POINT BREAK is one of the best movies from when I grew up, but the latest remake trades well shot cinematography and impressive stunts for actual human emotion.  Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze have any of the cast beat (and even Gary Busey is better than Ray Winstone in the partner role).   So the remake of POINT BREAK withg some big rewrites by Kurt Wimmer (that deviates from the original’s plot) has Johnny “Utah” Brigham (Luke Bracey) about to become an FBI agent when he is sent to Europe to test a theory that the robbers of some very big robberies (where they don’t keep what they steal) is part of some extreme sports people to conquer the Ozaki 8 (eight ordeals honoring the forces of nature where you also have to give back to nature in some form too).  He zeroes in on Bodhi (Edgar Ramirez) even though his partner Agent Pappis (Ray Winstone) isn’t convinced.   POINT BREAK’s remake soars when it comes to the landscape photography and stunts, but I prefer the original cast to the new cast since Kurt Wimmer has turned every character into serious and humorless.  Utah isn’t even Johnny’s real last name (it is a nickname) and he is riddled with guilt over losing his friend Jeff while they were performing an extreme stunt ride years ago (Johnny was on target while Jeff overshot and fell to his death).  Bodhi has no macho mysticism zen in this new one- he wants to be an eco-warrior so he can perform these extreme stunts even if he dies in the process.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The four mini-featurettes focus on the extreme sports stunts done by actual extreme sports athletes: ROCK CLIMBING, WINGSUIT FLYING, SNOWBOARDING, and MOTOCROSS.   No other making-of featurettes focusing on the digital effects, the making of the movie in detail, or any interviews with cast and crew about the movie.

 

Four deleted scenes add nothing to the movie and two theatrical trailers round out the extras along with a code to download and/or stream a digital HD copy of the film.

 

FINAL ANALYSIS:  Rent the new POINT BREAK for the cinematography and stunts and go watch the original if you haven’t seen it.  The remake fails in the character department while it is very beautiful film to look at with a good score and great stunts.

 

This review is ©4-22-2016 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

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