We all have Kathryn
Bigelow to thank for the Keanu Reeves action movie star currently tearing
it up in the John Wick franchise. It
all started with Point Break (1991).
It was generally panned by critics upon its release and it performed modestly at
the box office, spawning a minor cult following among action film fans. It is a
great film but not in the traditional sense. No, it is a great cheeseball
action flick riddled with clichéd dialogue, stereotypical characters and
by-the-numbers plotting. It also has some pretty quotable dialogue, kick-ass action
sequences involving daring bank heists, car chases, skydiving and, of course, breathtaking surfing
footage – one of the film’s most important selling points. What was once viewed
as a guilty pleasure, Point Break has
aged like a fine wine and should be regarded as one of the best action films of
the 1990s.
Here’s the premise: the FBI
are baffled by a string of robberies committed in the Los Angeles area by a
group calling themselves the Ex-Presidents – thieves who disguise themselves by
wearing masks of former United States Presidents: Richard Nixon, Lyndon B.
Johnson, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. Enter the clean-cut Johnny Utah (Reeves),
fresh from the academy and assigned to veteran agent and all around burn-out
Angelo Pappas (Gary Busey). Pappas has a crazy theory that the Ex-Presidents
are surfers when they aren’t bank robbers and he convinces Utah to go
undercover as a wave rider-in-training so that he can get close to this
tight-knit group. Unfortunately, Utah has zero surfing skills and nearly drowns
before cute, tomboy surfer girl Tyler (Lori Petty) rescues him. He manages to
convince her to teach him how to surf and she unwittingly acts as his contact to
the exclusive surfing clique, which includes Bodhi (Patrick Swayze), a “modern
savage” surfer/adrenaline junkie in search of the ultimate ride. Once Utah
makes the connection between Bodhi and his crew and the bank robberies, all
hell breaks loose.
Point Break trots out and downright revels in stereotypes: Utah is the
all-American good guy, Pappas is the burn-out cop and they are constantly being
chewed out by their jerk-off boss (John C. McGinley) for their screwball
antics. The film wastes little time breaking out the requisite alpha male
bonding scenes, like the football game on the beach at night where Utah proves
that he’s got the balls to hang with Bodhi and his crew. After the he-man
bonding session, Bodhi tells Utah about his dream of surfing the ultimate wave
which will hit Bell’s Beach, Australia as the result of a massive storm that
forms only once every 50 years. As soon as he says this, you just know that
it’s going to play a part later on – it’s that kind of film.
Matthew Broderick, Charlie
Sheen and Johnny Depp were all originally considered for the role of Johnny
Utah when Ridley Scott was attached to direct. After the project fell through
with Scott, the producers took the screenplay to other directors and James
Cameron, who was married to Bigelow at the time, expressed an interest in executive
producing. Bigelow had just completed Blue
Steel (199) and was looking for her next project.
At the time, casting Keanu
Reeves in an action film was considered a risky move. Remember, this was
before Speed (1994)
and The Matrix films. In a film
filled with clichéd characters and dialogue, Reeves’ trademark blankness is an
asset rather than a liability. The actor actually liked the name of his
character (in its own dumb way it is pretty awesome if you think about it) as
it reminded him of star athletes like Johnny Unitas and Joe Montana. In an
interview he described his character as a “total control freak and the ocean
beats him up and challenges him. After a while everything becomes a game…He
becomes as amoral as any criminal. He loses the difference between right and
wrong.” Pretty deep stuff, right? It is this total commitment to character,
however, that makes his performance so fun to watch. Just watch and bask in the
over-the-top intensity in which he delivers the classic line, “I AM AN FBI
AGENT!” dramatically enunciating every word.
The casting of Lori Petty as
Reeves’ love interest is an unusual choice. I’m sure the studio probably wanted
some blond bombshell Pamela Anderson/Baywatch-type
babe but instead Bigelow cast the tomboyish Petty who brings a lot of spunky
charm to the role. With her short haircut and lithe build she has an asexual
quality that makes for an interesting match with the equally androgynous
Reeves. Petty enjoyed the experience of filming, getting to surf and of course,
“It’s me and five hot, wet dudes all the time. ‘Oh, Lori, you’re going to make
out with Patrick Swayze.’ ‘Okay.’ ‘Now you’re going to make out with Keanu.’ ‘Okay.
On the same day? Awesome!’”
