Worthy but flawed
A decent but somewhat overwrought drama about police brutality against blacks in the 60s. Bigelow's attempts to give the audience a feeling of unease are rather ineffective and the courtroom drama that follows the events drags the film down, but decent acting and a few stand-out moments still make this worth a watch.
The one with the presidents. Point Break is somewhat of a cult film nowadays, though not one that is often talked about. It's really just the mask-wearing criminals that have turned into an iconic image (referenced by To it in Fulltime Killer), the rest of the film is pretty mediocre and forgettable.
Reeves plays a young, promising cop who immediately gets assigned one of the most important cases in the district. A gang has been robbing banks without leaving any traces and the cops are stumped. Reeves' partner believes they're dealing with a gang of surfers, so Reeves goes undercover.
Point Break is a rather basic 90s action flick. The pacing is decent, there are some solid action scenes, but it never goes beyond. It's just simple genre fare that feels a bit outdated. Performances are weak, the editing is insufficient and apart from the masks, there's nothing memorable here. Not terrible, but unworthy of its cult status.
There are some semi-successful attempts to turn this into a dark and moody film, but in the end it's little more than a cheesy 90s cop thriller. Mediocre acting and a silly plot let this film down, a decent soundtrack and persistent rain make it bearable. Not the worst film in its genre, but clearly not a stand-out entry either. Just decent filler.
Dubious filler
Hollywood doing a Russian story with English/American actors is never a good idea, K-19 did absolutely nothing to change my mind. Bigelow's film is a simple succession of vintage submarine thriller clichés, with some terrible accents thrown in to make it appear a bit more Russian. Spoiler alert: the accents didn't make it appear more Russian.
The first Russian atomic-fueled submarine is facing some serious troubles on its way through the North-Atlantic ocean. Captain Zateyev has to keep his sub from exploding, not just to save his entire crew from instant dead, but also to keep a new world war from happening.
Getting past the casting choices was quite a hurdle, but even then this film doesn't have all that much to offer, besides the usual submarine hoopla. There are lots of "tense" moments with people waiting for something to happen/not happen, and since WWIII never happened, it's difficult to make this film truly tense. Not great.