Earlier we got a taste of the adrenaline-fueled action from the upcoming Point Break remake, but that wasn’t enough. Oh no, that was just a tease, and now they’re back with a full trailer that wants to push you right up to the edge and beyond.
Dare I say this looks like a dumbed-down version of Point Break? Maybe that’s the wrong phrase, as the first one isn’t actually an intellectual opus (it is one of my all-time favorite movies, however). Overly serious is a much better description. The Keanu Reeves/Patrick Swayze-starring original from 1991 is fun and campy and riding a wave right out of the late ‘80s. You got the feeling that everyone involved knew they were making a ridiculous movie
On the other hand, from what we see here, Point Break 2015 plays everything super straight. There's not a lot of humor here. They take all the action from the source and do it stone-faced while cranking it all up a few notches. Along the way, they hit all the notes, but the waves are bigger, the stakes are higher, their motivation is a little bit grander. You’ve still got skydiving bank robbers, but instead of just financing their endless summer, they’re out to reshape global finance, and they’re willing to kill people, and do, in order to get their point across.
Instead of a fish out of water, New Johnny Utah (Luke Bracey) is already an extreme athlete, so he identifies with them right out of the gate. The formula is intact, but they give it a somber makeover. More than anything, this feels like a movie that would have happened in in the early 2000s, where extreme sports like rock climbing, base jumping, and snowboarding routinely popped up in crime-themed actioners. I can’t be the only one who got a serious xXx flashback watching this.
I definitely have mixed feelings about a Point Break remake, but that’s not to say this is without certain charms. Teresa Palmer shredding that giant wave is admittedly pretty sweet, and seriously, a guy races an avalanche on motorcycle, which should be kickass to watch on a large format screen.
And those shots of them skydiving through loose cash are pretty damn cool.
Fans of the original also have a few moments here to hang their hats on. You may notice that one of the men in Johnny Utah’s briefing is played by James Le Gros, who plays Roach in the original ("You’re cold because all of the blood is running out of your body, Roach. You’re going to be dead soon.")
You may also notice that they haven’t completely abandoned the Presidential masks from the first film. It doesn’t look like they wear them all the time, but it’s nice to know they make a cameo.
Point Break stars Luke Bracey, Teresa Palmer, Edgar Ramirez, Ray Winstone, Delroy Lindo, Tobias Santelmann, Matias Varela, and Clemens Schick, and opens everywhere Christmas Day.
