Fast Break - A Comparative Essay

THE SET UP

For years now, I have been cultivating the idea that two iconic movies of my upbringing are virtually the same exact movie with slightly different concepts. The more I have thought about it, the more obvious the parallels between these two (brilliant) films are. When you break it down the way I am about to do, you will realize that 2001’s original “The Fast and the Furious” is nearly a carbon copy of 1991’s “Point Break.” From the lead actors, Keanu Reeves and Paul Walker, to the infiltration of a band of criminals who double as a group of extreme sports junkies, these two films run congruently from beginning to end.

Let’s give a little background on these two films, for those of you who do not have any idea what I am talking about. In both of these movies, an FBI agent needs to go undercover in order to prevent a string of crimes from happening. In Point Break, Keanu (this is how I will refer to him because its cooler to say than Reeves) plays the undercover agent who must ingratiate himself with a band of surfers he believes to be criminals. Fast forward 10 years later, and Paul Walker is asked to go undercover to penetrate a close-knit clique of street racers to put an end to another string of crimes.

PROTAGONISTS

Now that the basic plots of these movies have been established, let’s delve into the nuances of these films that make them so alike. First of all, take a look at the two leading actors and the juncture they were at in their careers when these movies came out. The movies were made 10 years apart and 9 years separate Paul (1973 DOB) and Keanu (1964 DOB). Keanu was coming off several non-memorable starring roles and bit parts in the late 80s. The movies of note he had done were the two Bill and Ted Adventures, which were secretly not awful, but openly not great. The second one was atrocious, but the first one had it’s moments. Meanwhile, Paul Walker was building up some ridiculous street cred in the late 90s with supporting roles in some of my favorite movies of that time. He played Reese Witherspoon’s suddenly horny boyfriend in Pleasantville, he wound up being the assistant manager at Wal-Mart and coaching high school football after blowing out his knee as star quarterback Lance Harbor in Varsity Blues, and who could forget the “sauced up” Paul Walker as the foil to Freddy Prinze Jr. in 1999s She’s All That? When you take a look at the body of work these two had put together prior to what I like to call - their star-making roles - they both hadn’t shown a lot of talent acting wise. It was literally the first role for each of them that involved the following things: a starring role, a plausible plot, decent to terrific co-stars, and a sizeable Hollywood budget. How would these two up-and-coming pretty boy actors handle their roles?

           

It is hard to sit here and tell you that these guys “killed” their roles. Keanu was dealt a slightly better hand with his co-stars, but he holds his own in this movie. He has to run the gamut of emotions from, trying to fit in with is new veteran partner (Gary Busey!), to duping a girl into falling in love with him (Lori Petty), and of course the intense on going mind-fuck that the film’s antagonist (Patrick Swayze!) is trying to employ throughout the entire film. You get the sense that Keanu is trying to act in these movies by the way he talks, rather than it just coming naturally. His voice always has that kind of dazed, where am I? quality to it. He is believable as an athlete during a beach football scene as well as many surfing scenes, which doesn’t say much for acting, but is nice from the viewer’s perspective  of whether you connect with him or not. Walker, on the other hand, is left with pretty paltry dialog and what seems to be a bit of a tired script. Most of Paul Walker’s lines can be considered “one-liners” and are just kind of slapped together. He does not seem to have much emotional depth, but at least he did not lie to Jordana Brewster in order to get her into bed, which is the route Keanu went. These two are the stars, and the protagonists of these films, but they are far from what makes them iconic rewatchable movies.

           

CONGRUENCY

Several things jump out at me as basically being the exact same plot device for these movies. We already went over the main characters and how alike they are, but the similarities do not stop there.

• Point Break – Bank robbers dressed like ex-Presidents are elusive and cannot be caught in California.

• The Fast and the Furious – Hijackers driving supped up cars are terrorizing California’s highways.

• PB – These bank robbers double as serious surfers who are always looking for the next extreme thing.

• TFATF – These hijackers also earn money as illegal street racers pushing their cars to extreme limits.

• PB – Keanu cannot know for certain that these surfers are also the bank robbers so he befriends this crew in order to find out more information.

• TFATF – Paul cannot know for certain that these street racers are also the hijackers so he befriends this crew in order to find out more information.

• PB – An intense invasion occurs at a house thought to be that of the bank robbers. Wrong house! Crazy gun and knife fights ensue between Keanu and his crew and Anthony Kiedis and his crew. Great cameos done by members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers over the years.

• TFATF – An intense invasion occurs at a house thought to be that of the hijackers. Wrong house! Johnny Tran’s house gets ran through by police on Paul’s call. This creates even more animosity between Tran and the hijacking crew.

