Point Break the Remake

I find myself returning to watch the 1991 remake of “Point Break” (original one starred Patrick Swayze) when a rookie FBI agent named Johnny Utah goes undercover to investigate some extreme sports athletes who are behind a string of massive heists. He has a hard time sorting out his duties against the attraction of the philosophy the robbers espouse. 

The storyline of the remake doesn’t always make sense, the acting is meh but the stunts whether street fighting, big wave surfing, snow boarding, paragliding, extreme motorbiking, big cliff rock climbing, HALO and parajumping are truly incredible even now. Incredibly wild and beautiful landscapes. It is still impressive today and totally hits. 

But the philosophy behind what they do, and how they live is interesting. They believe you are the agent of your destiny and you own your decisions. Bodhi, the ringleader explains his philosophy to Johnny: 

“There are few things in life I don’t compromise on. But the world’s a pretty messed-up place, and we still gotta live in it. We live on the grid. Just on our own terms. We change the grid. We give back. The second that kid got killed you gave up life. You turned away because of something someone else did. 

You were selling sports drinks? Fine. That’s not for me to judge. But you let someone else determine the direction your life took. That I judge.”

Total & complete ownership of your life. Not blaming others. And taking responsibility for your life only. I wish I had understood this and followed this more earlier. 

If you follow someone else’s line down the mountain it becomes your line. Literally. 

When their friend dies during a wild snowboard trip: Johnny goes ballistic “Are you crazy. That was my line! 

Bodhi responds: “The minute he committed to it, it became his line, not yours.”

Something to this. Letting people live their own lives. Letting them own their own decisions even if it’s the wrong one in your eyes. Probably would have saved me from plenty of the stress and problems.  

One of the characters says to Johnny: 

“As much as I worshipped Ozaki, that was his Achilles heel. He truly believed he could change the world with an idea.”

Johnny says: “Ideas are powerful. If not ideas, what else is there?”

She responds: “Action.” 

So true. In movies, in startups, in investing and in life. You need ideas but to make it work, you always have to back it up with action. 

But I leave this with the title of the movie, Point Break: “The point where you break. Where fear becomes master and you’re his slave. A man who pushes his boundaries ultimately finds them.”

Johnny says: “So basically, you’re saying I’m going to die.” 

They answer: “we’re all going to die, the only question is how.” 

Wise words. It’s how we live. Death comes for all of us, so let’s make the best of our time here. Make no compromises. Think big thoughts. Do big things. Have a big impact. Push the edges. Find our own Point Break.