POINT BREAK

Hollywood seldom goes into full-remake mode. Yes, they do reboot franchises, but very rarely do they go for remakes of one-off yesteryear hits. The most ‘recent’ name that comes to mind immediately is The Manchurian Candidate. Otherwise, most classics, save for reinterpretations of timeless tales, have been left untouched. Point Break is not what you might call a classic. But in the 20 odd years that have elapsed since its release, the movie has steadily remained a favorite for repeat viewing on TV, and has almost never faded out of memory, which is quite something for a regular action movie. Maybe it was Patrick Swayze’s  swagger as Bodhi or Keeanu Reeves’ earnestness as Utah that made us want to go back to it again and again. And of course, there are the Lori Petty fans too. So, Point Break has now been remade and is in theaters. How does it work, compared to the original and otherwise?

The remake has the same basic premise, without much tweaking been done to the characters. It remains faithful to the original in terms of storyline. But, the dynamics of this film, the focus, and the central factors of the new Point Break are quite different from the original. You have Johnny Utah, of the FBI, trying to infiltrate into what seems like a team of daredevils who pull off the most impossible heists and then do the unthinkable by squandering the spoil in the most unlikeliest of locations. It seems to be crimes with no understandable motive and following no set patterns of criminal activity. What are they after, what are they trying to prove? Can Utah find them and stop them before they disappear without a trace? Well, if you have watched the original Point Break, you will know what happens and how it happens. If you haven’t you might enjoy it, though it might feel a lot like Fast and Furious.

The new Point Break is really about daredevilry and high flying action. Sometimes it looks like one life-ending stunt after another with our gang of thrill seekers (‘adrenaline junkies’ to borrow an unforgettable term from the original, which is not used in the remake though) finding potentially the most dangerous places on earth to execute a sequence of tasks which seems to have an almost mythological reverence. This complexity behind the motive of the group is something new in Point Break, the original one had it much more straight or simpler; not saying that one is better than the other. But, in packing so many (at least 6) breathtaking stunts into a 2 hour movie, the script doesn’t get much time to focus on the Utah-Bodhi bond which was the central force of Point Break. There seems to have been an assumption that audiences will carry the intensity of that bond from having watched the original. Just didn’t work that way. The investigative process seems a bit dumbed down here, like everything clicked into Utah’s head in a jiffy, which also dilutes the impact because Point Break is after all a movie about an FBI assignment. Also the romance which grew silently yet strongly between Reeves and Lori Petty in the original is made to look like a one night stand, which is perhaps where the movie totally loses its emotional current and becomes a VFX and stunt showcase.

But, you have to give it to the team though, for making some really visually captivating stunts in some breathtaking locales. It is not stunts on an unprecedented scale, but definitely worth watching on the big screen. You will definitely enjoy the final rock climb. But stunts alone cannot hold a movie together. Yet, the new Point Break can be watched. Most of its emotional power comes from an intense Egdar Ramirez who brings Bodhi back on screen. It’s a challenging job to recreate such a memorable Patrick Swayze performance, but he manages to do a convincing job of it. Go for Point Break to catch some awe inspiring locales and very well executed stunts. For the emotional muscle and the nuances of storytelling, the original remains head and shoulders above.

A few points short of breaking even!!

2.5/5