Product: Point Break [VHS] (1991)
Rating: 5.0
Man's search for meaning is now over. Thanks Bodhi.
This is probably the greatest movie of all time. Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze face off with such intensity, charisma, and chemistry that you'd think that these roles were written for them eons ago by gods up on Mt. Olympus. Well, dude, they were.Although Point Break is fascinating on many levels, it works extremely well as a metaphor for the Cold War. Bodhi and his gang represent the Soviet Union, who threaten the United States (Johnny Utah) with their liberating ideology of robbing banks to finance an endless summer. As a parallel to Marxist revolution as it generally existed in the Third World, Bodhi's anti-establishment surf rhetoric was indeed backed up by force--his goon Rosie represents the Red Army, or the KGB or something.Johnny Utah is quite effective as the United States, going to any extreme (learning to surf, etc.) in order to crush his enemy. Interestingly enough, however, Johnny gets a little bit "too deep" with Bodhi's gang, and for awhile mirrors the Carter administration's policy of peaceful coexistence with socialist sattelites (Nicaragua). This doesn't last for long, however, when Gary Busey's Pappas (Ronald Reagan) convinces Johnny that he needs to bust the ex-presidents.Tyler (Lori Petty) plays the unfortunate role of the victimized Third World. The two superpowers, Bodhi and Johnny, are forced to use her as a "proxy battlefield" in order to avoid the mutually assured destruction that would certainly happen if they met head on.In the end, the overwhelming force of Utah's defense spending (the FBI budget vs. Bodhi's crumbling Marxist/Bank Robbery economy) forces the ex-presidents to break up, and Bodhi dies a death that is infinitely more poetic and beautiful than that of the USSR. Thank You.