Point Break is an exhilarating, adrenaline junkie’s wet-dream with stunning cinematography and use of natural landscapes. Unfortunately, for all its exciting elements and beauty, there is a grotesque transformation in this remake.
Director Ericson Core uses his visual eye for the death-defying action scenes (like he did as cinematographer of The Fast and the Furious) to successfully choreograph and shoot these hypnotizing feats. The style, the forms and especially the hyper-realistic use of space and natural structures gave the film a superb aesthetic quality. As a fan service, this remake wouldn’t be worth its salt if it didn’t have a few of the memorable moments from the original. Rest assured, the two moments that stick out from the original are recreated to a slightly diminished gusto the second time around. Fans old and new will easily come to embrace the visual upgrade, but will be completely divided when it comes to the massive changes and shortcomings in the story and characters.
Such an underdeveloped love interest with Samsara (Teresa Palmer) that you’ll have an easier time believing there was a romantic relationship between the two male leads. Personally, I would have preferred the development of a homo-erotic bromance than the tainting of a once well-developed female character (Lori Petty as Tyler) being turned into nothing more than an oversexualized prop meant to add to the viewing pleasure of this already aggressively testosterone driven film. Add to that the socially conscious, psuedo-spiritual Robin Hood reasoning and you have yet another film that didn’t need to be remade. This style-over-substance screenplay writer (Kurt Wimmer) has a long track record of fumbling with trying to cohesively blend spirituality with the action genre. Aside from that, this isn’t the first unnecessary remake he has graced us with recently (See: Total Recall).
The dude-bro following this type of film will inspire clashes with the false spiritual activism it is also trying to advocate for. The worst part is that anyone with even a basic understanding of Buddhism can tell that this film possessed none, with its water-downed logic and misrepresentation of fundamental principles.
There are few true pleasures to be had in this film aside from the visual elements, but Édgar Ramiréz proves to be the only enlightening element in this dim, drab affair. His characterization of a contemporary Bohdi is one of the few successfully translated elements from the filmmaker’s ill-executed vision. Ramiréz almost raises the quality of any scene he is in, making the most out of the little he was probably given. His representation of Bohdi, while different from the original, can rival Patrick Swayze, who made the role iconic.
RATING: ★★★★ (4/10 stars)
See the movie on Sky in the UK: Sky contact number
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