OK thought I would be a bit more prolific this month with my posts so I've kept my word and this will be my 8th post of the month (which is pretty good going for me!) so this un is on the movie Point Break, starring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze. Right so let's get the surfing board out and break some waves... (well metaphorically speaking!).
Alrighty so the usual plottery to begin with (someday I might just change the format of my posts!) the film starts with rookie FBI agent Johnny Utah (Reeves) who is assigned along with his veteran partner, Angelo Pappas (Gary Busey) to investigate some bank robberies. The robbers themselves are dressed up wearing masks of four former presidents, Ronald Regan, Richard Nixon, Lindon B. Johnson and Jimmy Carter and they call themselves the ex-presidents. Pappas has a theory that the ex-presidents are in fact surfers (due to video footage of one of them dropping their shorts to reveal a "tan line" across his ass, which would be associated with surfers!) and Utah decides to go with his theory and infiltrates a small surfing community. Utah however has no idea of surfing or how to and nearly drowns out at sea on his first day but he is rescued by a female surfer, Tyler (Lori Petty) whom he approaches again and persuades her to teach him (using her history as being an orphan to get an angle to do so, as he tells her his parents died in a car accident).
Johnny eventually manages to get the hang of surfing through Tyler's help and he soon meets a leader of a local surfing gang, Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) and when he reveals he was a former quarterback in football, Bodhi's crew accept Johnny, who begins to get drawn into their world. Utah also follows the lead of a clue which might lead them to the robbers as he and Pappas set up a raid on another gang of surfers, who turn out not to be the ex-presidents and it turns out they have accidentally ruined a DEA undercover operation in the process, which incurs the wrath of Utah and Pappa's superior, FBI Agent Harp (John C. McGinley). The next day however Johnny, who by now has become romantically involved with Tyler receives an early wake-up visit from Bodhi and they go out for surf, however as Utah walks along the beach he sees Bodhi and his crew out surfing, one of whom moons (i.e. drops his shorts!) in the same style as the bank robber did in one of the video tapes taken from a bank robbery. It then dawns on Utah that Bodhi's gang are the ex-presidents and he tells Pappas of his suspicions as he tailed Bodhi to find that he was scoping a bank.
The next day Utah and Pappas steak out outside the bank and right enough they see the ex-presidents leave the bank, with Utah and Pappas giving chase, Utah eventually chases the robber wearing the Reagan mask on foot through a neighbourhood. As Utah chases after the robber he accidentally slips down an acqueduct and injures his knee in the process, as the robber gains distance, Utah takes out his gun and aims at the robber but can't bring himself to pull the trigger and fires his gun into the air instead, yelling in frustration. Later that night Bodhi and his gang reveal that they are indeed the ex-presidents, but Bodhi's motivation was to rebel against the system and not to gain profit. With Bodhi's gang scared and wanting out, Bodhi refuses to back down and he insists that he knows what to do with Utah. Meanwhile Tyler discovers that Johnny is in fact an FBI agent as she finds his badge and gun in his apartment, furious with Utah for lying, Tyler runs out. The next morning Bodhi turns up at Utah's front door and insists he goes skydiving with his gang, which Utah reluctantly obliges, but in doing so get's a real kick out of it. After they land Bodhi takes Utah into a van and plays a tape showing Tyler tied up to a chair with one of Bodhi's gang, Rosie, holding a knife to her throat. Bodhi reveals that he knows that Utah is an FBI agent, and tells him that Tyler will be fine as long as he get's a certain place in time first, and he forces Utah to go along on their last robbery with them, which brings the film to its hectic climax....
To this day Point Break is still for me a very enjoyable action thriller and while it is at times somewhat cheesy in its depiction of the surfer community and of the robbers it nonetheless has plenty of high octaine action (pardon the cliche) that keeps an audience gripped. The relationship between Utah and Bodhi also helps drive the film's story pretty well as Utah is sucked into the world of surfing and he is drawn to Bodhi's charisma, and in the end even as Utah persues Bodhi so relentlessly, he at the end of the film still has alot of respect for him. And the film certainly says alot for adrenaline junkies and the rush and
the need for it, and even shows how fanatical Bodhi's crew are as they
even willing to die to find that ultimate rush (or killer rush being
more like it!).