Point Break was originally called the painfully obvious Johnny Utah when Reeves was cast in
the title role. Not surprisingly, 20th Century Fox felt that this title said
very little about surfing and by the time Patrick Swayze was cast, the film had
been renamed Riders on the Storm after
the song of the same name by The Doors. Jim Morrison’s lyrics had nothing to do
with the film, however, and so that title was also rejected. It was not until
halfway through filming that Point
Break became the film’s title because of its relevance to
surfing.
Surprisingly, it’s Swayze’s
Zen master/surfer/bank robber Bodhi that doesn’t fall into an easy stereotype
and comes across as the most interesting, charismatic character in the entire
film. You have to give the credit to Swayze and his oddly fascinating
performance. We find ourselves rooting not for Reeves’ bland FBI agent but
Swayze’s thrillseeking surfer. Point
Break came along right after Swayze’s phenomenal success with Ghost (1990) and he went completely
in the opposite direction with this film. He had already demonstrated a
capacity for action film roles with Road
House (1989) and looks like he’s having a blast in Point Break. Bodhi could have so easily
been played as a silly stereotypical bad guy – the pseudo-philosopher criminal
but Swayze is a good enough actor that he sells pretentious surfer credos like,
“It’s a state of mind. It’s that place where you lose yourself and find
yourself,” with complete conviction. It works because the actor believes in
what he’s saying. So, it comes as no surprise that Swayze felt a kinship with
his character and that they both shared “that wild-man edge.”
What can you say about Gary
Busey that hasn’t already been said? He brings a hilariously unpredictable
quality to every scene he’s in as you wonder if the filmmakers just let him
improvise most of his character’s dialogue. Busey’s introduction in the film is
priceless. Utah meets Pappas for the first time at an exercise where the
veteran agent has to retrieve two bricks from the bottom of a pool blindfolded
(?!). We are never told what this is meant to prove or do but it does speak
volumes about Pappas’ gonzo attitude towards life. Unaware that he’s talking to
his new partner, Pappas gripes that he’s being paired up with some “quarterback
punk.” Reeves’ response is right on the money as he introduces himself as
“Punk, quarterback punk.” While Busey does provide a lot of the film’s humor,
he can play drama as well as the dramatic showdown at the airport late in the
film demonstrates. He and Reeves have a good mentor/protégé relationship that
develops over the course of the film. They play well off each other with the
looseness of Busey’s performance contrasting Reeves’ stiffness. This is evident
in the scene where Pappas asks Utah to order him two meatball sandwiches.
Busey takes what could have been an average scene into something memorable with
his offbeat delivery.
As for the supporting cast,
there’s the terminally pissed off boss played by character actor extraordinaire
John C. McGinley who rattles of a scene-stealing rant full of rapid-fire
insults years before he’d be doing it on a regular basis on the television
show Scrubs. Look closely and you’ll
spot independent film veteran James LeGros in a small role as one Bodhi’s
crew. Look even closer and you’ll spot Red Hot Chili Peppers lead
singer Anthony Kiedis as a part of a gang of small-time
criminals/surfers who “only live to get radical” as Bodhi puts it. His one line
of dialogue (the classic, “That would be a waste of time.” – believe me, it’s
all in how it’s delivered) is delivered so badly that he makes Reeves look like
Paul Newman in comparison. Tom Sizemore has a memorable cameo as a
pissed off undercover DEA agent trying to bust a group of drug dealing surf
Nazis. He would work with Bigelow again on Strange Days.
The surfing sequences are
beautifully shot with the camera right there in the water with the surfers
riding the waves as Bigelow does an excellent job of conveying the exhilarating
rush of what it is like to be out there catching a wave, riding it in and the
euphoric feeling that one gets from the experience. For the most part, it is
pretty obvious where stunt doubles were used and where the actors were inserted
for close-ups – the waves don’t match up. But hey, at least their faces aren’t
digitally pasted onto a surfing double like in Blue Crush (2002).
Petty, Reeves and Swayze
trained with former world class professional surfer Dennis Jarvis on the
Hawaiian island of Kauai two months before filming. Jarvis remembers, “Patrick
said he'd been on a board a couple of times, Keanu definitely hadn't surfed
before, and Lori had never been in the ocean in her life.” Shooting the
surfing sequences proved to be quite a challenge for all involved with Swayze
cracking four of his ribs. For many of the surfing scenes he refused to use a
stunt double as he never had one for fight scenes or car chases. He also did
the skydiving scenes himself, which is insane but there’s total commitment for
you.
