Point Break – ‘Point-less’

I’m sorry, there must be tonnes of reviews out there that have used the ‘pointless’ pun.  I couldn’t help it.  It’s just too obvious.  In case you didn’t know, ‘Point Break’ is a classic action/cop movie of the nineties.  Therefore, because of its ‘classic’ status, it was deemed 'remakeable' by our good friends - those wonderful Hollywood executives.  Now, I like to think I’m not a ‘remake snob’ – there are arguments for remaking a film, normally if you have a fresh take on something, or if the film was made so long ago that people have practically forgotten the original.  However, ‘Point Break’ was only made in the nineties and is still pretty dear to many people – namely me.  I may be able to forgive this new version for anything other than a cynical cash-grab if the original source material was particularly outdated, but unfortunately the sad fact is that the (dare I say ‘proper?’) ‘Point Break’ still looks as good today as it ever did.

In case you don't know, both 'Point Breaks' are about a young FBI agent (Johnny Utah) who has to infiltrate a gang of bank robbers led by ‘Bodhi’ who indulge in extreme sports, in order to gain their trust and catch them, obviously.  Whereas the original had Keanu Reeves playing our FBI hero and Patrick Swayze as the lead robber, the new one has… er, actually I don’t know either of them.  I like to think I’m reasonably good with actors, but I’ve never seen either of these two in anything!  But, I won’t hold that against them.  I’ll save my disdain for the chemistry between pretty much everyone on screen.  Everyone just seemed to be trying too hard to steer away from what we already know about the film, but never really achieving it.  This new ‘Point Break’ incarnation is like a meteorite that’s got hopelessly trapped in a planet’s gravitational pull and is fighting against the odds in a losing battle to escape. 

The new ‘Point Break’ does its best to try and create something new.  The bank robbers don’t just surf like they do in the original and it’s set across multiple locations around the world, rather than just a single beach in America, but it’s simply not enough.  I’ve briefly touched upon the lack of chemistry between the lead characters, but this really becomes obvious when they try and throw in the obligatory ‘love interest’ in there for Johnny Utah the 2nd.  It’s truly painful.  Almost as bad as watching (the usually awesome) Ray Winstone as Johnny’s partner Angelo Pappas.  It’s just weird hearing these names again, only seeing different faces associated with them.

Believe it or not, I didn’t hate the remake.  It’s a decent enough film and, if you’re into anything from extreme sports to cops and robbers films, you’d probably get some entertainment out of it.  But there’s a MAJOR but.  This only applies if you’ve never seen the original.  If you’ve watched that you’ll be crying out for a slice of Reeves and Swayze.  So, if you haven’t already seen the original, go and watch that – it’s a true classic of its time which still holds up today.  Let the remake be a message to Hollywood that we’re not interested in seeing all our favourite movies redone just to make a quick buck.

4/10 You can watch this film while you're doing the ironing (you'll still get the general gist of it)