#2,192. Point Break (1991) - The Films of Kathryn Bigelow

Directed By: Kathryn Bigelow

Starring: Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Gary Busey



Tag line: "27 banks in three years - anything to catch the perfect wave!"

Trivia: Keanu Reeves, who learned to surf for his role, still surfs as a hobby to this day







I am not the first person to call 1991’s Point Break an adrenaline rush, because that’s the perfect descriptor for this movie.

On second thought, I take that back...

A fast-paced thriller with an excellent cast and a dozen or so great action scenes, Point Break is not just an adrenaline rush… it’s the adrenaline rush.

Rookie FBI agent Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) is assigned to the Bureau’s Los Angeles branch, where he is teamed with seasoned veteran Angelo Pappas (Gary Busey). Their first case as partners is to track down a gang of bank robbers known as the “Ex-Presidents” (because the thieves wear masks of former US presidents Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter and Lyndon B. Johnson). Over the past three years, the Ex-Presidents have ripped off two dozen or so L.A. banks, stealing only the money in the cash drawers and making sure they’re in and out in 90 seconds flat.

Despite having very few clues to go on, Agent Pappas believes the crooks are surfers, and are using their ill-gotten gains to live on during the summer months (every robbery has thus far occurred between June and October).

Against the better judgment of direct superior Ben Harp (John C. McGinley), Johnny goes undercover, posing as a wannabe surfer in the hopes it will help them learn the identities of the “Ex-Presidents”. After coaxing Tyler Endicott (Lori Petty) to give him surf lessons, Johnny is introduced to Bodhi (Patrick Swayze), a surfer / amateur philosopher who, along with his friends (James LeGros, John Philbin, Bojesse Christopher), enjoys living life on the edge, doing everything from surfing at night to skydiving.

For Bodhi, surfing is more than a sport: it’s a religion, and before long Johnny finds himself admiring his buddy's outlook on life. But when all signs point to Bodhi and his gang being the bank robbers, Johnny must decide where his loyalties lie: with the Bureau, or with his new friends.

Director Kathryn Bigelow keeps the thrills coming fast and furious, loading Point Break with a number of electrifying sequences. The surfing footage, much of which plays out in slow-motion, is plenty intense on its own, but in addition the film gives us everything from car chases and shoot-outs to extreme sports (one of my favorite sequences is when Bodhi introduces Johnny to skydiving). As shot by Bigelow and cinematographer Donald Peterman, even the bank robbery scenes (most of which end about as quickly as they began) are jam-packed with excitement.

The cast is beyond superb. Gary Busey is at his manic best as Johnny’s oft-unhinged partner, and while Lori Petty may not look like a typical surfer, she represents the ladies well, holding her own in what is an otherwise all-male storyline.

As for the film’s lead characters, Keanu Reeves is spot-on as FBI Agent Johnny Utah, but it’s Patrick Swayze as Bodhi who steals the show. A complex individual, Bodhi is on a never-ending search for the ultimate thrill, yet at the same time is the film’s most spiritual character (while sitting around a beach campfire with his compatriots, Bodhi gets all philosophical, saying what they’re doing isn’t for the money, but “to show those guys that are inching their way on the freeways in their metal coffins that the human spirit is still alive”). As brave as he is intelligent, Swayze’s Bodhi is arguably one of the most likable villains in cinematic history, and we can’t help but root for him a little.

I like Point Break more each time I see it, and thanks in large part to the work of Bigelow and the film's great cast, it deserves its ranking as one of the seminal action films of the 1990s.