Point Break

The 1991 American crime film, Point Break, quickly became an influential cult feature that audiences of the time easily gravitated towards. Proving to be more than just an underground gem by performing well with critics, doing well at the box office, and housing some popular names in front of and behind the camera, the film isn’t one that screams for attention or feels like it’s going against the current of other action mainstream-friendly films of the era, but that’s just what it wants people to expect on the surface as, while not a gamechanger by any means, its deceptively strong ingredients nicely demonstrate why it caught on so readily.

Newly recruited FBI agent, Johnny Utah (played by Keanu Reeves) is tasked with helping Agent Angello Pappas (played by Gary Busey) investigate a string of bank robberies, with the perpetrators being four men masked as former presidents. With a theory that these four are surfers, Johnny is put undercover as a lawyer trying to learn how to surf, getting the assistance of fellow surfer, Tyler (played by Lori Petty) in order to not look like a complete joke on the waves. After getting the basics down, Johnny eventually meets Bodhi (played by Patrick Swayze), the leader of a group of surfers who enjoys the Zen-like bliss that comes with surfing and eventually brings Johnny into his posse. This closeness comes at a cost however, when it’s revealed that Bodhi and his group are in fact the robbers, causing this blooming friendship to grow sour, especially when Bodhi holds Tyler for ransom in order to keep Johnny from doing anything to ruin their plans. Wanting to catch these criminals but being unable to deny the bond that has form between him and Bodhi, this surfer’s struggle has become much deadlier than a simple crashing wave.

Point Break isn’t a flawless picture and feature some stupid elements, not the best screenplay and an overall flat delivery from its actors but does form into an enjoyable flick by the end with the help of good direction, a refreshing atmosphere, and a sense of fun that makes this noticeably 90s feature more entertaining.

With plans to make this film starting back in 1986, who would feature and lead the project started off very differently to how things would end up, with Ridley Scott originally at the helm and the role of Johnny being thrown at people like Matthew Broaderick, Val Kilmer, Charlie Sheen and even Johnny Depp. This changed after production fell through and it wasn’t picked up again for another four years, where it was eventually noticed by Kathryn Bigelow who, after recently completing her last film, Blue Steel, was eager to get another project out. She got the role of director, and James Cameron (who was her husband at the time) acted as a producer and even helped write the story uncredited along with Bigelow, Rick King and W. Peter Iliff, which as a base premise for a 90s action-thriller, is pretty decent. It can feel a little pandering and silly with the focus on surfing, and the trailers definitely had a cheesier vibe that showed it wasn’t going to be very dramatic, but this tone and delivery was probably the right call.

At first, the film feels really off in the first act, with a very brisk and seemingly shallow screenplay by Iliff, camerawork that feels way too active and distracting, acting that is honestly pretty laughable in parts, and a vibe that’s too corny to just casually ignore. It has its fair share of cliches within the police portion of the story and gives the impression that the tone will remain the same throughout, but once it starts to involve the surfing component, things change for the better. It keeps its overly 90s mentality with cartoonish characters, over-the-top dramatics and a slight feeling of watered-down pandering, but it’s balanced out much better and feels self-aware enough about the genre of film it’s in that it helps smooth out some of its rougher edges, and a lot of that comes from Bigelow’s directing. Being a filmmaker known for portraying grim and brutal topics in a captivatingly raw manner, her ability to command this film saves it a great deal, injecting just enough of a roughness to what is otherwise a sappy, familiar flick to produce something recognizable but still fresh. It has a spaciness to the surfing and skydiving that makes their almost hippie-like adoration for the sport feel somewhat believable, as the way it’s portrayed also get you into this euphoric state of adrenaline. If you were to look at the logistics and even motivations behind the characters, it’s actually not that interesting and could be called poorly written, but the simple strength of the idea plus the solid execution saves it from disaster.

