Point Break
Oct. 3rd, 2019 07:21 amI can’t remember exactly what made me watch Kathryn Bigelow’s Point Break. Was it the gif of Keanu Reeves’ angry blood-spattered face? Was it the description: FBI agent Johnny Utah (OMG, the names!) infiltrates a surfer crew turned bank robbery gang, and falls under the spell of its leader, Bodhi (played by Patrick Swayze)?
It was probably the description. Doesn’t that seem to promise off the charts homoeroticism? Ripped surfer dudes wandering shirtless on the beach and probably tussling with each other. Erotically charged fistfights as the plot heats up. The very name Johnny Utah.
There are a lot of good reasons to watch Point Break, but it turns out that homoeroticism isn’t one. For a movie about an FBI agent who falls under the sway of a surfer cult leader, only to discover said surfer is leading a gang of bank robbers, at which point surfer and FBI agent begin a deadly game of cat and mouse that features the surfer saying things like “I know you want me” - it’s really not very slashy.
It’s the delivery, I think. It’s not just the fact that Bodhi is definitely referring to the fact that Johnny Utah wants to kill him when he says “I know you want me” (like that ever dissuaded shippers!), but the fact that he’s so laconic about it. He’s not particularly invested in Johnny Utah as a person. His real love is the sea and the waves and the adrenaline rush, however he can find it. The money might be nice, but you really feel he got into bank robbing for the thrill of it.
So from that angle the movie is disappointing, but there are a lot of other things to like about it. The characterization is good: Bodhi in particular is fascinating, because you can feel that there’s an internal logic to him, and yet it takes some figuring out because he seems so unlike most other people. (I often feel that “This character is an adrenaline junkie!” is a cheap way to get out of explaining a character’s motivations, but in Bodhi’s case I absolutely buy it.) The action takes some time to get going (the viewer has the incomparable advantage of knowing that Patrick Swayze is a star and therefore his character has to be the bad guy; Johnny Utah has to figure it out), but once it does, the movie moves as a pulse-pounding pace. It’s more violent than I expected, but not to the point that it feels gratuitous.
Also, the cinematography - the sky-diving scene, the surfing scenes, most of all any scenes with the waves and the beach - is top notch. It might be worth watching the movie just to see the wave shots alone.
It was probably the description. Doesn’t that seem to promise off the charts homoeroticism? Ripped surfer dudes wandering shirtless on the beach and probably tussling with each other. Erotically charged fistfights as the plot heats up. The very name Johnny Utah.
There are a lot of good reasons to watch Point Break, but it turns out that homoeroticism isn’t one. For a movie about an FBI agent who falls under the sway of a surfer cult leader, only to discover said surfer is leading a gang of bank robbers, at which point surfer and FBI agent begin a deadly game of cat and mouse that features the surfer saying things like “I know you want me” - it’s really not very slashy.
It’s the delivery, I think. It’s not just the fact that Bodhi is definitely referring to the fact that Johnny Utah wants to kill him when he says “I know you want me” (like that ever dissuaded shippers!), but the fact that he’s so laconic about it. He’s not particularly invested in Johnny Utah as a person. His real love is the sea and the waves and the adrenaline rush, however he can find it. The money might be nice, but you really feel he got into bank robbing for the thrill of it.
So from that angle the movie is disappointing, but there are a lot of other things to like about it. The characterization is good: Bodhi in particular is fascinating, because you can feel that there’s an internal logic to him, and yet it takes some figuring out because he seems so unlike most other people. (I often feel that “This character is an adrenaline junkie!” is a cheap way to get out of explaining a character’s motivations, but in Bodhi’s case I absolutely buy it.) The action takes some time to get going (the viewer has the incomparable advantage of knowing that Patrick Swayze is a star and therefore his character has to be the bad guy; Johnny Utah has to figure it out), but once it does, the movie moves as a pulse-pounding pace. It’s more violent than I expected, but not to the point that it feels gratuitous.
Also, the cinematography - the sky-diving scene, the surfing scenes, most of all any scenes with the waves and the beach - is top notch. It might be worth watching the movie just to see the wave shots alone.