Ever since Near Dark (1987), Kathryn Bigelow has
shown an aptitude for well-choreographed action sequences but nothing on the
level of what she would accomplish in Point
Break. First up, is the raid on the red herring bank robbers that Bigelow
expertly orchestrates by building the tension as she establishes all the
combatants and then the inevitable explosion of violence that culminates in an
exciting struggle over the blades of a lawnmower. This is just a warm-up
however, for the next action sequence where Utah catches the Ex-Presidents
robbing a bank and pursues their leader on foot after an exciting car chase
through backyards and in the insides of houses in a suburb. The cameras pursue
the two men as if we are chasing them (or sometimes being chased by them).
Incredibly, Bigelow would top this sequence with an even more daringly
choreographed chase scene in Strange
Days (1995), albeit from a first-person point-of-view.
Amazingly, Point Break received positive to
mixed reviews from critics. Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half stars
out of four and wrote, "Bigelow is an interesting director for this
material. She is interested in the ways her characters live dangerously for
philosophical reasons. They aren't men of action, but men of thought who choose
action as a way of expressing their beliefs.” In her review for The New York Times, Janet Maslin praised
Reeves' performance: "A lot of the snap comes, surprisingly, from Mr.
Reeves, who displays considerable discipline and range. He moves easily between
the buttoned-down demeanor that suits a police procedural story and the
loose-jointed manner of his comic roles.” However, Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "C+" rating and
Owen Gleiberman wrote, "Point Break makes
those of us who don't spend our lives searching for the ultimate physical rush
feel like second-class citizens. The film turns reckless athletic valor into a
new form of aristocracy.”
In his review for the Washington Post, Hal Hinson wrote,
"A lot of what Bigelow puts up on the screen bypasses the brain
altogether, plugging directly into our viscera, our gut. The surfing scenes in
particular are majestically powerful, even awe-inspiring. Bigelow's picture is
a feast for the eyes, but we watch movies with more than our eyes. She seduces
us, then asks us to be bimbos." Rolling
Stone magazine's Peter Travers wrote, "Bigelow can't keep the
film from drowning in a sea of surf-speak. But without her, Point Break would be no more than
an excuse to ogle pretty boys in wet suits."
Point Break is the epitome of a guilty pleasure: too dumb to defend
rationally but with action sequences too cool to dismiss totally. It’s a big,
loud comic book of a film and it knows it and has the conviction to go for it.
Where most action films have a tendency to collapse under the weight of their
collective clichés, Point Break works
because of them. It would pave the way for Reeves to reach greater heights in
the action genre with Speed and then,
much to everyone’s amazement, take it up another level with The Matrix films. They all laid the
groundwork for the John Wick movies,
which see Reeves build on what he established with his previous action movie
work by recapturing the adrenaline rush of visceral action from Point Break with the notion of a self-contained
cinematic universe from The Matrix
(1999).
SOURCES
"Board Certified." Entertainment Weekly. July 26, 1991.
"Board Certified." Entertainment Weekly. July 26, 1991.
"Point Break DVD Liner Notes." Point Break: Pure Adrenaline Edition. 20th Century Fox. 2006.
Strauss, Bob. "I'd like
to do a lot of different things." The Globe and Mail. July 12,
1991.
Thomas, Karen. "Swayze's
latest step." USA Today. July 12, 1991.
Willistein, Paul.
"Swayze enjoys bad-guy role in Point
Break." Toronto Star. July 17, 1991.
Zuckerman, Esther. "Lori
Petty talks Orange Is The New Black
and tells an amazing Whitney Houston story." A.V. Club. July 14,
2016.
Hey JD. I've only seen this movie once. It was right after it hit video. I did enjoy it. It's not a great movie or anything, but it was a fun movie to watch. Good writeup on it.
ReplyDeleteHey Keith. I agree that POINT BREAK is no masterpiece but it is a wildly entertaining film that is a lot of fun to watch.
ReplyDeleteIt may not be a masterpiece, but it was the best film of 1991, in my humble opinion.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you failed to mention that it features the underrated Lori Petty, the hot androgynous girlfriend I used to crush on.
Tony Dayoub:
ReplyDeleteHey there! I did mention Lori Petty just not a length, but she is quite good in the film... great casting against type!