Point Break remake fails to break new ground [Review]
The story revolves around former extreme sport enthusiast turned FBI agent Johnny Utah (Luke Bracey), as he infiltrates an extraordinary team of extreme sports athletes led by the determined Bodhi (Édgar Ramírez), whom he suspects are masterminding a string of unprecedented, sophisticated corporate heists.
After making a daring 100-storey high diamond heist in Mumbai, and giving the diamonds to the locals in the slums, these extreme athletes come under radar of the FBI. Determined to prove his point, and against the will of the FBI, Johnny sets out to prove that the athletes are the architects behind crimes that ruined the world’s financial markets.
Despite failing at his first impression while surfing a 30 metre wave for the first time, Johnny is able to embed himself in the group, joining them on thrilling exploits such as wing-suiting through their mountainous surroundings and snowboarding down the Swiss Alps. He strives to find more evidence for the case, while his contact Angelo Pappas (Ray Winstone) tries to pull him out before Johnny gets too deep.
Point Break has some beautiful scenery as the characters travel across four continents, as well as throwing in the occasional landscape shots that don’t feel out of place. The action scenes are purely stunning, and the cinematography captures the life and beauty of the different places, as you are taken from the waves of coastal Europe, to the stunning waterfalls of South America. There are also extraordinary stunts being performed by the world’s top athletes, resulting in jaw-dropping action scenes as the characters traverse 70 foot waves and wing suit through shockingly close mountain ridges.
Point Break, believably enough though, does suffer from some flaws. Many of the scenes and settings feel as if they were shoe-horned in, the action is way too over-the-top, and there is an obviously rushed storyline. Many of the characters, including Utah and Bodhi themselves, have very little charisma as they monologue blank-faced and monotonously throughout the flick.
The actual reasons why the gang are pulling off the mind-boggling crimes are extremely vague and seem as if the writers grabbed it off some random website storyline generator. It tries to be ambitious, but fails miserably as they don’t establish the reasons with concrete evidence or meaning.
Finally, there is extremely obvious product placement riddled throughout the movie, which detracts from the experience. There are scenes in the movie that look as if they were “borrowed” right from the commercial for the product.
Even though the scenery is beautiful and the athletes preform amazing and daring exploits, the film suffers from the lack of story and actual human characteristics within the characters. Combined with the plainly obvious product placement, rushed story and shoe-horned settings, the overall film doesn’t live up to expectations that it could break the remake stereotypes, and doesn’t live up to the original. But if that doesn’t bother you, you might just enjoy the action and visuals. Overall, if you’re expecting the movie to be like the first movie, it will not satisfy you. If you watch this movie with an open mind, it just might entertain you.
In cinemas December 24