On paper, Point Break (1991) is a mad idea for a movie.  It is about a group of surfers who rob banks, and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) agent tasked with stopping them.  Not to be stereotypical, but it is difficult to imagine these “gnarly dudes,” described at one point as a “tribe,” being also hardened criminals.  When you also factor in that they are led by a person who calls himself Bodhisattva (Patrick Swayze), or Bodhi for short, it becomes a little odder.  He leans into this new wave (no pun intended), pseudo-Eastern philosophy stuff, too, talking about how in tune one needs to be with the world.  Yet, in order to fund his and his friends’ nomadic lifestyle, they pull heists.  A “bodhisattva,” by the way, is a person from the Buddhist tradition that has attained the highest level of enlightenment.  According to their tradition, this is not usually attained through murder and mayhem.  Having said all this, people love this film, and it is often referenced in other action flicks along with other memorable titles.  I do not understand why this is so.  I am simply here to report.

While Bodhi rides his Point Break waves, Special Agent Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) is graduating at the top of his class from the FBI academy at Quantico, Virginia.  From there, the former college football quarterback is immediately assigned to the field office in Los Angeles, California, where there are frequent bank robberies.  The most notorious of these crimes are those committed by the cabal calling themselves the ex-presidents.  Spoiler alert: this is Bodhi’s bunch.  They have been giving the FBI fits for some time now.  As the new guy wanting to make an impression, Johnny gets in on the case with his seasoned partner, Agent Angelo Pappas (Gary Busey).  Agent Pappas is roundly ridiculed at the office, including by their boss, Director Ben Harp (John C. McGinley), for his theory as to the identity of the ex-presidents.  Agent Pappas believes that they are surfers based on the tenuous evidence they have collected.  Johnny is not willing to believe it either until what they are able to gather from their most recent bank job seems to point in the surfing direction.  Because he is the younger of the two, he is the one tabbed with buying a surfboard and hitting the waves.  He underestimates the difficulty of the sport, and has to be saved his first time out by Tyler Endicott (Lori Petty).  She proves to be his in for getting into this world centered on surfing, though it does not hurt that he finds her attractive.  It is also helpful that she has a short criminal record, meaning that she might know about any illicit goings-on amongst these beachgoers.  He thus goes to her to get surf lessons.  Doing so brings him into contact with Bodhi, Tyler having once dated the faux guru of the sea.  Their introduction proves fortuitous when, after accidentally getting in the way of another surfer, Johnny is accosted by the same aggrieved wave rider and his buddies.  They proceed to pick a fight with Johnny until Bodhi intervenes. Bodhi then informs Johnny that these are a set of malcontents.  Further investigation into them seems to indicate that they might be the ex-presidents.  At the same time, Johnny continues to get deeper with Bodhi’s company, as well as fall in love with Tyler.  However, the raid that Agent Pappas and Johnny set up on the unruly surfers that accosted Johnny definitively proves that they are not the ex-presidents.  They are just other criminal surfers with drugs and guns, but they had been under surveillance by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).  While it looks like they are back to the beginning of their investigation, Johnny gets a clue from one of Bodhi’s friends that they are the right outlaws.  Johnny follows them for a day to confirm.  It is also getting towards the end of the summer, which they believe will be when the ex-presidents cease their activities in this area and head elsewhere.  Based on Johnny’s observations, he and Agent Pappas stake out the bank he thinks will be the next target.  The chase is on after they emerge with the money, with Johnny closely following Bodhi on foot.  Towards the end, Johnny hurts his knee jumping down from an embankment. Nonetheless, he has a clear shot.  Locking eyes with Bodhi, Johnny instead fires his weapon into the air and Bodhi gets away.  This does mean, though, that Bodhi has learned that Johnny is a member of law enforcement.  Tyler finds out, too, and she is not happy about having been lied to by Johnny.  Despite this argument, she becomes a bargaining chip for Bodhi in order to force Johnny into helping to perform one more bank robbery.  After going sky diving (as you do), Bodhi shows Johnny footage of Tyler being held hostage.  The heist goes wrong when Bodhi gets greedy, and Johnny is left behind to be picked up by the FBI.  Agent Pappas says he will take his partner into custody, but instead they go after Bodhi.  Johnny attempts to plead with Bodhi for Tyler’s life, and this hesitation ends up getting Agent Pappas killed. Bodhi takes off with his one remaining accomplice, barely alive, intending to sky dive into Mexico.  Johnny goes with, and ends up jumping out of the plane without a parachute in pursuit of Bodhi.  They have a rough landing, but Bodhi frees Tyler and she is re-united with Johnny, their differences seemingly forgotten.  Somehow, Johnny makes it out of the Mexican desert because we next catch up with him in Australia.  He has come there because he has figured this is where Bodhi will be in order to ride the ultimate wave.  Johnny is about to prevent this, but Bodhi pleads with the FBI agent to be able to fulfill his lifelong dream.  Johnny does so and walks away, throwing away his badge as he does so.  The end.

At the end of Point Break, with the biggest breakers you have ever seen in your life thundering off shore, Johnny has Bodhi in handcuffs.  The fact that Johnny lets the criminal go, I guess, means that he has bought into the bank robber’s rhetoric that is meant to excuse them stealing money.  It has something to do with thumbing their collective noses at a “soul sucking” system.  My problem with this movie stems from how out of phase this is with what we commonly think of as surfing culture.  This might be a stereotype, but the film does borrow from the notion that those who ride the waves have to be at one with the sea.  What I find interesting from a Catholic perspective is what a kid says to Johnny when he buys his first surfboard: surfing will change your life.  By the way, while watching Johnny get deeper into the sport and the people in it, I kept thinking of a priest that I had once seen on YouTube known to be a surfer.  I could not remember his name, but over the years there have been a few to have the title “surfer priest,” including one in the Surfing Hall of Fame.  If there is a current one, it would be Father Donald Calloway, a member of the Congregation of the Marian Fathers of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  His life is roughly analogous to the transformation we see Johnny undergo.  Father Calloway had a checkered past, which is not similar to Johnny.  And yet, they each encountered something that would alter the course of their lives.  We saw what it was for Johnny.  With Father Calloway, it was seeing his parents have a conversion of Faith, becoming Catholics, and then him being inspired by the Mother of God.  They would agree, though, that surfing is an escape.  It allows us to get up close and personal with God’s creation.  Father Calloway would describe it in this manner, but Johnny would look at it more through the influence of Bodhi.  Either way you put it, God is the engine behind the tide.  Tapping into that knowledge should not be a reason for a life of crime.

While Point Break has its share of silly moments, it is not the worst action movie I have seen.  I also do not understand why it is so beloved.  It is fine, but people put it on a pedestal for some reason.  Perhaps this colored how I viewed it?  Either way, I would prefer something else, especially considering some of the violent content.