Point Break

"100% pure adrenaline."

1991 2h 2m EN

👍

7.2

SOLID

★7.2TMDB · 4,163

ActionThrillerCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

In Los Angeles, a gang of bank robbers who call themselves The Ex-Presidents commit their crimes while wearing masks of Reagan, Carter, Nixon and Johnson. Believing that the members of the gang could be surfers, the F.B.I. sends young agent Johnny Utah to the beach undercover to mix with the surfers and gather information.

“100% pure adrenaline.”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Cast

Keanu Reeves
Agent Johnny Utah
Patrick Swayze
Bodhi / Mask President
Lori Petty
Tyler Endicott
Gary Busey
Agent Angelo Pappas
John C. McGinley
SAIC Ben Harp
James Le Gros
Roach
John Philbin
Nathanial
BoJesse Christopher
Grommet

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Writers: W. Peter Iliff, Rick King, W. Peter Iliff
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.5× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

35 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, shot by Donald Peterman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Mark Isham. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Howard E. Smith shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze and Lori Petty carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "100% pure adrenaline.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0102685 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Kathryn Bigelow directs. Donald Peterman behind the camera. Mark Isham scores. Howard E. Smith cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 3.5× over at the box office.
235 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, shot by Donald Peterman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Mark Isham. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Howard E. Smith shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze and Lori Petty carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "100% pure adrenaline.".
8IMDB entry: tt0102685 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 18 themes, including "surfing", "surfer", "undercover agent", "self-destruction".
10Released under 12 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Donald Peterman
Original score: Mark Isham
Editing: Howard E. Smith
Production design: Peter Jamison
Makeup / hair: Greg LaCava
Sound: Bob Beemer
Stunt coordinator: Glenn R. Wilder
Runtime: 122 min · 2h 2m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $24,000,000
Box office: $83,531,958
Return: 348% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Point Break (1991)

Awards

MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Male

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Kathryn Bigelow

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2022-09-08
★ 7/10
The fast and the furious on the beaches of Southern California A young FBI agent (Keanu Reeves) is sent by his superior (Gary Busey) to investigate a surfer gang to find out if they’re a notorious group of bank robbers. Patrick Swayze plays the guru-like leader of the gang while Lori Petty is on hand as a surfer companion. John C. McGinley appears as the FBI chief. "Point Break" (1991) is an action/crime thriller set mostly on the beaches of SoCal that obviously influenced "The Fast and the Furious" (2001) plot-wise. This is the better movie due to Swayze’s charismatic character and the interesting dynamic between Utah (Reeves) and Bodhi (Swayze), not to mention the relationship of Utah and Pappas (Busey) as well as Utah and Tyler (Lori). So, while this is a snappy, action-packed flick, it doesn’t forget to provide human interest. In some ways it’s even great with certain seeming plot holes easily explained if you think about it; others maybe not so much. Since it was made in 1990 it has an 80’s vibe (in a good way) with a pre-grunge soundtrack. Nirvana’s NEVERMIND wouldn’t debut until 2.5 months after its release. The film runs 2 hours, 2 minutes, and was shot mostly in greater Los Angeles (Malibu, Culver City, Santa Monica, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach and Venice). The surfing scenes were done in O'ahu, Hawaii; the skydiving scenes at Lake Powell, Utah; and the closing Australian sequence at Cannon Beach, Oregon. GRADE: B+
The Movie Mob2022-09-09
★ 8/10
Katherine Bigelow creates a beautiful complex action blockbuster with magnificent depth and chapters. Wow. Just wow. Point Break is a deep character-driven film full of top-notch action, mind-blowing stunts, and incredible performances. These actors made you fall in love and deeply care about each character and moment in the film. Each actor's portrayal was thoughtful, dedicated, outstanding, and worthy of much more acclaim and awards than received. This film transformed Keanu Reeves into an action hero, with Point Break only being the first of many 90s action movies he led, including Speed and The Matrix. Gary Busey nailed his mentor role as Agent Pappas. But the stand-out performance was Patrick Swayze as the cool and captivating Bodhi. His performance was shown brilliantly through his eyes, which said much more than any dialogue. Unfortunately, the real crime was Swayze didn't even get a nomination for this astonishing role. The complex relationship between Reeves and Swayze's characters as their friendship develops and their conflicting sides of the law is the focal point of the movie, providing an excellent foundation for the fantastic action sequences. Point Break is an incredible movie about friendship and justice, with skydiving action fight sequences, robbery heists, and chase scenes. Katherine Bigelow's film remains one of the greatest action and heist movies of the 90s and the inspiration for the Fast and the Furious franchise.
CinemaSerf2023-08-26
★ 7/10
On this face of it, this ought to be rubbish... a testosterone-fuelled story of beautiful people who rob banks to fund their hedonistic lifestyle that largely revolves around anything that causes their adrenalin to rush, but it isn't rubbish. Kathryn Bigelow keeps the pace end-to-end, and both Keanu Reeves ("Johnny Utah") and Patrick Swayze ("Bohdi") are clearly having fun as the FBI agent pursuing the gang of rubber mask clad "ex-president" beach-bum robbers. Reeves is easy on the eye, but pretty wooden and sure, the plot has more holes than a string vest but the story isn't meant to be deep and meaningful. This is just a fun adventure escapade that sees our hero go surfing, sky-diving and the cinematographer is clearly in his element, too. The ending, though cluttered up with some lovey-dovey nonsense, is actually quite exhilarating as the pair seem to develop just a little bit of a bromance... It's an updated variation on the traditional cops 'n robbers affair that offers much by way of escapism on a wet, wintry evening and ought to be judged accordingly.