1991’s Point Break is no doubt a great film. It has a significant amount of death scenes, specifically in the second half. If you haven’t seen the movie yet (which I have no idea why that would be the case), stop reading now or prepare for spoilers.
Every death in this film had some level of significance tied to it. While some were more important than others, each death drove the story forward.
The off-duty cop during the bank robbery when Johnny Utah didn’t have a mask – This guy got blown away. Kind of his own fault though, right? It seemed to me that he wanted to play hero and didn’t care about the safety of the bank’s employees or its patrons. Also, the security guard was giving him a hard no to back him up, he was literally crying. He ended up dead too. Anyhow, he shoots Bodhi, which knocks him off of the bank counter, then he shoots Utah, he then catches a bullet in the arm from Nathanial, shoots Roach, then delivers what ends up being the death-blow to Grommet (more on this later). This is when Bodhi dramatically rises up from behind the counter, sees what has transpired, looks at the cop who is frantically trying to load a new clip into his gun, takes aim and shoots a bullet that absolutely destroys the cop.
Bank Security Guard – Fear takes over the rational side of his brain and he shoots wildly at the Ex-presidents, hitting only air. He gets shot in the back by Roach, which kills him. He knew he would get killed, too. That’s why he cried when the off-duty cop wanted him to be his back-up.
Grommet (Lyndon Johnson) – I’d rank this as the most important death in the movie. It sets something off in Bodhi that propels the rest of the movie forward. During the robbery, Bodhi gets greedy and decides to call an audible and go for the vault (which they never do and has ultimately worked in their favor every single time). Poor Grommet catches one in the chest from the off-duty cop and ends up dying in Bodhi’s arms. This is where Bodhi starts to unravel and every choice he makes for the remainder of the film can be traced back to this bank robbery gone wrong, where his de facto bestie gets killed.
Nathanial (Jimmy Carter) – He gets two in the chest courtesy of Angelo Pappas. This happens on the tarmac when the remaining ex-presidents are loading the plane to Mexico. A pretty quick and uneventful death for Nathanial, here. Bodhi sees that he’s been shot and you can see the pain and anguish in his face. He is able to tend to him after Roach shoots Pappas, which distracts Utah. After realizing that he’s dead, Bodhi grabs Nathanial’s shotgun and hustles over to Roach to get him on the plane.
Angelo Pappas – Not Pappas! All along, he KNEW that the Ex-Presidents were surfers and he continued to BELIEVE it even when everyone laughed in his face. So you can imagine the anguish he must have felt when he was THIS CLOSE to nabbing them on the tarmac when he got shot in the back by Roach. He dies in Utah’s arms while Bodhi is taking care of Roach.
Roach (Richard Nixon) – Probably the most excruciating and extreme death in the entire movie. Roach gets shot and then boards the plane, only to continue to bleed out. Bodhi was in clear denial that Roach was going to die. Bodhi NEEDED him to live. Without him, he would be the only ex-president and wouldn’t be able to share in the spoils of their hard work of robbin’ banks. He’s thrown out of the plane by Bodhi with a chute and a backpack full of cash only to (probably) die while free-falling. He does pull his chute, but is totally dead when he lands. Tough break. Tough POINT break lololol. Seriously though, that sucks.
Rosie – Apparently, he died in a knife fight with someone better than he is at knife-fighting. His death is revealed when Utah tracks down Bodhi at Bell’s Beach. While Rosie wasn’t an ex-president, he was an important part of Bodhi’s crew and was the only other member of his crew to get out of Los Angeles alive (technically, Roach got out alive, but he died before actually fully escaping). With all of his friends dead, Bodhi must fulfill his destiny of surfing Bell’s Beach more than ever.
Bodhi (Ronald Reagan) – You know there’s no way he can’t handle a cage, man! Bodhi’s death goes down as one of the greatest deaths in cinematic history. Johnny Utah catches up with him at Bell’s Beach during the 50 year storm, determined to get his man. After a brief struggle, he actually has him handcuffed, destroying Bodhi’s destiny of surfing the break during the storm. However, Bodhi convinces Utah to let him go, saying that there is no way for him to escape. Utah obliges and let’s him go. (Like, I GET it, but Bodhi, who is responsible for the death of SO MANY people, still gets to live out his destiny and die a legend. Idk, is that fair?). Anyhow, he paddles out and is eventually swallowed by the waves he so desperately needed to surf, resulting in the most fitting death possible for him (even though Utah should have just kept him in custody until the police arrived). In the end, Utah throws his badge in the water, signifying that he’s giving up his life as an FBI agent to follow his own path. It’s a pretty loaded end to the movie.
The Shorts 