It’s a fine summer movie. A lot of that is achieved by its built in safety net (surfing; extreme sports), because as a movie it’s far from perfect. For once, the dialogue and acting are mostly ass, there are so many unintentionally funny lines in this. I quite liked how the characters are written though, the writer seems to have an odd fetish for characters with severe anger management issues (or maybe that’s part of its attempt to critique masculinity, IDK). The story, however, takes a lot of turns that are inexcusably dumb and predictable, even for a movie as cheesy as this one (why is your mole part of the police raid?). Then there’s the action scenes, which are also a bit of a mixed bag. Take the chase around the halfway mark, for example. It starts like an alright, somewhat forgettable car chase, but the foot chase it evolves into is this very visceral, memorable sequence. In fact, it’s so iconic that _Hot Fuzz_ references back to it. The climax is imaginative and inspired, but perhaps it was so difficult to capture that it doesn’t have the best camerawork. All in all, a lot of its appeal comes down to it essentially being GTA in movie form, as told through the police.

6/10

On this face of it, this ought to be rubbish... a testosterone-fuelled story of beautiful people who rob banks to fund their hedonistic lifestyle that largely revolves around anything that causes their adrenalin to rush, but it isn't rubbish. Kathryn Bigelow keeps the pace end-to-end, and both Keanu Reeves ("Johnny Utah") and Patrick Swayze ("Bohdi") are clearly having fun as the FBI agent pursuing the gang of rubber mask clad "ex-president" beach-bum robbers. Reeves is easy on the eye, but pretty wooden and sure, the plot has more holes than a string vest but the story isn't meant to be deep and meaningful. This is just a fun adventure escapade that sees our hero go surfing, sky-diving and the cinematographer is clearly in his element, too. The ending, though cluttered up with some lovey-dovey nonsense, is actually quite exhilarating as the pair seem to develop just a little bit of a bromance... It's an updated variation on the traditional cops 'n robbers affair that offers much by way of escapism on a wet, wintry evening and ought to be judged accordingly.

**_The fast and the furious on the beaches of Southern California_**

A young FBI agent (Keanu Reeves) is sent by his superior (Gary Busey) to investigate a surfer gang to find out if they’re a notorious group of bank robbers. Patrick Swayze plays the guru-like leader of the gang while Lori Petty is on hand as a surfer companion. John C. McGinley appears as the FBI chief.

"Point Break" (1991) is an action/crime thriller set mostly on the beaches of SoCal that obviously influenced "The Fast and the Furious" (2001) plot-wise. This is the better movie due to Swayze’s charismatic character and the interesting dynamic between Utah (Reeves) and Bodhi (Swayze), not to mention the relationship of Utah and Pappas (Busey) as well as Utah and Tyler (Lori). So, while this is a snappy, action-packed flick, it doesn’t forget to provide human interest.

In some ways it’s even great with certain seeming plot holes easily explained if you think about it; others maybe not so much.

Since it was made in 1990 it has an 80’s vibe (in a good way) with a pre-grunge soundtrack. Nirvana’s NEVERMIND wouldn’t debut until 2.5 months after its release.

The film runs 2 hours, 2 minutes, and was shot mostly in greater Los Angeles (Malibu, Culver City, Santa Monica, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach and Venice). The surfing scenes were done in O'ahu, Hawaii; the skydiving scenes at Lake Powell, Utah; and the closing Australian sequence at Cannon Beach, Oregon.

GRADE: B+

**Katherine Bigelow creates a beautiful complex action blockbuster with magnificent depth and chapters.**

Wow. Just wow. Point Break is a deep character-driven film full of top-notch action, mind-blowing stunts, and incredible performances. These actors made you fall in love and deeply care about each character and moment in the film. Each actor's portrayal was thoughtful, dedicated, outstanding, and worthy of much more acclaim and awards than received. This film transformed Keanu Reeves into an action hero, with Point Break only being the first of many 90s action movies he led, including Speed and The Matrix. Gary Busey nailed his mentor role as Agent Pappas. But the stand-out performance was Patrick Swayze as the cool and captivating Bodhi. His performance was shown brilliantly through his eyes, which said much more than any dialogue. Unfortunately, the real crime was Swayze didn't even get a nomination for this astonishing role. The complex relationship between Reeves and Swayze's characters as their friendship develops and their conflicting sides of the law is the focal point of the movie, providing an excellent foundation for the fantastic action sequences. Point Break is an incredible movie about friendship and justice, with skydiving action fight sequences, robbery heists, and chase scenes. Katherine Bigelow's film remains one of the greatest action and heist movies of the 90s and the inspiration for the Fast and the Furious franchise.