Skip to main content
Games Radar
  • Newsarama
  • Total Film
  • Edge
  • Retro Gamer
  • SFX
Total Film The smarter take on movies
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • More
    • PS5
    • Xbox Series X
    • Nintendo Switch
    • Nintendo Switch 2
    • PC
    • Platforms
    • Tabletop Gaming
    • Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • SFX
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsletters
    • About us
    • Features
Gaming Magazines
Gaming Magazines
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe from just £3
  • Takes you closer to the games, movies and TV you love
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12
Subscribe now
Trending
  • Best Netflix Movies
  • Best movies on Disney Plus
  • Movie Release Dates
  • Best Netflix Shows
Recommended reading
Leonardo DiCaprio as Trooper William "Billy" Costigan Jr. undercover and sneaking next to a wall during a scene in The Departed.
Thriller Movies The 25 best thriller movies to send a shiver down your spine
Tom Hanks in Cast Away
Movies The 32 greatest movies about the beach
Tom Holland in new Netflix movie The Devil All the Time
Thriller Movies The 25 best Netflix thrillers to watch right now
Aaron Pierre as Terry Richmond standing in front of a group of policemen during the Netflix movie, Rebel Ridge.
Action Movies The 25 best Netflix action movies to watch right now
Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock in Speed
Amazon Prime Video Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock plan third screen reunion in romantic thriller for Amazon
Matthew McConaughey as Cooper, next to a floating space ship in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar.
Streaming Services The 10 best movies on Paramount Plus to watch right now
Ana de Armas as Eve in Ballerina
Action Movies From the World of John Wick: Ballerina review: "Brilliant action, even if the plot gives you a sense of déjà vu"
  1. Entertainment
  2. Movies
  3. Action Movies
  4. point break

The Story Behind Point Break

Features
By Neil Smith published 15 September 2009

Why Bigelow's best is totally Swayze...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Husband vs Wife

Husband vs Wife

It's summer 1991, and married directors James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow have films coming out within weeks of each other.

His is Terminator 2: Judgment Day , the feverishly anticipated follow-up to his 1984 sci-fi classic. Hers is Point Break, a largely unheralded actioner starring a post- Ghost Patrick Swayze and Bill & Ted 's Keanu Reeves.

“It's interesting to see if we can stay married after the grosses come in,” Cameron joked in an interview.

But before the year is out, the couple are divorced. And while T2 is a global box-office smash, Point Break is derided by the critics and opens to only moderate business...

Page 1 of 6
Page 1 of 6
The Plot

The Plot

Point Break , with its gleefully preposterous B-movie plotline and endlessly rewatchable set-pieces, was tailor-made for video. Here was a cult, not in the making but one fully formed – a brilliantly kinetic, breakneck-paced thriller that both adhered to and subverted genre norms.

On one level, it's a deeply conventional blockbuster with a gloriously dopey, high-concept pitch (FBI rookie infiltrates a team of surfing bank robberts).

On another, it's a feminist attack on jaded Hollywood clichés that objectifies the male form and skewers the latent homoeroticism in action cinema.

And on another, it's a robust political satire that pointedly has its bad guys commit crime disguised as former American presidents. (“We've been screwing you for years, so a few more seconds shouldn't matter now, should it?” says Swayze from behind a Ronald Reagan mask.)

Page 2 of 6
Page 2 of 6
Action!

Action!

The wonderful thing about Point Break is that whatever angle you approach it from, there's more to it than you think.

First and foremost it's a popcorn action movie. But Bigelow – a gifted painter and Columbia Film School graduate – is no ordinary action director.

Look at most examples of the genre, from James Bond onwards and it's all about the hardware: big guns, fast cars, high-tech gadgets.

For Bigelow, it's movement - physical action. The military precision of an organised bank job; the divine prowess of a sun-kissed wave-chaser; the breathless vigour of a foot pursuit shown in real time from the pursuer's shaky, blurred viewpoint.

Even one seemingly straightforward sequence – Keanu's first day at his new office – becomes a thing of beauty, as Bigelow's restless Steadicam tracks him through doors, corners and desks in one fluid and unbroken shot.

Page 3 of 6
Page 3 of 6
Bodhi & Johnny

Bodhi & Johnny

Of course, the real things of beauty are Reeves and Swayze themselves.

