3-D surf film takes you into center of the waves

With a screen seemingly bigger than the ocean itself and with waves hitting you in the face, "The Ultimate Wave: Tahiti 3D" is about the biggest thrill you can get and still stay dry.

After all, folks, we live in a newly declared Arctic region where we get excited and declare a heat wave if it gets to 40 degrees. Enough. I got dirty looks of envy when I was leaving the office and some nosy person asked where I was going. "Tahiti," I answered, as her mouth fell open.

Of course, it was something of a bluff. I went only as far as General Booth Boulevard at the Beach to find the Imax screen at the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center. What a view! And, yes, it's Tahiti. (Sit as near the back as you can, because the screen is something like seven stories high and people have been known to get a crick in their necks - particularly when surf's up.)

Hampton Roads has been a prime market for surfing movies since Bruce Brown's little 16 mm movie "The Endless Summer" in 1966. After all, we are the home of the East Coast Surfing Championships, even if our waves look pretty puny compared to what we see onscreen. Those guys near Rudee Inlet work harder than any humans should have to for a meager mini-ride.

Directed by Canadian Stephen Low, "The Ultimate Wave: Tahiti 3D" contains some of the best surfing footage yet captured, and the 3-D adds to the fascination. For those who prefer scenery to surf, there is plenty. Aerial shots of the mountainous terrain of Tahiti and the nearby French Polynesian islands add breadth. In the intervals, there is underwater photography of marine life in the reef - turtles, fish, sharks.

The film, though, must live or crash on the basis of its surfing photography. It takes full advantage of the giant waves created by storms breaking atop the shallow reef.

Narrated by Michael Hanrahan, the film has two widely different personalities in nine-time world surfing champion Kelly Slater (who supplies daring moves) and Tahiti native Raimana Van Bastolaer (who supplies local color and a viewpoint on Polynesian history). Slater, pictured above, adds a coolly intelligent commentary while never once muttering "dude," "hang 10" or "cowabunga." This amazing lack of cliche is echoed in the fact that the soundtrack has none of the phony California Beach Boys stuff, but rather a score composed by Michel Cusson and beach sounds by native musicians.

The film goes a bit haywire when it tries to explain the scientific origins of waves in terms of them hitting the shoreline to thrill surfers. The contributions from the scientists of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are overly simple, which is good because if they had been more scientific, it would have made us tune out.

The waves, joined by humpback whales and dolphins, save the proceedings. Slater performs elegant flourishes and leaps, and the camera goes right into the center of the wave. The 3-D effects are more daring than anything you saw in "Avatar."

At 45 minutes, the timing is just right.

Mal Vincent, (757) 446-2347, mal.vincent@pilotonline.com