Encore Broadcast, Seattle, WA

**** / ****

The Ultimate Rush

By Scott Muoio

Like an adrenaline junkie flung from an airplane and hurtling toward earth, Point Break takes chances and doesn’t pull the rip chord until the last possible moment. It also gives the typical veteran/rookie cop set-up a radical injection of extreme sports aesthetic and philosophy transforming goofy clichés into a highly entertaining, phenomenally quotable, and expertly crafted film.

And yes, I am talking about Point Break.

The plot of the film revolves around a mysterious group of bank robbers named The Ex-Presidents. Sporting tuxedoes and rubber masks of former U.S. Presidents, the band of crooks has ransacked over 30 Los Angeles area banks over the past two summers. Enter curmudgeon agent Angelo Pappas (Gary Busey), whose ridiculous hunch that the crooks might be a band of local surfers irks his potty-mouthed boss, Harp (John C. McGinley). Harp’s revenge: team up Papas with wet behind the ears former Ohio State quarterback turned “F.B.I. agent” Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves).

With Papas and Utah forming a memorably ridiculous team, one thing quickly leads to another. Utah goes undercover as a surfer and learns to ride his pink surfboard with the help of a local surfer chick (Lori Petty). Papas dances around in a Hawaiian shirt while pretending to look for his lost dog. And Bodhi (Patrick Swayze), the charismatic leader of a group of tight nit surfers takes Utah under his wing. All this leads to the ambivalent man-love reaching a fevered pitch as Utah obsesses over following Bodhi into his adrenaline charged lifestyle of surfing, skydiving, and Buddhist soliloquies. Several high octane chase scenes, lots of breathtakingly beautiful surf and sky dive footage, a smattering of hilarious lines, and some truly excellent editing punctuates the proceedings creating a severely under appreciated cinematic classic just dying for a second look.

And yes, I am talking about Point Break.

Now I understand that when a movie features Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze, Gary Busey, John C. McGinley, and Lori Petty headlining the marquee it is easy to expect the worst. But I promise: by the time the startling denouement at Australia’s Bells Beach brings the action and New Age philosophy to a hilt you’ll be begging for more. Indeed, Point Break is a tremendous rush, a terrific film, and easily one of the most memorable movies of the 1990s. And when director Kathryn Bigelow wins the Academy Award in 2010 for best director of The Hurt Locker no one will laugh at Point Break ever again. Well, at least not without giving Ms. Bigelow the kudos she deserves.

Memorbale Lines:

“I am an F.B.I. agent.” – Johnny Utah

“Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true.” – Bodhi

“I caught my first tube today.” – Johnny Utah

“You're sayin' the FBI's gonna pay me to learn to surf?” – Johnny Utah

“You’re about to jump out of a perfectly good plane, Johnny. How do you feel about that?” - Roach

“I’m not gonna paddle my way to New Zealand.” – Bodhi

“It’s not tragic to die doing what you love.” - Bodhi

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Producer: James Cameron, Peter Abrams, Robert Levy

Writer: W. Peter Lliff, James Cameron (Uncredited)

Starring: Patrick Swayze, Matt Taylor, Keanu Reeves, Gary Busey, Lori Petty, John C. McGinley, James LeGros

Original Music: Mark Isham

Cinematographer: Donald Peterman

Editor: Howard Smith