Just in case you forgot that this was happening, the upcoming remake of the campy 1990s action classic Point Break wants you to know that it is still very much on the way. To further this ultimate end, there is a shiny new trailer here to help kick your adrenaline glands into high gear. Check it out for yourself if you’re feeling extreme.
There’s a lot of action in the original Point Break, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, who would go on to win an Academy Award for The Hurt Locker, but as this latest trailer reminds you, the goal here is take the action and crank it up to the proverbial eleven. And then maybe to twelve if they can find a knob that goes that high.
This latest look also drives home just how similar the plot is to the 1991 original—that was the sense you got from the previous trailer, but this one sticks even closer. You’ve got young FBI agent Johnny Utah (Luke Bracey standing in for Keanu Reeves), who you see in a sweet training montage to remind you that, for all his bluster, he’s still just a greenhorn. In order to track a group of international criminals, he must go under cover as an extreme sports enthusiast, and when he falls in with the tight-knit crew, led by the charismatic, shaman-esque Bodhi (Edgar Ramirez in a role Patrick Swayze made awesome), he gets in over his head. To be fair, this is also essentially the plot of The Fast and the Furious and countless other undercover cop stories.
One thing that’s different this time around—from the first trailer, not necessarily from the earlier movie—is that the villains are more in line with their predecessors. In the first collection of footage, they came across as bank robbers and criminals causing chaos just to cause chaos. While that may still be a part of it, here they play up the almost Robin Hood side of what they do, emphasizing the spiritual nature of the quest they’re on. Though even that is jacked up, as instead of just looking to get a metaphysical high from getting radical, these guys have a series of spiritual quests to complete.
In tone, this new Point Break just seems so much different than the first, which has an undercurrent of goofiness, which is enhanced by some over the top, eminently quotable performances (John C. McGinley is so amazing). From what we’ve seen so far, this just seems so super serious and plays like, while it may get all the story beats right, it’s missing what makes the original so beloved even to this day.
It’s hard to judge from two short trailers, and hopefully Point Break 2015 will turn out to be just as much fun as the original. We’ll find out when the film opens on Christmas Day.