In most Hollywood product, it's the girls who appear topless; here it's the blokes, their tanned torsos and honed pectorals framed in a series of leering, lingering close-ups. (Reeves' introduction – shooting at cardboard targets in the middle of a downpour – is effectively a wet T-shirt competition.)

The only female exposure comes from a naked harpy whose nudity doesn't stop her kicking the shit out of an FBI agent. And though Reeves has a nominal love interest in Lori Petty (who tellingly absents herself from one dick-measuring contest with the words, “Too much testosterone here!”), the true romance is between the reckless, risk-taking newbie Johnny Utah and Swayze's Zen master criminal Bodhi. (“You're getting too goddamn close to this surfer guru buddy of yours!” gripes Gary Busey's FBI old-timer with visible distaste.)

Just count the times the stars grapple each other: in the sea, on the ground, even in the air. “I know it's hard for you, Johnny,” says Bodhi, shortly before jumping out of an airplane (a stunt that Swayze daringly performed himself). “You want me so bad it's like acid in your mouth...”

“Are we going to jump or jerk off?” quips Reeves in another loaded exchange that gives a whole new meaning to Bodhi's search for “the ultimate ride”...

Page 4 of 6
Page 4 of 6
Keanu Comes Good

Keanu Comes Good

The movie plays perfectly well without such readings – but the gay subtext is undeniable. So much so that you begin to see it even when it's probably unintentional, as in the opening titles that show Reeves and Swayze's credits slide, merge and, yes, come together.

Keanu's action-man image may have been built on Speed and cemented by The Matrix , but Point Break was where the groundwork was laid. (According to executive producer Cameron, Bigelow “went to the mat for Keanu. She insisted he could be an action star. She worked on his wardrobe, showed him how to walk, made him work out. She was his Olympic coach.”)

And he's certainly effective, holding his own in the fisticuffs and showing no qualms about putting himself in harm's way (notably during a frenetic house raid that sees his pretty-boy features come perilously close to a lawnmower's whirring blades).

OK, so thereês rather too much Ted in his vacant posturing and slack-jawed inarticulacy (“I can't express how I'm feeling!”). But at least he has the sense to acknowledge his surfer-dude baggage, even spoofing it during one comical encounter with a hairy beach-bum. (“Saved your life, bro. Close one!”)

Page 5 of 6
Page 5 of 6
Career Bests

Career Bests

And so to Swayze... His blond-barneted, conflicted-villain spiritualist is more inadvertently amusing than dangerously inspirational. But he deserves credit for subverting his good-guy persona so soon after Ghost – even if, Donnie Darko apart, it sadly didn't lead to better things.

Before this year's triumphant return with kinetic Iraq war docu-thriller The Hurt Locker , the same could have been said of Bigelow. Her subsequent offerings - Strange Days , the little-seen The Weight Of Water and K-19: The Widowmaker – seemed flat and uninspired compared to the terrific trilogy of Near Dark , Blue Steel and this, her undisputed classic.

Perhaps aware she might become pigeonholed as an action director or, worse, Cameron's protege, Bigelow still seems reluctant to make another all-out action picture.

But if she'd never set foot behind a camera again, her reputation is assured thanks to this heart-pumping, adrenaline-inducing, totally bodacious butt-booter. Surf's up, dude...

Page 6 of 6
Page 6 of 6
Neil Smith
Freelance Writer

Neil Smith is a freelance film critic who has written for several publications, including Total Film. His bylines can be found at the BBC, Film 4 Independent, Uncut Magazine, SFX, Heat Magazine, Popcorn, and more. 

