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POINT BREAK
(directed by Kathryn Bigelow, 1991)
I was fooled by this movie. In the beginning, I thought this movie had a silly storyline -- the FBI is after some bank robbers that keep managing to get away. They've robbed a lot of banks over the years, yet they do it without hurting anybody, though they do have guns and they do use threats. When they leave, one of the robbers - a man - moons the security camera. "THANK YOU" is written across his butt cheeks. These guys also wear masks to look like ex-presidents. Thus, this gang is called "The Ex-Presidents." Gary Busey and his new partner, 25 year old Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) are out to get them. Busey suspects they're surfers, so Keanu Reeves becomes a surfer in order to find out who these bank robbers are. He uses punk woman Lori Petty to transform him into a popular surfer. Eventually he meets Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) -- a hardcore surfer who has had a sexual relationship with Lori Petty, but now she's feeling for Keanu Reeves.
So, what's the problem with these bank robbers, I wondered. They didn't kill anybody. All they did was steal money. Then they flashed a little male buttocks. It sounds alright to me. Why bother with all of this business of trying to catch them?
After the first hour, though, all hell breaks loose. What starts as a peaceful, hippie, Buddhist spiritual movie about the zen of surfing turns into an action film that would put Die Hard to shame. For some reason, I skipped this movie all of my life so far. Maybe it was the surfing theme. But I'm glad I finally witnessed it. This is a major film for Keanu Reeves. Patrick Swayze was fitting as the spiritual, bank robbing surfer, and it all gets better with the additions of Gary Busey and Lori Petty. I love me some Tank Girl.
Point Break, the film, plays out like the storm of nature. The waves of the ocean. One minute, everything in the film is rather peaceful and tranquil and serene. The next minute, an eruption of brutal violence. Nice guys go bad. People end up dead. People are shot and killed. The Earth loses some of its creatures. Point Break focuses on the zen of living. Go with the flow. Ride the wild ride. Everything comes in cycles. We are all one with the universe. Life is chaos and a mixture of peace and pain.
The film is not boring, though it takes awhile before it really gets going. Still, I was interested even during the slow parts. I'm not sure how many more times in the future I'd care to watch a montage of Keanu Reeves learning how to surf thanks to Lori Petty's teaching, though.
I feel kind of unconvinced by Patrick Swayze's Bodhi character, though. He just doesn't seem violent enough. He surrounds himself with violent guys, yet he is the leader? Isn't the leader usually the most dangerous one? The last hour of the movie, though more exciting than the first, also feels kind of preposterous and tacked on.
This is definitely a good '90s movie, though I didn't catch it on my radar. Lori Petty's character felt kind of wasted, too, now that I think about it. The ending was also rather cheesy. I enjoyed Point Break. It captures the essence of the '90s without actually looking too much like a typical early 1990s movie. It brings serious action using actors I'm surprised to see in the genre. Keanu Reeves was terrific, but I'm not crazy about the Patrick Swayze character and his gang of thugs. Decent movie, but a serious love for it is still kind of peculiar to me. At least Keanu Reeves flashed some ass, as well. There's a whole lot of ass in this movie.
(directed by Kathryn Bigelow, 1991)
I was fooled by this movie. In the beginning, I thought this movie had a silly storyline -- the FBI is after some bank robbers that keep managing to get away. They've robbed a lot of banks over the years, yet they do it without hurting anybody, though they do have guns and they do use threats. When they leave, one of the robbers - a man - moons the security camera. "THANK YOU" is written across his butt cheeks. These guys also wear masks to look like ex-presidents. Thus, this gang is called "The Ex-Presidents." Gary Busey and his new partner, 25 year old Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) are out to get them. Busey suspects they're surfers, so Keanu Reeves becomes a surfer in order to find out who these bank robbers are. He uses punk woman Lori Petty to transform him into a popular surfer. Eventually he meets Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) -- a hardcore surfer who has had a sexual relationship with Lori Petty, but now she's feeling for Keanu Reeves.
So, what's the problem with these bank robbers, I wondered. They didn't kill anybody. All they did was steal money. Then they flashed a little male buttocks. It sounds alright to me. Why bother with all of this business of trying to catch them?
After the first hour, though, all hell breaks loose. What starts as a peaceful, hippie, Buddhist spiritual movie about the zen of surfing turns into an action film that would put Die Hard to shame. For some reason, I skipped this movie all of my life so far. Maybe it was the surfing theme. But I'm glad I finally witnessed it. This is a major film for Keanu Reeves. Patrick Swayze was fitting as the spiritual, bank robbing surfer, and it all gets better with the additions of Gary Busey and Lori Petty. I love me some Tank Girl.
Point Break, the film, plays out like the storm of nature. The waves of the ocean. One minute, everything in the film is rather peaceful and tranquil and serene. The next minute, an eruption of brutal violence. Nice guys go bad. People end up dead. People are shot and killed. The Earth loses some of its creatures. Point Break focuses on the zen of living. Go with the flow. Ride the wild ride. Everything comes in cycles. We are all one with the universe. Life is chaos and a mixture of peace and pain.
The film is not boring, though it takes awhile before it really gets going. Still, I was interested even during the slow parts. I'm not sure how many more times in the future I'd care to watch a montage of Keanu Reeves learning how to surf thanks to Lori Petty's teaching, though.
I feel kind of unconvinced by Patrick Swayze's Bodhi character, though. He just doesn't seem violent enough. He surrounds himself with violent guys, yet he is the leader? Isn't the leader usually the most dangerous one? The last hour of the movie, though more exciting than the first, also feels kind of preposterous and tacked on.
This is definitely a good '90s movie, though I didn't catch it on my radar. Lori Petty's character felt kind of wasted, too, now that I think about it. The ending was also rather cheesy. I enjoyed Point Break. It captures the essence of the '90s without actually looking too much like a typical early 1990s movie. It brings serious action using actors I'm surprised to see in the genre. Keanu Reeves was terrific, but I'm not crazy about the Patrick Swayze character and his gang of thugs. Decent movie, but a serious love for it is still kind of peculiar to me. At least Keanu Reeves flashed some ass, as well. There's a whole lot of ass in this movie.