In the hands of any other director, the original 1991 film Point Break would have been just another forgettable ‘Undercover Cop’ movie. The core structure of the story, written by W. Peter Illiff and Rick King in 1986, is so incredibly familiar that it is almost indistinguishable from all of its predecessors. Young law enforcement officer tries to infiltrate a gang of criminals, falls in love with a woman connected to them, woman is kidnapped, law enforcement officer has to deal with the criminals to save her, law enforcement officer and lead criminal have a showdown.

But, along came Kathryn Bigelow. She (and then husband James Cameron) developed and re-worked the script and,...

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