Point Break

Point Break is easily the most unnecessary remake we got this past year.  And no, I'm not forgetting the equally unnecessary remake of Poltergeist we got this past summer.  Nobody was asking for a remake.  There was no reason it needed to be made.  And judging by the box office returns and the vacant theater I saw my screening in, nobody wants to see it.

Audiences are right to stay away.  Watching this remake of the 1991 cult hit action film is like staring for almost two hours at a dusty, dried up husk of something that was once living.  It has no thrills, no personality, and probably the most uncharismatic and lifeless cast assembled for any movie I've seen in a very long time.  It takes a special kind of skill to build a movie around surfing, base jumping, rock climbing, and high speed motorcycles diving out the window on the upper levels of a skyscraper, and make it come across as boring.  And yet, through some warped miracle, director Ericson Core and screenwriter Kurt Wimmer have achieved just that.  Is some of the action shot and performed well?  Quite well, yes.  But there's absolutely nothing to be invested in.  We're watching a stunt reel, with occasional moments of dialogue that's so banal and dry, I don't know if any actor could have spoken it successfully.  The characters have no personality, and the actors look like they have no idea what they're doing half the time.  I felt for them, as I had no idea why I was watching this movie.

The plot more or less shares the same basic structure as the original, with the prerequisite updates.  Our hero is the wonderfully named Johnny Utah (Luke Bracey), who used to be an extreme sports star, until an accident during a motorcycle stunt caused a close friend of his to die.  Somehow, this tragedy led him to join the FBI.  I mean, I can understand why he would want to leave his past behind, but why he went into law enforcement is never actually explained.  His supervisor on the force (Delroy Lindo) tells him about a group of criminals who are pulling off brazen robberies all over the world in a series of stunts that include everything from sky diving to parachuting.  The criminals are acting like modern day Robin Hoods, giving money, gold and diamonds back to the poor and desperate people of the world.  Johnny is able to recognize that the criminals are trying to perfect the "Ozaki Eight", a series of legendary death defying stunts that are supposed to honor the different elements of the Earth and represent the different forces of nature.  So, they're kind of like a really badass Captain Planet gang.

With his background in extreme sports, Johnny theorizes that he should infiltrate the group, win their trust, and find out what they're doing and where they plan to strike next.  Utah does indeed befriend the gang's leader, Bodhi (Edgar Ramirez), and is welcomed into the group.  As Johnny spends more time with the criminals, he actually starts to feel a certain connection with them, and starts to question where his loyalties truly lie, especially when he starts to fall for the sole female member of the group.  However, thanks to the leaden screenplay and lifeless performances, we never sense any of this.  We don't feel a friendship forming between Johnny and Bodhi, and we don't feel the emotional turmoil that Johnny is obviously supposed to be feeling about where his loyalties lie.  None of the actions have weight or consequence in this movie, and it simply feels like everybody's just making the minimal effort.

Instead of getting us into the minds and world of these characters, the 2015 Point Break devotes an unnecessary amount of screentime to endless stunts that, yes, are shot well, but really have no basis to the plot.  We feel nothing, not even when a character happens to die in a tragic snowboarding accident while on a mountain.  We knew nothing about him, and he had no memorable dialogue or moments, so why the movie feels the need to pause and try to get us emotional is beyond me.  Everything about this movie feels dry and lifeless.  The relationships between these characters are given little attention or focus, and there's not a single scene where anyone gets to display a personality.  There's no joy or emotion in this movie.  There's really little of anything.  It's a cynical enterprise designed solely to ride on the title of a popular movie, and maybe play on the nostalgia of the fans.

I ask again, why did this movie need to be made?  The original was no masterpiece, and wasn't exactly screaming for a new vision.  At least, certainly not this vision, that has had all the life drained from every facet of the film.  This is simply another case of a remake that will forever be ignored on the DVD shelf, as the fans continue to pick up the original.

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