Fellman's Movie Reviews

Point Break is a 1991 action film starring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze. Keanu Reeves plays Johnny Utah, an undercover FBI agent who learns to surf in order to catch bank robbers. Patrick Swayze plays the leader of the bank robber gang, Bohdi. A spiritual surfer who lives for adrenaline rushes and loves freedom more than he loves life. The film did fairly well when it was released, and critics gave it generally good reviews. But over the years it has become a cult classic and made its way into American culture. With the iconic president’s masks that the surfers wear to rob banks, to the signature shot of Keanu Reeves pointing his gun in the air and emptying the magazine. 

As far as action movies go, I think this one actually has a pretty good story to it. Most action movies that you see are pretty pointless and just jump from one scene to the next so they can get to the special effects or whatever. This movie wasn’t like that. It had dialogue and character development. People that interacted with each other on a level that made them more than just the people in the scene. Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze had a connection with their characters. It’s why Johnny got so involved with the case. 

As far as the action scenes did go, they were pretty exhilarating. I’m not much of a surfer myself, in fact, I’ve literally never been surfing in my life. But I have to admit, the way this movie is shot, it kind of makes it look interesting. Like, “wow! If I weren’t so unathletic, I might try something like that…” I would never jump out of an airplane, though. That’s where I’m drawing the line.  

But I digress. We’re getting off track here. This is a movie review, not a recommendation for adrenaline related activities. Back to the action scenes, though. There’s plenty of gun fights, and car chases, and various other things that belong in action movies. It’s not all surfing. It’s mostly about bank robbing. He’s just learning to surf to catch the bank robbers. Like when Keanu Reeves chases Ronald Reagan all over town and then loses him in the iconic scene where he rolls over on his back to fire his gun into the air. 

Gary Busey played a really good role in this movie as well. The grizzled old partner who’s looking to solve the case while his young buck of a rookie partner is deep undercover. He was a great choice for the role, too. Gary Busey always had a naturally annoyed look about him. Like he was always pissed off about something, even when he wasn’t.  

So, yeah. Go and see Point Break. It’s a classic action movie from a long time ago. A long time ago by today’s standards anyway. And it’s aged pretty well for being made at a time when surfing and crime were pretty much the same as surfing and crime are now. And as always, keep on watching, with a smile on your face…