Extreme MPAA Rating: G Entertainment: +1 Content: +3

This documentary, shot in the giant screen IMAX format, looks at athletes performing their sports in extreme circumstances. The first stop is Hawaii where big-wave surfers pit their skills against a 40-foot wave created by El Nio. Then the cameras move to British Columbia as a husband and wife team scale the frozen waterfall of the Delphine Glacier. Extreme skiers and snowboarders are dropped on the mountaintops around Juneau Alaska to slide down almost vertical sheets of pristine snow. Then its back to Hawaii to watch world champion windsurfers fly over the swells before watching two of the best world class rock climbers free hand vertical towers of rock in southern Utah. The huge screen and intimate seating of the IMAX theaters lets viewers sense the grandeur, majesty and danger of the extreme terrain. But many shots are necessarily more panoramic and lose the , you are there feeling. But those fascinated by extreme sports will enjoy this unique look at some of the best athletes in their fields.

Like many sports documentaries, this film focuses on the events and avoids almost all objectionable material. As they talk about their sport, some of the athletes refer to religious ideas held by ancient Hawaiian or Eskimo tribes. And one scene shows an Eskimo shaman blessing the skiers. Although made as a comment about her approach to the sport, one athlete says she can tries to connect with the energy of a place, which implies a New Age philosophy. But none of the comments is tied to a specific religion. So EXTREME is recommendable for the armchair athletes in the family.

Preview Reviewer: Paul Bicking
Distributor: IMAX Corp., 11454 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049