There’s something so appealing about the life of a surfer. You live near the beach. You wake up every morning and search for that day’s perfect waves. At night, you make sure your board is in perfect shape as you plot tomorrow’s tide tables and check who had even better waves. Sometimes you get to travel the world to find those monster waves. It seems like such a perfect life when you are in harmony with the ocean. The imperfect part is figuring out how to support such a life if you’re not a trust fund kid. Point Break allows us to discover how a small group of surfers pay for their fulltime quest for the perfect wave without having a sponsorship from Red Bull.
Johnny Utah (Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure‘s Keanu Reeves) is young hot shot FBI Agent. He gets flown out to Los Angeles to help with the investigation of a series of bank robberies. The only clue linking them together is the culprits wear suits and rubber masks of Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon and Lyndon B. Johnson. There seem to be no real leads about the foursome nicknamed The Ex-Presidents. FBI Agent Angelo Pappas (The Buddy Holly Story‘s Gary Busey) has a hunch that they are surfers. Using the pattern of when they stage their robberies, the culprits are in Southern California during the height of surfing season. He figures that the crew rob banks to help fun their endless summer around the world to all the prime waves. While other agents scoff this theory, a hair found at a robbery scene gives Utah and Pappas an idea of what beach the Ex-President are using to hang ten. They’re at Point Break which has primo waves. The athletic Utah learns how to surf after being rescued by Tyler Ann Endicott (Tank Girl‘s Lori Petty). He gets good enough to stake out the beach. Very quickly he spots a pack of likely suspects in Tone (Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Anthony Kiedis) and three guys. They fight Utah to defend their locals only turf. Utah finds support in surfer Bodhi (Road House‘s Patrick Swayze). The two get an immediate bro vibe off each other. It helps that Bodhi saw Utah play quarterback in college. They’re guys who aren’t afraid of having danger rush at them. They surf together and hang. Utah gets a raid put on Tone and his gang’s house. The bust turns into a massive screw up. As Utah questions how he could go so wrong, he begins to suspect his new friend might be part of the Ex-Presidents.
When looking online for information about Point Break, I had completely forgotten there was a remake done barely 8 years ago. What was the point in remaking Point Break since there’s no way any attempt could touch the chemistry between Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze. They are a great movie couple. Swayze is this a blond and bearded Greek God as he pushes the envelope when he challenges nature on land, sea or air. He pulls Keanu into his daredevil slipstream. Keanu is able to pull off being a straight lace law enforcement character who gets drawn into the surfer life. There’s been a few films about undercover cops getting too deep in the criminal life. But Keanu gets hooked into the life that the criminals are leading. It’s not a glamourous high rolling life of expensive cars, private jets, crazy nightclubs and money shooting out of guns at strippers. Keanu has his board, his new girlfriend, the waves and his bro. What more does he need to exist? There are expenses such as rent on a bungalow near the waves in California. Keanu adapts to the high-octane life that Swayze delivers. When the two are sky diving, there’s a hard bond as Swayze shares the pure rush of falling together with Keanu. That element can’t be touched. Although getting to see Point Break in 4K UHD makes it more touching.
When Point Break came out in the summer of 1991, it promised an Adrenaline rush. Even after 32 years, Point Break delivers those moments. The surfing and skydiving don’t distract from the narrative. They are part of the characters like dance numbers in a Broadway show. As learned from the bonus features, Swayze really did his own skydiving. He jumps out of the plane. This isn’t a stunt double or green screen effect. He becomes Bohdi during the film. Even more thrilling than the stunts is how Keanu and Swayze connect. Point Break: Collector’s Edition delivers the thrills and chills of a surfing life that’s gone bad.
The Video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The master and restoration were made from a 4K scan of the Interpositive using Dolby Vision. It looks gorgeous whether up in the air or deep in the surf. The Audio is DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround and DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo. You’ll hear the rush of action all around you. The movie is subtitled.
Blu-ray with movie and bonus features.
Additional Scenes (4:35) are taken from the low-resolution video transfer during editing. We get more surfing footage, Keanu takes his surfboard into the FBI office, a bonfire on the beach, when Johnny gets exposed and Swayze trying to distract.
Adrenaline Junkies (6:01) has Patrick Swayze admit this was the most fun he had making a movie. We meet the stunt doubles for the main cast. There’s talk of taking things to the edge in surfing, skydiving, car chasing and bank robbery. Swayze would skydive on his own time.
It’s Make or Break (23:03) is a about what went into the film. Gary Busey looks back at the experience. Keanu Reeves’ clips come from interviews during the original release. The idea started with surfers robbing banks and an FBI agent going undercover. Charlie Sheen and Johnny Depp were up for the lead. The script lingered for four years until Jim Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow wanted to make it. Bigelow fixated on Keanu Reeves since the studio didn’t see him as an action star. They studio wanted Swayze as Johnny Utah and he wanted to play Bodhi instead.
On Location: Malibu (8:32) takes Grommet and Nathaniel back to the beach to check out the scene. They share what it was like to work with Swayze.
Ride The Wave (6:08) gets into the spirituality of surfing. Many of the cast and crew surfed before getting cast. There’s talk of the power from the waves.
Theatrical Trailers (4:14) promises the ultimate rush and being on the thin line between life and death. There are three trailers.
Still Gallery (2:17) is a montage of behind the scenes shots. You get to see how they did the sky diving close ups.
Shout! Studios presents Point Break (Collector’s Edition). Directed by Kathryn Bigelow. Screenplay by W. Peter Iliff. Starring Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Gary Busey, Lori Petty, John C. McGinley, James LeGros, John Philbin & Anthony Kiedis. Running Time: 122 minutes. Rating: Rated R. Release Date: December 12, 2023.
