POINT BREAK - Blu-ray review

The 1991 film "Point Break" has become an unlikely cult film over the past eighteen years. Starring a relatively young Keanu Reeves and a then-hugely popular Patrick Swayze, the film found good box office success during its initial run, but has become a strong catalog title. It's popularity had found fans clamoring for a sequel in the years following the theatrical release and while its original numbers and following was not enough to convince somebody to green-light a sequel, the films strong cult following has led to the forthcoming "Point Break Indo," a sequel where little is known about the story, but the film is to be directed by former "Speed" director Jan de Bont, who directed Reeves in that film.

The story of "Point Break" is a twist on the relatively familiar theme of an undercover agent befriending the subject of his investigation and finding himself conflicted over whether or not to betray his friend and bring him to justice. In the case of "Point Break," the FBI agent is former Ohio State standout quarterback and rookie FBI agent John Utah (Keanu Reeves). He is partnered with twenty-two year veteran FBI Agent Angelo Pappas (Gary Busey), who is distrustful of his new partner but eventually finds a worthy ally. Johnny places himself undercover as a surfer to infiltrate a band of bank robbers that Angelo believes are surfers. He befriends Tyler Ann Edicott (Lori Petty) and learns to surf after lying to the girl about his background.

Slowly Johnny learns to surf, but it is his former prowess as a college quarterback that earns him the respect of surfer Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) and lands Johnny into the mystic-believing surfer's close circle of friends. The friends involved in Bodhi's gang include Roach (James LeGros), Grommet (Bojesse Christopher) and Nathaniel (John Philbin). The crimes they commit that places them in the attention of Johnny and Angelo is a long-running string of bank robberies where they don plastic masks of former United States Presidents and call themselves the ‘Ex-Presidents.' Soon Johnny finds a love of the adventurous lifestyle of Bodhi and befriends him. Johnny also falls in love with Tyler and this too jeopardizes the investigation.

The film takes a different route from the typical cop and robber buddy movie in the sense that halfway through the film the two realize that they are who they really are. If I lost you with that sentence, Bohdi realizes that Johnny is an FBI agent. Instead of just killing Johnny, Bohdi conjures up a complicated plan that involves Tyler as an insurance policy and places Johnny in even greater danger. Bodhi wants Johnny along for a few more adrenaline rush adventures, including one experience that places Johnny in a spot where he must decide of what he believes in and what direction he wants to take where his loyalties could be questioned and where those he cares about are all placed into danger.

The ending sequences allowed the film a gateway for a sequel, but I've always been bothered by the final action made by Keanu Reeves character. Where did he go from there? You'll have to watch the film to get an idea of what I am referring to, but it has always bothered me and while I enjoy the vast majority of the movie, this general lack of closure to the character of Johnny has always left me feeling a little empty towards the film. Is Tyler waiting for him at home? This romantic subplot is so pivotal to the entire second half of the film that I was somewhat mortified that at least a small taste of a Tyler added to the closing moments of the film. I'm sure there is a large number of those that love the way the film ends, but it has never sat well with me.

The allure of "Point Break" is not in its W. Peter Lliff story, but in the ‘extreme' stunts and adventures the characters are placed in. This film screams many things to the Mountain Dew generation and includes skydiving, surfing and a few other activities that have become increasingly popular over the years. This film is a lot of fun and what happens on the screen keeps the excitement level high. It combines some very incredible action sequences with energy, sex and charisma. Keanu Reeves has always been the titular ‘surfer dude' and in this film he was given the opportunity to act as such. He and Busey will never be considered great actors and when Patrick Swayze comes across as the better actor, you know the film's strengths are not in its acting.

While the leading actors handle their roles with enough conviction to convince the audience, the film does contain some nice cameos along the way and a very strong performance by "Scrubs" John C. McGinley, who may be the perfect actor for any ‘Police Captain' role. McGinley steals the show whenever he is onscreen and I loved watching every angry outburst. An early and quick appearance by Tom Sizemore as an undercover DEA agent is a very nice moment and the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Anthony Kiedis has a relatively brief appearance. Lori Petty isn't even close to my tastes in women, but she provides a performance of a very believable surfer girl. The other actors that create the ‘surfer world' nicely capture the world of surfing. Overall, I enjoyed the cast of the film.

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow and co-produced by her former husband James Cameron, "Point Break" is a film that doesn't do anything particularly well. This isn't the best acted film in the world and it often comes across as cliché and forced. They story has many predictable strings that one can put together before they are tied together. The surfing and skydiving provides for a lot of fun, but the skydiving stunt at the end of the film doesn't pack as much energy as the first time the characters of Johnny and Bodhi plummet to the Earth. The romance between Tyler and Johnny isn't as fleshed out as it should be and the acting of this film leaves some to be desired. Let's face it, Keanu Reeves and Gary Busey are not the best actors in the world and Swayze seems a little old for a role as a surfer, which, according to the film is for rubbery children who have yet to shave.