See more Movies Features
Read more
Leonardo DiCaprio as Trooper William "Billy" Costigan Jr. undercover and sneaking next to a wall during a scene in The Departed.
The 25 best thriller movies to send a shiver down your spine
Tom Hanks in Cast Away
The 32 greatest movies about the beach
Tom Holland in new Netflix movie The Devil All the Time
The 25 best Netflix thrillers to watch right now
Aaron Pierre as Terry Richmond standing in front of a group of policemen during the Netflix movie, Rebel Ridge.
The 25 best Netflix action movies to watch right now
Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock in Speed
Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock plan third screen reunion in romantic thriller for Amazon
Matthew McConaughey as Cooper, next to a floating space ship in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar.
The 10 best movies on Paramount Plus to watch right now
Latest in Action Movies
Jared Leto in Morbius
Hereditary and Midsommar director Ari Aster turned down Sony's infamous Marvel flop Morbius, and now I need to know what that film would have looked like
Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Sebastian Stan and the rest of the cast of Thunderbolts*
Thunderbolts director says he doesn't see Yelena and Bob's relationship as "romantic": "That wasn't what we were going for"
Godzilla cashing a boat in the ocean during the sci-fi movie, Godzilla Minus One.
The Godzilla Minus One sequel could arrive as early as 2026 – and Shin Godzilla might be getting a follow-up, too
Denis Villeneuve at a screening of Dune
Former James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli praises Amazon's hiring of Denis Villeneuve to direct the next 007 movie, calling him "a fantastic director"
Peter Malley
James Gunn says upcoming movie Clayface is "a complete horror film," adding that writer Mike Flanagan and Speak No Evil director will "bring their own sense to it"
The Fantastic Four: First Steps cast assemble
In the battle of the summer superhero blockbusters, Marvel's Fantastic Four is on track to have a slightly lower opening weekend at the box office than DC's Superman
Latest in Features
Caleb Landry Jones as Walter in Harvest
I loved the folk horror elements of 28 Years Later, and this new nightmarish medieval movie follows in its footsteps in all the right ways
Karl Urban as Judge Dredd in 2012's Dredd movie.
As a life-long Judge Dredd fan, here's why I'm excited – and more than a little nervous – about Taika Waititi's new movie
Steam Deck OLED with game library on screen sitting on woodgrain desk
After 3 years of holding out, I finally bought a Steam Deck thanks to the same logic I used to talk myself out of a Switch 2
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild screenshot showing Link, a male character with elf-like ears, blond hair, and bright blue eyes
The Legend of Zelda movie is exciting, but I'm still begging for 5 specific video game movies to get adapted next
Ghost of Yotei screenshot of Atsu with her arms raised as she wields a katana
I had to stop playing Ghost of Tsushima after 47 hours, but Ghost of Yotei is winning me back by channeling the coolest anime ever made
A screenshot of the upcoming RPG, The Outer Worlds 2
I'm convinced that 2025 will bring us the next Baldur's Gate 3, and these are all the upcoming RPGs that may prove me right
  1. DK and Pauline look surprised in Donkey Kong Bananza
    1
    Donkey Kong Bananza Review: "Destruction isn't just a flashy gimmick for the Minecraft generation, it's one of the best inventions Nintendo has had in years"
  2. 2
    Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 review: "A nostalgic, must-play hit for fans"
  3. 3
    College Football 26 review: “Thanks to rivalries and dynasty, this is the greatest show on turf”
  4. 4
    Mecha Break review: "This mech battler makes up for lacking customization with a varied roster that lets me live out my Evangelion fantasy"
  5. 5
    Death Stranding 2: On the Beach review: "This tarpunk delivery epic is more Metal Gear Solid than ever, for better and worse"
  1. David Corenswet as Superman inside the Fortress of Solitude in James Gunn's Superman.
    1
    Superman review: "A triumphant reinvention and a promising start for the DCU"
  2. 2
    Jurassic World Rebirth Review: "An unscary sequel that needed a little more time in amber"
  3. 3
    M3GAN 2.0 review: "A bold sequel with a slightly underwhelming conclusion"
  4. 4
    28 Years Later Review: "Enough terror, splatter and suspense to satisfy”
  5. 5
    Predator: Killer of Killers review: "Great characters, thrilling action, and gorgeous Arcane-esque animation"
  1. Lee Jung-jae as Gi-hun in Squid Game season 3
    1
    Squid Game season 3 review: "A staggeringly excellent final season wraps up one of the greatest Netflix shows ever"
  2. 2
    Ironheart review: "A relic of Marvel's content-at-all-costs era"
  3. 3
    Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 review: "The show's most assured run of episodes to date"
  4. 4
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 8 spoiler review: 'The Reality War' is "a mix of the good, the bad, and the truly baffling"
  5. 5
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 7 spoiler review: 'Wish World' is "an exciting and ambitious" start to the season finale, with hints of WandaVision

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...