Ok so this is one of my favorite over the top guilty pleasures. Its one of those so bad that's good films. Keanu Reeves may have totally sucked in this movie but wildly entertaining because he is, giving it his all in every scene. And Gary Busey is at his usual bonkers performance. But the late Patrick Swayze hit the nail in his portrayal of Bodhi, the ultimate Surfer dude. But for some reason, Bodhi reminds me of a tech bro, albait, much cooler version. It makes me wonder if this film was a major inspiration for every tech bro out there.

If you look past the 1991 bleach-blonde hair and the surfboards, Bodhi isn't just a surfer; he’s a disruptor running a high-stakes startup with a cult-like workplace culture. Modern tech bros don't just want to sell software; they want to "change the world" and "break the status quo." Bodhi views his bank robberies the exact same way. He explicitly tells Johnny Utah that they aren't robbing banks for the money, they are doing it to protest against a system that kills the human spirit. It is the ultimate form of pseudo-philosophical corporate branding. This film is an exercise in how the spirit of the 60's radicalism died.

Bodhi is deeply into a specific brand of spirituality, biohacking, and extreme lifestyle optimization. He treats surfing the "50-Year Storm" the way a Silicon Valley founder treats an ayahuasca retreat or a grueling ultra-marathon. It’s a performative pursuit of "enlightenment" used to justify incredibly reckless, self-serving behavior. Perhaps it just the self centered focus on living his own life free of constraints. Bodhi robbing banks does not bring the system any closer to its knees. Its not like he is out there building insurgent networks and logistical pipelines of arms for sympathizers to resist the system. Nope, for him the ultimate act of resistance is riding a super-wave, LOL.

Like a tech founder who burns through millions of venture capital dollars while protecting their own shares, Bodhi talks a big game about ultimate freedom but happily lets others pay the price. When the data starts leaking (or in his case, when the FBI closes in), he doesn't pivot safely. He doubles down, pushes his "employees" into increasingly dangerous situations, and ultimately leaves his ride-or-die team to take the fall.

Much like Steve Jobs or Elizabeth Holmes, Bodhi possesses a magnetic, cult-like charisma. He creates a "reality distortion field" where his followers willingly risk their lives and freedom because they want to be close to his vision. He says lines like "If you want the ultimate freedom, you've got to be willing to pay the ultimate price". That could easily be slapped onto a LinkedIn post about hustle culture.

Makes me want to imagine a version where Bodhi wouldn't be chasing waves in Byron Bay; he’d be living in Austin, running an unregulated crypto exchange or an AI startup, and convincing his developers to work 100-hour weeks for "the collective evolution of humanity."