Point Break (1991)

Point Break (1991)

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze, Lori Petty, Gary Busey, John C. McGinley, James LeGros

Along with Michael Manns’ Heat (1995), Point Break is one of the greatest heist/action films of the 90’s. I mean, of course there were excellent action films like Speed (1994), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and The Last Boy Scout (1991) to mention but a few, but there’s something special about Point Break that sets it apart from all other action films from that decade. It has a certain magic to it, it has soul.  The upcoming remake made me want to revisit the original, to remind myself of its awesomeness, which I doubt the remake, directed by a guy called Ericson Core will be able to top. Why did Point Break set the bar so high? What exactly made this one such a memorable action film?

On Point Break, we meet Johnny Utah; an ex-quarterback turned FBI agent who is trying to gain experience in the field by attempting to capture a gang of thugs called ‘The Ex-Presidents’. These Ex-Presidents have never been caught and so, in order to make a name for himself, Johnny Utah takes it upon himself to bust them. The police suspect that these thugs are a gang of local surfers , so Special Agent Utah goes undercover and becomes one of them. Problem is he soon discovers these surfer dudes are actually cool people; when the time comes, will he have what it takes to take them down?

Point Break was the film that turned Keanu Reeves into a fully fledged action star. After this one he did Speed (1994) and voila! From there on in he became a bonafide action star; he’s never looked back. Still as I type this he’s making action films! Before Point Break Keanu was all about looking dumb and saying “whoa” but after the double whammy of Point Break and Speed, he transformed into an ass kicking, killing machine. Some of you younger readers out there might have always known Keanu Reeves as an action star, but for those of us who knew him from his Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989) days know what a shock to the system it was to see Keanu change his image that way. It was like a coming of age thing, now he was no longer a stupid teenager, now he was a “man”.  

What works so well about this movie is its spiritual side, spearheaded by Patrick Swayze in the role of Bohdi, a surfer/spiritualist who’s an anti-hero of sorts. Sure he and his crew of ‘Ex-Presidents’ rob banks, but Bohdi also preaches a very positive life philosophy. He wants to truly live his life, he doesn’t want to be a drone, he wants to squeeze as much as he can out of life. He’s an adrenalin junky, so he steals banks in order to have the money to skydive and surf the biggest waves on the planet. His crew doesn’t kill, they get their money and they are out. So this is where the conundrum comes in because agent Utah infiltrates Bodhi’s circle of thugs, and finds them to be for lack of a better word, awesome. These guys are the kind of guys you want to hang around and party with. So does he turn them in or help them? Kathryn Bigelow and crew really managed to carve out a crew of ambiguous characters. Are they good or are they evil? We’re never really sure, which makes the film that much more interesting. Will agent Utah end up becoming one of them?  

Speaking of the films spiritual side, Point Break has a certain magic to it that not a lot of films manage to acquire. Bodhi’s life philosophy doesn’t come off as phony; he’s the real deal, a real human being. The surfing side of the film portrays a connection with nature, a fascination with the beauty of it all. There’s this scene that I love, in which Johnny Utah is learning to surf and his out in the ocean, catching waves as the sun is setting and he’s all excited. As the spray of the ocean surf hits him he says “I can’t describe what I’m feeling” and you believe it when he says it, the visuals, the music and the emotions are palpable and believable. The film expertly captures that moment when you feel one with nature, when you connect with it and realize that cars, buildings and cement are crap next to the beauty of nature. This is what really makes the film special for me. Kathryn Bigelow directed this one, showing her trademark panache behind the camera. There’s this chase sequence that’s just amazing. Utah runs through a bunch of suburban houses while chasing one of the Ex Presidents, it’s an awesome scene that was shot with her trademark long takes. Awesome stuff. As an action film, it does not disappoint.

There’s a Point Break remake on the horizon, as I write this it hasn’t been released yet. But it was directed by a total unknown, starring equally unknown actors, so I don’t know what to expect from it. How exactly do they plan on surpassing Bigelow’s film? Will they manage to capture that magic? I seriously doubt it. Did they cast good actors in the roles? Who knows, but Patrick Swayze, Keanu, Lori Petty and Gary Busey really bring it on this one. They are part of what makes Point Break run without a hitch. So yeah, what we got here my friends is a great action film, and a great film all around. Check this one out for a taste of one of the greatest action/heist flicks of the 90’s.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Tank Girl (1995)

Title: Tank Girl (1995)

Director: Rachel Talalay

Cast: Lori Petty, Naomi Watts, Malcolm McDowell,  James Wong, Ice-T, Iggy Pop

Review:

It’s been a while since I last saw Tank Girl. I remember, the first time I saw it; I didn’t fall in love with it for some reason, I guess I was too young to really ‘get it’. But this film proves to me once again that sometimes the way you look at a film changes with time. As time goes by, you live through certain experiences and learn certain things that affect the way you see a film. As it is, Tank Girl is a very subversive film, it’s all about rebellion and going against the proverbial system; which of course is one of my favorite themes in film. If you want to read a bit more about subversive cinema, check out this article I wrote called Totalitarian Futures (BigBrother is Watching You!), on that one I mention a series of films that depict  abusive governments and the rebels that oppose them. And if you want to read about rebellious characters, then check this one out: Viva La Revolution III: 20 Fictional Characters that Beat theSystem; after seeing Tank Girl, I figure she should have been on that list! She’s an extremely rebellious character!

Tank Girl takes place in the year 2033, on a post apocalyptic version of earth that was destroyed by a meteor that wiped out almost all of humanity. 11 years have passed since this happened, and now a new form of government has arisen, one that controls all the water and all the power and even has it’s own army. This new government system is appropriately called “Water and Power” or WP for short. The leader of this organization is a dictator called Kesslee played by the one and only Malcolm McDowell. He wants to own all the water in the land so he can control everyone. He’s made siphoning water illegal. But the rebels don’t care about legal or illegal, they only care about surviving.  In Tank Girl’s own words “as long as they don’t find out, who cares? “ So of course, they steal as much water as they can. Problem comes when the powers that be find out the rebels have been stealing water. They blow up the rebels hide out, kill as many of them as they can and take Tank Girl as prisoner. Will she survive living under the oppressive power of the system?

Wow, so to me this is a hidden gem. Yeah it’s got a couple of flaws here and there, but damn it I love it anyways. What did I enjoy about Tank Girl? Lot’s of things, but first off there’s Lori Petty as Tank Girl who in my opinion was a fun character, she loves her liberty, she curses like a sailor and she does not care for rules and regulations. Living under rules and regulations is a complete bore for her; she prefers being the master of her own destiny. She’s kind of like Spiderman in the sense that she has a little joke or sarcastic remark every five minutes. ‘The man’ might be stepping on her face but she’s quick with a sly remark, just so she can piss them off.  Some might find her annoying? I thought she was fun to watch, kept me laughing all the way. For those of you not in the know, Tank Girl is based on a comic book created by Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin, the comic has been in publication in one form or another since 1988. I personally really dig the art work on those comics, Tank Girl a.k.a. ‘Rebecca Buck’ has a very distinctive look, one that I believe this film did a swell job of bringing to life. Lori Petty looks and acts the way Tank Girl should; so this is something that the film got absolutely right. Lori Petty is Tank Girl. Loved that scene where she first gets into her tank! The tank was pretty awesome looking as well by the way.

When MGM bought the rights to the property, Tank Girl’s journey to the silver screen began. Various directors were associated with the films adaptation, amongst them Steven Spielberg and James Cameron! Ultimately, it was female director Rachel Talalay who ended sitting in the directors’ chair. She’s the director responsible for Freddy’s Dead: The  Final Nightmare (1991) one of the most profitable films in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. I think she made a good film with Tank Girl, the look and the dynamism of the character works, the over all look of the film is interesting, and the message the film is trying to convey is commendable. I loved the rebellious elements of the film, Tank Girl has a lot of Orwell’s 1984 in it. There’s a scene where Tank Girl get’s caught by the government and tortured which reminded me a whole lot of Orwell’s famous novel. I guess what the filmmakers where trying to achieve with Tank Girl was a version of 1984 in which the good guys actually win. When you read Orwell’s 1984, it can be a grueling and overpowering experience. I mean, when you read that novel you feel as if ‘the system’ has taken it’s shit stained boot and shoved it real hard in your face. Real hard. In fact, as you read, you feel as if they've shoved the whole damn boot down your throat! It’s one of my favorite novels, it managed to squeeze a tear or two out of me, honestly, it’s that good! Well, Tank Girl is along the same lines as 1984, playing with the same themes, having the government really getting in the good guys faces, messing with their lives, trying to get them to ‘play the game’ so to speak, only in Tank Girl, the good guys aren’t that easy to squash. Tank Girl is a very resourceful and lively bug; she doesn’t take shit from anybody!