The movie’s 90s vibe is heightened by the casting, both in a good and a bad way. Some of the actors featured have fallen into obscurity and are rarely brought up favourably like Lori Petty and Gary Busey, but Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze (who were arguably at their peak popularity during this era) fit right in and no doubt assisted in the growing cult following the film would eventually garner. As characters, both Johnny Utah and Bodhi are a little generic as traditional foils you’d see in this kind of protagonist/antagonist dynamic for a thriller, but even with that in mind, the bond they have is genuinely felt because the two do have decent chemistry. It doesn’t allow for a ton of time to form a friendship, but their brief instances are memorable because of how they work off each other, and it gets even more interesting when they still feel attracted to each other (pun intended), even after their true identities are revealed. In terms of acting, Reeves is honestly not that good as Johnny, as not only is his name ridiculous from the get-go (the guy doesn’t know anything about surfing yet has a name that would be perfect for one), but Reeve’s retains his usual stale delivery and (ironically) surfer-dude tone of voice that makes it hard to ever take him seriously in a dramatic or at least serious performance. He feels like an actor that needs to be cast accordingly and he very rarely was due to his popularity forcing him into whatever role was available regardless of whether it fit or not. With that said, his acting actually isn’t too bad whenever he doesn’t have to talk and is just allowed to emote, whether through his face, body language or even just through cries of joy or fear.

Bigelow seems to know how to bring out a sense of real passion from her actors, and you can feel that in Reeve’s delivery, as even if it is still stilted and awkward, it’s not without effort and makes him come out of this at least okay. On the flip side, Swayze is pretty captivating in this, feeling like an actor that might not fit in a truly dramatic movie, but feels just above usual commercial fluff to spark some intrigue, so he does a great job at feeling right at home, but also goes a touch above coasting through this role. From his eye acting, the way he carries himself, his chill but also slightly menacing delivery, it all feels well executed, and while his writing and personality is pretty stereotypical of these ‘’free the spirit by letting loose on crime, man’’ characters, he does make it work. The rest of the cast are sometimes enjoyably over-the-top, like most of beach-farers find a dim-witted but likeably free-spirited way of saying their lines, but this isn’t the case for all of them. People like Lori Petty and Gary Busey are given more screentime, but their characters are pretty flat and even a little annoying, and every actor in the police force like John C. McGinley, Anthony Mangano and Mike Genovese are such one-note archetype and are played so over-the-top shouty that they drag the movie down whenever they’re on screen.

For a film about surfing and extreme sports, the scenes that featured them are portrayed in an effectively cool manner with fun shots and a sense of realism, but there’s another perspective included that should come across as preacher than it actually does. The film heavily focuses on this feeling of euphoria the surfers get when they perform dangerous actions, whether it be riding on big waves, skydiving out of a plane, or even robbing a bank, and while the somewhat hoaky dialogue and heavy usage of slow-motion could take people out of this very silly, active movie, it instead creates a peaceful counterpoint to the chaotic, fast-moving action that happens later.

Anytime the film has a car chase or a shootout, it’s done pretty well, with fast editing, effective shots and a tone of voice that feels very vulgar and unfiltered, but very natural as well (another component that Bigelow feels strong at conveying). Sometimes they can go on a little too long, but they’re usually well done, well framed, adds to the personality of the film, and has a 90s feel yet doesn’t feel dated either. The visual style is a little grungy and dirty, the violence still has a grittiness that isn’t entirely covered up, the soundtrack is pretty good and has a lot of music that fits the kind of surfer energy in a more melancholic sense than in a party way, and while a little silly, it doesn’t feel like it is talking down to its audience.

Point Break spoke to people of the time and seemingly still resonates with some, especially after the failure of the 2015 remake made people look back on this one with even more favor. You can see how an idea like this would get people interested, and why they would want to try it again (you could even argue The Fast and the Furious used this very premise for their first movie and road a similar wave of success), but the way this movie handled its idea managed to produce something that while not incredible, is still fairly enjoyable to look back on. The acting isn’t technically great, the writing is a little sloppy in narrative and downright lame in dialogue, and the opening act and majority of moments spent within the police force are actively unlikeable, but with a nicely balanced tone, solid direction from Bigelow, a good dynamic between the lead and antagonist, and the distinct feeling of its time period being a positive rather than a negative, the turnout is something that you can very easily get swept up by.