedikt
It's the tales from Noll and his mates, now older and chubbier, that give heart to what otherwise could have faded into PBS special-land. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Peralta includes amazing archival footage to demonstrate just how far surfing in general permeated American popular culture, but also narrows his focus to follow the evolution of the surfboard itself. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
For those who do enjoy being smacked around by the ocean, for those who thrill to the romance and hype of extreme surfing and dig the outsider aspect of this rarefied culture or at least its marketed cool, this film will likely be their ticket to ride a board by proxy. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
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. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Too long by about 20 minutes, and arguably too obsessed with the lineage of names only of interest to other surfers, this is a vicarious kick. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
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. Read full review
More From This Movie

80 Critic Reviews

tbd User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL