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They wear the masks of ex-US presidents Reagan, Carter, Nixon and Johnson, but one of them chucks a browneye on CCTV that reveals a tan line. Reeves’ senior buddy Pappas, played by Gary Busey, gets a hunch that a gang of bank robbers must be surfers. Keanu Reeves plays Johnny Utah, a novice FBI agent and former college football star. Point Break should never have escaped the death spiral of its plot. Having watched it this week, I suspect it’s passed through good again and reached a badness from which it can never climb out. It generated cultural references, parodies and even a stage show, all through being somehow iconically good-bad.
#Point break movie movie
Being bad was never a problem for Bigelow’s Point Break: it became a cult movie and a defining artefact of the early 1990s by being so bad that millions of people thought it was good. True, the Kathryn Bigelow-directed original cannot age as poorly as its 2015 remake, which was born stale. As with many surfers passing their peak, it’s still acting the teenager, more ludicrous with each year. Weirdly, the writers assume the villain of the film will be personable enough to warrant a semi-favorable outcome, but he’s instead remarkably unsympathetic, making the finale something of a misstep – and largely unsatisfying.Point Break turns 30 this year. And though the narrative is rough in places, the pacing isn’t bad enough mayhem occurs at the right spots to keep up the momentum. But seeing Reeves play a vastly different character than usual is refreshing he’s intermittently convincing as an action hero, even if his emotions don’t quite land. Much of the film feels as if an excuse for the cast to surf and skydive – a curious combination of daredevilry. The FBI maneuvers comes across as terribly amateurish, while Johnny’s failure to realize the dangers of his various situations are equally as unprofessional, reckless, and unbelievable. Additional heists, car chases, and fistfights do occur, many demonstrating a flair for creativity and timing (director Kathryn Bigelow is certainly honing her craft), but the storyline takes some odd tangents. But it’s a mere interruption to the lengthier shots on the ocean, where the camera takes in the sights and the stunts. Fortunately, a sting operation brings back the action and intensity – as well as nudity and considerable violence. The cavorting actually carries on for so long that the bank robbery plot is nearly forgotten. Plenty of time is devoted to exploring the lifestyles and beliefs of this crowd (the spiritual side of the sea and the pursuit of the ultimate wave), attempting to bring the audience to the same level of familiarity as Johnny is with surfer guru Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) and his wild group of friends, whom he meets through Tyler. Of course, this is followed by additional surfing montages. Almost comically, there’s a lot more going on that just catching some waves football montages, beach montages, roughhousing montages, reconnaissance montages, and partying montages also populate the screentime. At the start, he ingratiates himself into the life of Tyler Ann Endicott (Lori Petty), who can teach him a thing or two about the water.Īnd then, an excessive amount of surfing montages ensue. When he learns that Pappas believes the Ex-presidents are surfers, based on trace evidence and their summertime attacks, Johnny decides to go undercover as a surfer to get closer to that specific clique. But Johnny desperately wants to prove himself, insisting that they pursue the heisters. “You wanna nail the bank robbers and be a big hero?” Pappas believes that no one will catch these crooks, effectively giving up on digging for clues. Their record is impressive: 27 banks in 3 years. Nevertheless, Utah gets caught up to a major bank robbery case: the “Ex-presidents” are a team of expert thieves who wear masks of former presidents, never shoot anyone, and always get away clean. McGinley, whose role is little more than yelling at his subordinates in a hilariously exaggerated manner) and disregard from veteran Angelo Pappas (Gary Busey), he’s the bright young rookie that no one wants to respect, let alone acknowledge. With a proper tongue-thrashing by superior Ben Harp (John C.
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On his first day with the Los Angeles FBI, 25-year-old Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) is reminded that he’s starting at the bottom of the totem pole. Uxtaposing surfing with target practice (some unsubtle foreshadowing) introduces two very disparate professions. Release Date: July 12th, 1991 MPAA Rating: Rĭirector: Kathryn Bigelow Actors: Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Gary Busey, Lori Petty, John C. Genre: Action and Heist Running Time: 2 hrs.
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