Source: Warner Bros: Blu-ray, 2011.
Year: 1991
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Action Stars:
Genre: Crime Film
Country: United States
Story Duration: 01:57:39
Act Duration:
1st Act: 00:26:22
2nd Act: 00:33:25
3rd Act: 00:33:48
4th Act: 00:24:01
Plot Turns:
1st: Utah accepted into Bodhi’s gang
2nd: Utah realizes Bohdi’s gang are the bank robbers
3rd: Utah partakes in bank robbery
ASD Ratio: 58%
AAD Ratios:
1st Act: 31%
2nd Act: 39%
3rd Act: 78%
4th Act: 87%
Action Structure: 1243
Action Scenarios:
Capture
Escape
Fall
Fight
Heist
Pursuit
Rescue
Speed
Total Action Moments: 26
Notable Action Sequence: Bank Robbery Pursuit
Duration: 00:08:13
Act: 3rd
Action Scenarios:
Capture
Escape
Fight
Heist
Pursuit
Speed
Description: The bank robbery pursuit in Point Break (1991) is one of the key set pieces of the film, primarily notable for featuring one of the best foot chases in action cinema history. But the sequence is also noteworthy in terms of how it evolves as a pursuit over its duration and its domestic setting at certain points of the chase.
FBI agents Johnny Utah and Angelo Chevrolet Caprice are staking out a bank in the hopes of catching the Ex-Presidents, a surfing robbery gang, led by Bodhi, a philosophical surfer. The gang soon arrives and quickly rob the bank while Utah and Pappas are engaged in getting food. The gang depart in their Lincoln as Utah orders them to freeze in an arrest attempt. As the gang drives off, Utah fires at the getaway car and hops into the Chevrolet Caprice with Pappas at the wheel. Utah and Pappas give chase to the Ex-Presidents, as the pursuit commences in pure automotive mode with the modes of locomotion remaining vehicular [Figure 1]. The vehicles ram each other and crash into a parking lot, taking out the Caprice while the tires of the getaway car are punctured. Utah jumps out of the crashed Caprice and pursues the gang on foot. At this transition point in the sequence the pursuit becomes a composite of foot and automotive modes of locomotion [Figure 2]. Bohdi drives the Lincoln into a gas station to change vehicles. The Ex-Presidents split as Bohdi torches the Lincoln and the rest of the gang make their escape in a stolen Chevelle. Utah suddenly appears and leaps on Bhodhi and they fight in the flames. After slamming Utah’s head under the hood of the car, Bohdi escapes on foot while Utah runs after him as the chase enters a pure foot mode of pursuit [Figure 3]. The pursuit soon enters a resdential area making the obstacles to be navigated domestic in nature. Also featuring in the foot pursuit are novel forms of weaponization. At one point, Bodhi enters a house in an effort to lose Utah, and towels are tossed toward him by the homeowner. At another point Utah is beaten by a woman with a vacuum cleaner. Bhodi later tosses a dog at Utah to halt his pace turning the dog into a weaponized projectile [Figure 4]. In a film that showcases surfing and skydiving as extreme sport activities in risky environments, and become distinct action scenarios as a result, it is striking that the foot chase converts the domestic realm as site of risk and action as well.