And at the time of the production, neither Reeves, Swayze or Petty hadn't any real surfing experience and they ended being taught by a surfing instructor over a two month period with Swayze and Reeves both being drawn towards surfing, and Reeves who continued to keep it up as a hobby afterwards. It was also later revealed that Swayze did his own aerial stunts during the skydiving scenes, as well as during the fight scenes and of course surfing, and Swayze himself felt that he had a strong kinship with Bodhi's character as the wild guy.
Moving onto the film's performances things are pretty good here, starting with Keanu Reeves, who while he is not the best actor in the world, does give a good account of himself here as the ambitious young FBI rookie who get's drawn into the world of surfing and makes a connection with Bodhi. Reeves has some good scenes especially in the action scenes where he raids another surfing gang's hideout (the gang features Red Hot Chili Peppers singer, Anthony Keidis) and also the scene where he chases Bodhi through a neighbourhood. Reeves also get's some good dialogue as he delivers plenty of glib one liners, and even takes the piss out of his character Ted, from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, when he scopes out surfers on a beach and tries to get a hair sample from one of them and pulls off a piece of hair by saying to the guy "Watch out, you've got a big sucker going right for your ear!" and tears off a piece of the guy's hair and says "saved your life, bro, close one!". Also after he get's chewed out by his superior, FBI Agent Harp who says "Now has any one of you got anything even remotely interesting to tell me???!" and Reeves sarcastically replies "I got my first tube this morning... sir!". Also another favourite line of mine from Reeves in the film is after he is forced to go on the ex-presidents last robbery and he angrily says to Bodhi who wants Utah to go into the bank with them "Bodhi this is your fucking wake up call, man! I'm am an F....B....I agent!!!".
Patrick Swazye is excellent as Bodhi, the charismatic gang leader who is more into the spiritual side of surfing and life in general! Swayze plays Bhodi pretty much as an almost spaced out guru, who get's his thrills out of adrenaline rushes such as robbing a bank, skydiving or surfing, but also develops special connection with Utah as the film progresses. Swayze as Bodhi get's some good lines, such as when he is about to a bank at the start of the film, wearing his Ronald Reagen mask he says "The little hand says its time to rock and roll!". Also in the first bank robbery scene he has some good lines such as "Hello helllo hello ladies and gentlemen we are the ex-presidents! We need just a few minutes of your time, and we've been screwing you for years for a few more minutes shouldn't matter, should it???!". And as they are about to leave the bank he turns to the customers and says "Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen and please don't forget to vote!!". But as Bohdi he also reveals his willingness to sacrifice his life to do what he loves the most in doing his surfing and he wishes to surf at Bells Beach in Australia, where an alleged 50 year storm is set to come around, which prompts a good from Bodhi when he says "If you want the ultimate, you've gotta pay the ultimate price. Its not tragic to die doing the thing you love." Another good line Bodhi has is after Utah follows him out of the plane doing a skydive he catches up with Bodhi who is doing his skydive and he grabs him and forces him to pull the cord of the parachute, and he hits just seconds before they hit the ground, and Bodhi struggles to his feet and says "Goddamn! You are one radical son of a bitch!".
Gary Busey is also really good as Utah's veteran FBI partner, Pappas, who comes up with the surfer theory for the ex-presidents. Busey who is no stranger to being manic (and let's face it in real life he does have more than one screw loose!) plays Pappas with a hyperactive quality (or at least a bloated agent who has had one coffee too many and a few doughnuts!) and he quickly develops a good rapport with Utah. Busey also get's plenty of good lines, such as when he argues with Utah who goads him by saying he is an "over the hill burnout" and he Pappas replies "Listen you snot nosed little shit! I was taking hits in Khe Sang, while you were still crapping in your hands and rubbing it in your face!". And also later when he says to Harp "Let me tell you something, Harp. I've been in this bureau while you were still popping zits on your funny face and jacking off to the lingerie section of the Sears catalogue!". And also in the scene where Utah tells Pappas about his theory of trying to get a hair sample from surfers to try and locate the beach where the ex-presidents might surf, and Utah asks him "are you buying this?" and Pappas says "No. But let's do it anyway! It will bug the shit out of Harp!". And also in the scene when he confronts Utah over not shooting Bodhi and he says "You are either scared or your getting too goddamn close to this guru buddy of yours! I don't believe your scared. Now go home and get some rest you look like hammered shit!" (one of my favs!).
