MOVIE REVIEW: FTN reviews Point Break (2016)

Director: Ericson Core
Writers: Kurt Wimmer (screenplay), Rick King, W. Peter Iliff and Kurt Wimmer (story)
Stars: Edgar Ramirez, Luke Bracey, Ray Winstone & Delroy Lindo
Running Time: 114mins

A young FBI agent infiltrates an extraordinary team of extreme sports athletes he suspects of masterminding a string of unprecedented, sophisticated corporate heists.

OK, before I start, I need to be up front about two things.

Firstly, the original Point Break is, without doubt, my all-time favourite action movie. Secondly, I expected this remake to be a dire mess and, on that front at least, it didn’t disappoint.

The remake takes the basic concept of the original – a group of guys are robbing banks and vanishing. A new FBI Agent and a burnt out one go after them and eventually… well, you can guess the rest.

I honestly am finding it tough to write this review.

Point Break (2016) is a real mess of a movie. The plot – as it is – is all over the place and seems to little more than an excuse to fly Luke Bracey’s Johnny Utah and Edgar Ramirez’s (creepily channeling Tchéky Karyo’s character from 2001’s Kiss of the Dragon) Bodhi all over the planet with an assortment of utterly forgetful henchmen to jump off mountains and climb cliffs and all that extreme spots stuff on a frankly ridiculous mission to achieve spiritual enlightenment. Or something.

Honestly, it doesn’t matter.

Gone is the layered and convincing relationship between Keanu Reeves’ Utah and Patrick Swayze’s Bodhi, replaced by two personality vacuums who, at no point have any chemistry here.

Gone too is the spirituality of the original movie’s ex-Presidents, a group of law breakers who lived for thrills and to, ultimately, feel alive all the while finding fulfilment in the life they lead; here it’s constantly shoved down your throat and is at no point convincing or, indeed, worth worrying about.

You many have noticed that I included the three writers’ names in the credits at the top of the review – I don’t usually do that, but in this case, I made an exception.

Why? Well, As a massive fan of the original movie, this Point Break is a soulless, thrill-less and unengaging mess of a movie. The fact that it had three writers AND was a remake of Kathryn Bigelow’s classic actioner and was still so utterly empty, boring and filled with performances that leave usually solid actors like Ray Winstone and Delroy Lindo looking embarrassed and plain confused, is an achievement in itself.

Look, I got in for free to the press screening and feel like I’m owed something.

Point Break sadly represents everything wrong with Hollywood today – lazy, devoid of any ideas and without heart, this is a true cinematic travesty in every sense.

Let’s hope Ghostbusters and Big Trouble in Little China can hold up better.

Shudder.

Because we are obligated to give a score, this movie gets One out of five Nerds. And that’s only because some of the stunts while stunningly boring, are very well filmed.