I enjoyed how the film is so very much like reading a comic book, I loved the fact that the film opens up with a credit sequence that showcases art work from the original comics. The art work from the comics is fantastic, very sketchy in nature, very detailed. The filmmakers also included animated sequences through out the whole film;  which by the way reminds me that this film was a bit of a chore to make; it had many production woes. One of them being that at the end of the day, the studio interfered immensely with the look and feel of the film, this being such a subversive film in nature, of course they wanted to tone down many of the more controversial attributes of the film. The mutant Kangaroo’s that appear in the film for example. One of the more ‘controversial’ things about the film is that the mutant kangaroo’s or ‘Ripper’s’ as they are called in the film are a horny bunch of individuals who are always hitting on Tank Girl and Jet Girl. Ultimately, Tank Girl ends up falling for one of the Ripper’s and you can catch a glimpse of that in the finished film, but originally they had filmed scenes with Tank Girl and the one of the Kangaroo’s making out in bed! Ultimately, the studio interfered and cut that stuff out. They also cut out more scenes, you kind of get the feeling when you watch Tank Girl that it wasn’t completely finished, the ending feels a bit rushed, leaving many questions unanswered. Hell, the last five minutes of the film were completely animated! So yeah, it feels like in the end, the film was incomplete, almost as if it was taken away from the filmmakers unfinished.

Personally, I dug the animated sequences in the film, but don’t ask Jamie Hewlett (one of Tank Girl’s creators) about them, to Hewlett making the film was a “horrible experience”. According to Hewlett, the many animated sequences in the film are there because the filmmakers supposedly forgot to film about ten major sequences! So they had to add these sequences through the use of animation so the film wouldn’t feel incomplete; but honestly? I loved those animated sequences; they go very well with the films pulpy comic book origins! Plus, the animated sequences were very well achieved, they have these awesome angles, I really dug them. And so what if they were placed their to fill in for unfilmed shots? They turned out pretty cool in my book.  The animation gives the film a unique feel that aligns perfectly with the kind of punk attitude that a film like Tank Girl has. Another thing I dug about Tank Girl was how many old school filmmaking techniques they employed to make it. Rachel Talalay used every trick in the book: matte paintings, make up effects and the use of excellent looking miniatures! It reminded me of why I love practical effects as opposed to computer generated ones.

  

And yet another positive thing I can say about Tank Girl is that Stan Winston created the Ripper’s! Reportedly he liked this project so much that he did the mutant kangaroos for half the price he normally charged! What else? Oh yeah, Ice-T plays one of the mutant Kangaroo’s! Also, Naomi Watt’s plays ‘Jet Girl’, a girl that plays the polar opposite of Tank Girl. Tank Girl is the wild one who doesn’t follow the rules while ‘Jet Girl’ works for the system. She plays by the rules; she thinks that the more you follow the rules, the less the system will mess with you. Thankfully, Rebecca helps her see things differently, she helps her find the ways of liberty or death! Of daring to live life on the edge! Tank Girl teachers Jet Girl to dare! It was interesting to see Naomi Watt’s in one of her earliest film roles. Malcolm McDowell as the villain was interesting just because he’s Malcolm McDowell, but his character uses this cool glove that has these blades that come out of it, cool gadget. He also has a holographic face? You’ll see what I mean. And another cool thing about the movie: James Wong is in it as a crazy inventor who works for Water and Power! He’s the guy who invents the glove thingy; any film with Lou Pan in it goes up a couple of notches for me in the cool-o-meter. Hell, even Iggy Pop cameos! 

Jet Girl in her Jet

The film even has this really awesome 90’s soundtrack! Ultimately, hearing this soundtrack filled with all that alternative music got me quite nostalgic for that era. Yeah, it reminded me of when I was a teenager, listening to all those cool bands that I still listen too by the way! The soundtrack is sprinkled with Bjork, Devo, Hole, Bush, Portishead, Joan Jett, Belly, Ice-T and Veruca Salt! I know I’m going to be hunting down this soundtrack as soon as I can; it’s one of the memorable ones. So as you can see, even though Tank Girl was a very troubled production, I still think that Rachel Talalay and crew got away with a fairly decent movie. Too bad it died a quick death at the box office. Too bad the studio didn’t back it up as much as it should have. You feel like the film is bursting with ideas and that they didn’t all make it to the screen. But hell, if even with all these troubles you managed to make a decent looking picture then you are too be commended Mrs. Talalay! Tank Girl in my opinion is a hidden gem of apocalyptic cinema worth revisiting. Highly recommend it.

Rating: 4 out of 5