Point Break

A Gen Z update to Kathryn Bigelow's 1991 cult classic, this remake is essentially an episode of Fast and Furious in which the vehicular exploits have been replaced with an assortment of extreme sports sequences. Constructed with an alarming amount of real footage and physical stunt work, the numerous action set pieces are rather impressive; a high octane wing-suit gliding scene and the tension-building rock climbing finale topping the list. Yet the impact of these daredevil stunts is wasted on a film that fails on almost every other level. Stemming from Kurt Wimmer's truly awful screenplay, every second not spent traversing a mountainside, soaring through the air or surfing a mammoth wave is cringe worthy and/or yawn inducing. Wimmer's dialogue attempts to be philosophical and Zen-like, but with clichéd stinkers like "the only law is gravity" and "everyone dies, it's just a matter of how", it's nothing short of unintentionally hilarious. Replacing the eternally cool Patrick Swayze was always going to be tough, however Edgar Ramirez does a solid job as charismatic eco-warrior Bohdi. The same can't be said for low-budget-Chris-Hemsworth hunk Luke Bracey though, who is so wooden as Johnny Utah he makes Keanu Reeves look like Daniel Day Lewis. This modern update boasts a handful of genuinely fantastic action sequences, yet they're not enough to warrant a recommendation in what is otherwise a limp and incoherent thriller.

Imagine the intense stunts from energy drink commercial or Youtube extreme sport montage while music from Mad Max blares on background. This is where the second coming of Point Break truly excels. When it hits just the right velocity, it's bloody breathtaking. Unfortunately, the narrative is not only poor, it nearly sabotages the movie like a broken parachute.

Story revolves around Utah (Luke Bracey), an FBI trainee as he investigates a series of heists and their connection to a group of athletes led by Bodhi (Édgar Ramírez). As one might expect, it follows the same trail that Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze has placed. The new leads do what they can, although it's better to watch this without comparing, because it certainly doesn't have the same caliber of star or chemistry.

The plot then dives head first into uncharted territory. It's littered with so much "save the planet" preachy acts as the writing struggles to place FBI agent in the hippie nirvana angle. The motivation is just a mess of random vague one-liners, even the on-screen characters are perplexed by it. There's a romance subplot, but this is mainly to show the attractive Teresa Palmer as eye candy for several short scenes.

The movie is actually better when they just show the crazy sequences instead of forcing its lackluster story. It has plethora of impressive feats, from high heaven wingsuit flying, the climb on hazardous urban streets and natural cliffs, to the surfing of gigantic waves. This is the level of stunt choreography xXx and Fast and Furious wish they had.

When camera pans into the right angle and lighting, as the sounds is muffled by throbbing tune of the fast music, Point Break reaches the zenith. It's miles beyond what typical action flick could offer, but sadly it's repeatedly interrupted by the shoddy story, which feels like an excuse to fly across the globe to do random cool tricks.

If viewed only on the grand mix of cinematography and choreography, Point Break is exquisite, this would have been a great documentary of extreme sport. However, as action movie, the story is so pretentious, it simply serves as speed bump to hamper the thrill.

In 1991 Katheryn Bigelow brought us the idealistic pairing of Keanu Reeves (Utah) and Patrick Swayze (Bodhi), along with Gary Busey (Papas), Lori Petty (Tyler). The audience went on an absolute ride with these stars. The characters were well developed and story was plausible.

Fast forward to 2015 and Ericson Core brings us extreme sports involved with an FBI agent which subtly brings the audience an extreme dud. Extreme snowboarding, motor cross, surfing, wind gliding, rock climbing is all here. The story differs from the bank robbing of the original film as extreme athletes look to complete the Ozaki 8, extreme death defying events that harvest the earth, wind, rain, fire, all while liquidating companies of money, gold, diamonds.

The acting was extremely poor, characters did not develop as in the original, they fell flat and stale throughout. The action was ok at best.

Point break (the 2015 remake) is the single worse remake in the history of remakes. The original point break was a solid B rated movie making this remake at best an F. I mean I've seen a lot of remakes and this is the worst movie I've ever seen. In fact I honestly felt relieved when the credits started rolling. Its funny because they want ten lines just to leave a review. While I could see this working on the average movie this doesn't not work for Point Break (2015). The movie is so bad there's few words that can express this. I feel like a teacher is wanting me to write something positive about the end of the world. There is nothing positive about it or this movie. On the plus side I've drug this on to the ten required lines and I can put the movie behind me and pretend I didn't waste part of my life watching it. Its too late for me, but please save yourself and don't watch this movie.

I already didn't have a high opinion of the movie before even starting watching it and that's because I don't really like remakes unless they are much better. But after watching it I was surprised it wasn't actually a complete copy of the 1991 Point Break. The story is different in many points but unfortunately it isn't better. The good thing about the movie are the stunts and the nature shots. But it was just not enough to make it a good movie. It's an average movie with special effects that could have been much better when you see the budget they had. The acting was just okay without being great. It's just the story that was lousy written. And that's the most important thing for any movie. If you don't have a good script you don't get a good movie. That's a fact.