Lori Petty also makes a good impression as Utah's love interest and she is quite defensive and obnoxious at first as she grudgingly saves Utah from drowning and she insults him and his crap surfboard and says "Look at this pigboard piece of shit! You've got no business out here whatsoever!" and Johnny calls after her saying "Hey my name's Johnny Utah!" and she says "Who cares???!" as she heads back out to surf. But as the film progress she soon becomes attracted to Utah and she has a good scene where she finds out he is an FBI agent and he tells her he lied about his parents and she says "Goddamn you to hell" and runs out. Petty has another really good scene where they are both at Bodhi's party and she says to Utah "You've got the kamikaze look, Johnny, I've seen it. And Bodhi can smell it a mile away. He'll take you to the edge and past it."
John C. McGinley is also great in his role as the arrogant FBI agent, Harp, who takes an instant dislike to Utah and he says to him at the start of the film "I see you're a real blue flame special, son. Young dumb and full of come, but what I don't know is how you got assigned out here. I mean hell, I guess we must just have ourselves an asshole shortage" and walks away with Utah relying quietly "Not so far". Also McGinley's best line in the film comes when he berates Utah and Pappas for their lack of progress in the case with Utah in undercover surfer gear and a big surfboard in Harp's office. And Harp says "Special agent Utah. This is not some job flipping burgers at the local drive in. Yes the surfboard bothers, yes you're whole goddamn approach to this case bothers me, and yes YOU BOTHER ME!! And over the last two weeks you have produced exactly SQUAT! SQUAT!!".
And finally in a smaller performances Tom Sizemore also gives a brief but good account of himself as an agent working for the DEA who's cover is blown when Utah and Pappas raid the wrong surfers. And Sizemore who is always good with explosive dialogue delives another bit of stern dialogue to Utah when he says "I've been working on these fuckers for THREE MONTHS!! THREE MONTHS!! Now I've got them playing the wheel of fortunte, so I can find out who their suppliers are and you fucking cowboys show up!". Sizemore once again also get's to wear a cool wig of big spikey hair and he even says "You think I like this hair, man??? You think I like wearing these clothes???!".
Getting onto the director Kathryn Bigelow (who also directed Strange Days, Near Dark and The Hurt Locker) who does an excellent job here, proving to be one of those rare things, a female director that has a good eye for directing action films (no chauvanism intended there, it is quite rare!). Bigelow also skillfully paces out the action and the bank robberies, car chases, sky diving and surfing scenes are all done really well and you do get a sense of the adrenaline rush the characters are getting. Bigelow also skillfully directs the big chase scene with Utah chasing Bodhi on foot through a neighbourhood as a hand held camera follows them, which for me is one of the best chase scenes seen in recent years on screen.
So moving onto the flaws section of the review, does Point Break have some??? Well yes it does, as while it is very entertaining it is also quite cheesy at times. And one scene that sticks in my mind that is really silly is when Bodhi and his gang playball American football with Utah, as it just seems a bit macho and naff. Bodhi as a character it has to be said is also up his own arse, as while he has the charisma to engage his gang and Utah, he is also somewhat delusional and lives in his own dreamworld. And Swayze's corniest line in the film comes when Bodhi says to his gang "We do this to show those slaves out there inching away in their metal coffins on a freeway that the human spirit is still alive!". The final sequence with Utah confront Bodhi is also pretty daft (well the whole film is really!) in which (PLOT SPOILER HERE!!) they have a climactic fight sequence and ultimately Utah let's Bodhi go to fulfill his dream to surf the biggest waves the planet has ever seen in Bells Beech in Australia (also one of the actors who plays an Australian cop, has the worst Aussie accent ever!). It also seems strange that such an inexperienced FBI agent as Utah would be put on to a high profile case in the first place, as he is just signed up with his older partner and off they go! But then again perhaps that's how it works down there! ;-). I also think its a bit silly how Utah and Pappas suss out that the ex-presidents are surfers purely from videotape footage of one of the robber's mooning their arse! So the case was in a way eventually unravelled thanks to an arse! (literally! Well that and a ponytail hair from one of the other robbers, so an arse and ponytail got it done!). So if it wasn't for that robber mooning his ass and for the surfers having ponytails they would have got it away with it scot free!!
Anyway despite all that Point Break still succeeds in being an all out adrenaline fuelled, action packed, exciting action thriller, and over 20 years later its still well worth a look.
And well I will leave it there, dude!
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