Our second stop on this wonderful journey through the iconic sights of American film leaves us stranded in the depths of the '90s — the darkest, Keanu-est, Vanilla Iciest part. Join me in taking a look back at the film that made everyone realize Gary Busey might just be an actual alien: 1991’s "Point Break."
Kathryn Bigelow is one of today's most influential directors, with Oscar-winning credits such as "The Hurt Locker" (2008) and "Zero Dark Thirty" (2012) under her belt. Her successes speak words of encouragement to anyone who has ever faced failure. If you can recover from making a film whose main character is a) named Johnny Utah, b) played by Keanu Reeves and c) jumps out of an airplane more than once, you can do anything.
Johnny Utah is a rookie FBI agent paired with Busey (playing a sad caricature of himself) and assigned to stop a group of bank robbers who dress as former presidents during their heists. Since it’s Keanu, you can count on multiple missed obvious clues and one oddly violent arrest of the wrong gang.
When Keanu finally does encounter the correct gang of robbers, it's socially, as a group of dudes with whom he learns to surf. This, naturally, makes for several great montages, as Bigelow prioritizes meaningless surf shots over dialogue. Keanu develops a special connection with Bodhi, the leader of this gang of surfers-turned-violent-criminals.
Bodhi, played by a long-haired and still-living Patrick Swayze, takes a liking to Keanu, and the remainder of the film is dedicated to an odd courtship that the '90s are not quite yet progressive enough to recognize as overt homoeroticism.Keanu then starts a relationship with Bodhi’s female friend to maintain a cover, and guess what? She’s played by the lady from "Free Willy" (1993)! Don’t pretend you don’t know who that is.
Things come to a head after Busey and Keanu chase the gang through the streets and Keanu almost catches his best pal and potential lover Bodhi. The two men realize each other's identities, and Keanu decides to forgo the chase in order to fire several shots into the air, yelling madly. This is where the film transcends the genre: Keanu realizes he can’t be with who he truly loves because he is a murderous bank robber who likes to jump out of planes.
It’s here where we really feel for our protagonist, and therefore forgive him for sort of doing a robbery with the gang and getting Gary Busey killed in the ensuing shootout. My only gripe is a missed opportunity to put him in a William Howard Taft mask. Whoops! The things we do for love.
The film ends with a beautiful reunion of the two star-crossed lovers who decide that since they can’t be together, the other logical conclusion is for one of them to leave and for the other to die in a giant wave. If that doesn’t touch you, you’re watching it wrong.
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