While I was never a fan of "Road House" or "Ghost", "Point Break" is one of my all time favorite movies that has held up to hundreds of viewings since 1991. It was released in the summer of 1991 but I didn't catch up with it until it made its way on video. I remember at 11 years old loving it so much, when it was over, I hit rewind and watched it again.
It was the first movie I remember seeing where you loved the bad guy. Patrick Swayze was great at Bodhi. He was so great, there were all those knock offs of "Point Break" trying to use his rules for bank robbery.
It was great to see "Hot Fuzz" pay such homage showing Nicholas and Danny watching it after a night at the bar, Danny explaining how Keanu Reeves can't shoot Swayze because he loves him so much. "Point Break" is the quintessential bromance of the 90s.
"Point Break" is a throwback to when Swayze was still a star and Lori Petty was still a viable actress. Keanu Reeves has gone on to do some good films but "Point Break" still holds up as his other films fade.
I remember a friend spoiling the ending before I saw it. He told me Swayze surfs a hurricane wave at the end. When I think about it, he didn't really spoil it. That scene where Johnny Utah lets him go to die doing what he loved, he was thanking Bodhi for changing his life. Then the FBI shows up and says, "You let him go," and Utah says "No I didn't." Then those FBI guys say, "We'll get him when he comes back in." Utah says, "He's not coming back". Then you see Bodhi ride that wave to the score of the film. The end of his life wasn't as glorious as Bodhi's, but Swayze had ridden enough big waves to justify his run.
"Yo Johnny, I'll see you in the next life."