Regardless of the film's flaws, it is an absolute hoot. This is definitely a film to crack open a Mountain Dew (or my preference, a Vault) and enjoy the ‘extreme' nature of the film. It almost makes me want to throw on a bodysuit and ride the waves. Sooner or later, I will try out the whole skydiving thing, but this movie only feeds to my desire to live a fun live and enjoy a little adventure. It doesn't tell me to go out and rob banks, but it says to ‘have fun.' Reeves, Busey and Swayze are cult figures and while they are far from being great actors, they were bankable at the time and for good reason. They were actors that just exude fun from their skin and their performances show this in the film. "Point Break" is far from perfect, but it's a ton of fun and deserves its cult status in an age of the ‘Extreme Sports'generation.

Video:

The 2.35:1 widescreen presentation of "Point Break" is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC MPEG-4 codec that is mastered at 28 MBPS. With the technical hubbub out of the way, I can now tell you that "Point Break" is neither impressive nor disappointing as a whole, but the transfer contains a few very disappointing moments where the film is grainy, soft and contains washed out colors. There are other times when "Point Break" is sharp and nicely detailed with natural coloring and looks fairly good considering its near two-decade age. I particularly enjoyed one or two moments where the look of water was quite sharp. The film was weaker in the early goings and did sharpen up, but there are times when the Blu-ray transfer cannot best the former DVD releases. Aside from the grain from the original photography, the film looks good. Source materials are generally clean and the digital transfer is flawless. This is just another case where the age and quality of the original photography doesn't lend to an impressive experience in high definition.

Audio:

The visuals didn't particularly excite me, but from the opening credits the sound was quite good. The credit sequence showcased many wonderful elements of sound. The crashing sound of waves and the falling drops of rain set the stage for what is a pretty nice sounding English 5.1 DTS HD Master Lossless Audio mix. The age of the original recording does tell a tale as the directional and ambient effects possess that late-Eighties and early-Nineties forced feeling where it is abundantly clear as to what direction each sound comes from. This is just an artifact of the times when usage of the surround channels wasn't as seamless as it is today. This is a strong transfer that makes solid use of all six channels and I enjoyed the strong .1 LFE presence as waves crashed to shore. The musical score by Mark Isham sounds warm and is nicely contained in each channel. Dialogue is also strong. A number of other audio mixes are also provided.

Extras:

The DVD boots up to four trailers upon boot that must be skipped individually. This takes about ten minutes if you aren't hammering on the remote. "Jumper," "Man on Fire," "Live Free and Die Hard" and "Rise of the Silver Surfer" are the films advertised on this disc. A series of eight very brief Deleted Scenes (4:34) begin the discs authentic bonus materials. The quality is worse than VHS and fills only a small portion of the screen, but fans should appreciate these lost deleted scenes from the well-loved film. Aside from the forced trailers in the beginning, three Trailers for "Point Break" are provided on the disc and can be played separately or collectively. A Photo Gallery is thrown in for good measure as well. However, the features are the smaller offerings on the Blu-ray disc.

Four featurettes are also included. It's Make or Break (23:03) finds Patrick Swayze, Gary Busey, Lori Petty and others remembering their involvement in the film. Busey is really wacked out these days, but he is so entertaining to watch. This was a nice introspective feature. Ride the Wave (6:08) is a far shorter featurette that was filmed during the sessions of the first segment, but this focuses on the surfing aspect of the film. Adrenaline Junkies (6:02) is the third part of the series and this looks more at the characters in the film and the actors that portrayed their high octane stunts. The final featurette, On Location: Malibu (8:32) finds some of the actors from Bodhi's crew returning to Malibu and remembering the film. This fourth featurette was fun.

< b>Closing:

I'll never all "Point Break" a great film. In the annals of cinema, it isn't necessarily a good film. However, its sense of adventure and fun factor override its shortcomings and "Point Break" is a movie that is an adrenaline rush to watch. Maybe watching Keanu Reeves shoot into the air feels trite and cliché, but this moment is loved by many. This is a cult film that deserves its following and this is one of those films that never won awards, but won many hearts. The Blu-ray release features some very nice introspective features and a pretty decent surround mix that is accompanied by inconsistent visuals. It's not a perfect film and it is hardly a perfect Blu-ray release, but those that love the film will want to sit back with their energy drink of choice and relive this one more time. It's a blast.