A Review of Point Break: “I Swear Those Two Are in Love”
This movie does not make any sense. There seems to be some flow of logic throughout the movie but frequently, things happen that just baffle me. And yet, I love this movie. The 1991 original Point Break is an action movie where FBI agent Johnny Utah, played by Keanu Reeves, goes undercover with a band of surfers to investigate them for a series of bank robberies. The plot already sounds like nonsense but what really puzzles me is the dynamic between Johnny and the leader of the surfing bank robbers, Bodhi, played by Patrick Swayze.
Over the course of the film, Johnny and Bodhi go from being close friends to mortal enemies, but their infatuation with each other goes beyond what I would expect from either type of relationship. I have watched this movie three times now, and I believe that the only explanation for their bond is that the two of them are in love. Repeatedly throughout the movie, the two of them behave in ways that appear completely irrational. When Johnny has a clear shot on Bodhi, he lets him go. Which, sure, they were still somewhat friends at this point in the movie, so it makes sense that he couldn’t bring himself to do it in that moment. But this isn’t the only time this happens. Towards the end of the movie, when Bodhi was responsible for several deaths throughout the film, Johnny lets him go again, disregarding his grudge against him and his duty as an FBI agent. On the other side, when Bodhi takes Johnny’s girlfriend hostage, instead of telling Johnny to back off and let them escape, he drags Johnny along and forces him to help in another bank robbery. Why? Why does he do that? It makes for an amazing scene, I’ll admit, but it’s not what a reasonable criminal would do with an FBI agent. Maybe I’m reaching here, but when I watch Bodhi tell Johnny, “I know you want me so bad it’s like acid in your mouth,” and then almost immediately after, see Johnny jump out of a plane–with NO PARACHUTE–to chase after him and fall right into Bodhi’s arms, I start to question what this movie is really about.
As I said, I love this movie, but with each viewing of the film, it becomes less serious and so has my impression of it. Now I see Johnny handcuffing himself to Bodhi in the final scene as a symbol of a marital bond between the two. While that may not be the climax of the movie, it is the climax of their relationship. When Johnny lets Bodhi go for the last time, it is him finally letting go of his obsession with him. This movie is a pretty decent action movie with a fun premise, but at its heart, it’s a subtle, complex romance with intense action that symbolizes the passion the two characters have for each other.