THE ANTI – HERO

The two biggest co-stars of the film are Dominic Torreto (Vin Diesel) and Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) and this is where the scales start to tip in Point Break’s favor as to what is actually the better movie. Vin Diesel was relatively unknown at the time with credits from Saving Private Ryan (small role), Chronicles of Riddick, and Boiler Room. Meanwhile, Swayze was a bonafide superstar by the early 90s coming off brilliant roles that saw him display his broad spectrum of talent, from Dirty Dancing, to Road House, to Ghost.  He did not disappoint in his role as a Zen bank robber on a constant search for the ultimate adrenaline rush.

Once again, the dialogue and depth of characters in TFATF is lacking. It’s partly by design because this movie is just non-stop testosterone and doesn’t feel the need to get weighed down by things like serious plot devices and character studies. TFATF places family values above all else, although family status must be earned, and then one-liners keep the movie flowing. Meanwhile, Swayze’s character is one of the more shifty and hard to pin down bad guys you’ll see in a movie. One minute he’s bringing Johnny Utah into his crew and making him feel like he’s part of the inner circle, the next he’s kidnapping Tyler (Lori Petty) as leverage against Johnny. All the while he’s got this crazy look in his eye that makes him seem engaged and distant somehow at the same time. He’s completely in the moment but also thinking about his next move which is what sets Swayze apart from Vin Diesel and ultimately has you rooting for the bad guy for most of the film.

INTANGIBLES

The first intangible is more a matter of opinion / preference. They are the main concepts that aid the characters in traversing through the movie. TFATF uses street racing and supped up cars as the background for having the main characters in the movie meet. PB uses surfing and to a lesser extent sky diving as their vehicle. The nod here goes to TFATF because it borderline became a cultural phenomenon to put clear lights on the back of your Honda Civic to go along with your new exhaust system. Seriously, TFATF came out right when I was starting to drive and everybody wanted to modify their car to “trick it out” in some type of way in the early 2000s. Not this guy, but you all remember that phase. That doesn’t happen without Paul and Vin doing their thing. I wasn’t quite as with the times in the early 90s but I doubt there was all that much of a spike in surfing after PB.

The second intangible leans heavily to the side of PB. And that intangible comes in the form of one Angelo Pappas, Gary Busey’s character. Pappas is the “don’t take no shit from anybody” veteran of the Bureau that Utah cuts his teeth with. Busey always brings a real zest to his characters that I enjoy, whether he was playing the bad guy in the original Lethal Weapon, or crazed lune Lieutenant Drake Savage in Black Sheep, he rarely disappoints. PB was not an exception here, plus he just really enjoyed meatball sandwiches, but who doesn’t? TFATF did not have an analogous character to Busey and therefore it fell short in this intangible.

Both of these flicks are without a doubt “guy” movies and like any good guy movie there needs to be a little bit of eye candy floating around just to spice things up. The edge here goes to TFATF because Kit from A League of Their Own might be able to generate some interest, but her 90s look feels dated and doesn’t translate all that well today. Meanwhile, Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez, along with numerous floozies that flocked to street races held down this aspect for TFATF.

Swayze is Reagan - Reagan is Swayze

The heists each band of criminals pulled off both had unique aspects. Of course, in TFATF precision driving in matching black Honda Civics allowed Dom and his crew to overtake tractor-trailers on highways that were carrying loads of expensive merchandise that they could then fence for serious cash. Bodhi and his crew basically just robbed banks, but the nod is given to them for their imaginative disguises they used to conceal their identities during the robberies. The Ex-Presidents were good at what they did.

CONCLUSION

Both movies end in a somewhat similar fashion. Paul Walker’s character had become so close with Vin Diesel's Torreto that he virtually allowed this known criminal to race away in the final scene without attempting to detain him. PB ends a year or so after the climax with Keanu catching up with Swayze on a beach in Australia during “the 50 year storm”. The waves are mammoth and Swayze has basically been waiting his entire life to ride them. Keanu gets the better of him but winds up letting Swayze go out and essentially surf to his death in the eye of the storm.

Well, we’re just shy of 2000 words for this comparison and I think my hand has been tipped as to which of the movies I prefer. I think Swayze’s performance alone sealed it for me. There was just no character in either movie that captured you quite like the wild-eyed Bodhi did. Swayze was the true embodiment of a bank robber crossed with extreme sports junkie life philosopher (No really, he was). Not too many characters come around like him and not too many people could make you believe the character the way Swayze did.

Thanks for staying with me. It was a wild ride.

RIP - Paul Walker 
RIP - Patrick Swayze