Point Break

Opinion is very divided on the acting merits of Keanu Reeves. Some say he's a straight-up action star, others say he's dull, emotionless, and dismiss his as the next Kevin Costner. Myself, I think he's pretty good. Let's face it, there are far worse actors. But whatever you think about him, there's no doubt that The Matrix films are his biggest success, and anyone who has seen them knows that they are very confused, very contrived, but still a lot of fun. So if you're looking for a much simpler thrill starring Mr. Reeves, then look no further than today's movie, Point Break.

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow (The Oscar-winning Director of The Hurt Locker), Point Break was released in 1991, and starts Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze, Lori Petty and Gary Busey. A critical and commercial success, the movie follows the FBI's efforts to catch a group of bank robbers. In order to do this, Keanu Reeves has to learn how to surf. The result is one of the greatest action movies of the nineties, and one of the best in Reeves' repertoire.

The movie opens with Johnny Utah (Reeves), a new FBI recruit, who gets teamed up with veteran agent Angelo Pappas (Busey). They are tasked with apprehending a group of bank robbers known as the 'Ex-Presidents', so-called because they wear masks resembling 4 formers Presidents, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Regan. Pappas has noticed several significant things about them, such as the fact that they never rob the vault, and simply stick to the registers. His other discovery, or rather a theory, is that the 'Ex-Presidents' are actually surfers. To investigate this, Utah, with the help of surfer girl Tyler (Petty) , learns how to surf, and attempts to infiltrate the group in order to investigate them. The task proves to be more difficult than he first thought, due to him forming a complex friendship with the surf group's leader Bodhi (Swayze), and becoming emotionally involved with Tyler.

                                                                 We are not crooks!

Following up on a lead, Utah and Pappas conduct a raid on another surfer group, not only failing to find the guilty party, but also ruining a DEA undercover operation. With their attention turned back to Bodhi's crew, they notice Bohdi and Roach casing a bank, so they wait for them to make their move. When the 'Ex-Presidents' show up, Johnny chases Bodhi through the neighbourhood and over a fence into an aqueduct, causing an old knee injury to flare up. He pulls his gun on Bodhi, but is unable to pull the trigger. Anyone who has seen Hot Fuzz will immediately recognise this scene.

So that's the plot. Pretty straightforward and not especially original. It's a classic good-guy-befriends-bad-guy-and-has-to-make-a-heartfelt-choice flick. But it's all done in a very stylish and entertaining way, and we can see Bigelow's directing prowess that would eventually bag her an Oscar nearly 20 years later. There's great chemistry between Reeves and Swayze, and while the romance between Utah and Tyler is not especially developed, it weighs heavily on the later part of the story, and does make for a pretty epic climax. The final scene finishes the movie perfectly, bringing the complicated bond between our 2 main characters to a fitting conclusion. A superb end to a superb movie.