Aubrey Malone
Point Break (12A)
Patrick Swayze, who died of cancer at the age of 57 in 2009, was by all accounts a very nice guy. He had three major hits in a stop-go career: Ghost, Dirty Dancing and Point Break. They’ve now re-made the latter and given it the proverbial ‘big treatment’.
It deals with a rookie FBI agent called Johnny Utah (Luke Bracey) who goes undercover with veteran colleague Pappas (the inevitable Ray Winstone) to infiltrate a gang of multi-tattooed, wing-suited, “poly-athletic” party animals led by the quasi-mystical Bodhi (Edgar Ramirez). This bunch of reconstructed eco-warriors are carrying out a spate of audacious crimes in between their splashy histrionics on the waves. When Utah and Bodhi become friends it leads to an inner conflict in Utah that gives the film whatever limited drama it possesses.
Kathryn Bigelow directed the original way back in 1991 and it became something of a cult hit. Ericson Core’s re-make is more like a slow puncture by comparison.
The special effects have been souped-up, as one might have expected from a director with the dubious distinction of the motor-mad The Fast and the Furious already on his CV. The point is, they’re so good they distract you from the storyline. And of course many of them are computer-generated, a facility Ms Bigelow didn’t have at her disposal 25 years ago.
The mood is also darker and new-age-y, which gives the film a self-consciousness Bigelow managed to sidestep.
At almost two hours running – or should I say surfing – time, this conduces towards self-indulgent weariness. Sometimes the characters stare at one another so lugubriously you could be forgiven for fearing you’ll miss the last bus home.
Core tries to intellectualise his band of un-merry men in a kind of neo-Robin hood manner. This is never a good idea in a would-be action movie. It means it effectively sabotages itself by second-guessing its own genre aspirations.
The result is a mish-mash of styles that causes everything to flounder in an infinity of froth. It begs the question: Why did they bother to re-make a film that was so enjoyable the first time around? If it’s not broken, as they say, why fix it?
The resultant ‘revisionism’ means it loses the sense of spontaneity – and fun – the original possessed. Neither Patrick Swayze nor Keanu Reeves (Swayze’s 1991 co-star) were ever likely to threaten the Oscar podium but at least they had chemistry. Bracey and Ramirez, in contrast, both seem to have had charisma bypasses.
There are some spine-tingling moments in Core’s expansive re-jig to be sure but by and large you’d be better off watching the skydivers and snowboarders who populate the Sports Channels on your satellite TV. That way you’ll avoid irksome Alpine chases over waterfalls and cacophonous motorcycles that threaten your eardrums at every turn.
Teresa Palmer is the token eye candy getting in the way of all that male bonding.