This documentary about extreme athletes challenging dangerous but awesomely beautiful conditions in Hawaii features an offbeat format in which the cameramen are often shown doing their work, so the film itself has a curious "making of" feel to it. Shot with IMAX cameras, the video features awesome footage of "tow in" surfers, intrepid souls who are towed with jet skis onto enormous waves, which they then surf down so that it appears as if they are snowboarding down a mountain. The surfers appear in interviews, with one describing the challenge as "the culmination of everything you"ve learned in surfing." The massive walls of water look like they really belong in a National Geographic special about extreme weather, and it"s a little unsettling to see men challenging these monsters. Much of the footage was shot from helicopters, and even footage of the camera-carrying choppers ducking in and out of the waves is heart-stopping. Other segments on the video feature astonishingly gorgeous IMAX footage of rock climbers tackling towers of stone in Arizona, and again techniques of intrepid cameramen are prominently featured in the production. A concluding segment featuring windsurfers tackling enormous waves in Hawaii concludes a production that is as visually pleasing as it is exciting. --Robert J. McNamara