When the FBI suspect a surfer gang of perpetrating a string of bank robberies, rookie agent Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) must go undercover for some covert surfing – or incognito mode as it is now known.

Johnny Utah quickly proves himself as competent as Reeves is talented, doing everything wrong an undercover cop could possibly do; he uses his real name, causes countless deaths, and falls in love with the gang’s leader Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) – although the film pretends he falls for a female surfer (Lori Petty) because this is a testosterone-fuelled mainstream action flick.

That homoerotic not-so-subtext proves the only interesting element in a sea of ’90s schlock. Kathryn Bigelow’s central idea is that Bodhi teaches the cop to throw away the rulebook, but Utah is portrayed as reckless from the outset. That confusion is amplified by the lead performance; when he is meant to be an uptight suit, Reeves plays Utah as a gormless surfer, but when actually pretending to be a surfer he is stiff as a board.

There are however some insane stunts, quotable dialogue and a bizarre turn from Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis, whose acting possesses all the subtlety of his lyrics. But Point Break is torpedoed by a hero whose professionalism goes out the window without a parachute, while positioning the stuffed-shirt FBI as the bad guys despite their only crime in the movie being the continued employment of their most heinous liability.