Point Break (2015)

point-break-2015Director Ericson Core
Staring Édgar Ramírez, Luke Bracey, Ray Winstone
Rated M
Score 0.5/6

A young FBI agent infiltrates an extraordinary team of extreme sports athletes he suspects of masterminding a string of unprecedented, sophisticated corporate heists.

Before I get too far into this review a small piece of trivia regarding the ‘remake’ of Point Break courtesy of IMDB prior to the remake of Point Break being green lit there was a sequel in development that would have been set in Indonesia and star Australian actor Damien Walshe-Howling. The project was thought to have nothing in common with the original movie apart from the surfer/outlaw angle. The project was shelved after languishing in development for a number of years. In defence of the failed Australian production I believe the current ‘remake’ has even less to do with the original ’91 movie. Some might say that this was inspired by the classic ‘91 hit, I say far enough but considering how little the ‘remake’ has to do with the original movie then the filmmakers have no right to release this movie under the name ‘Point Break’, no matter who acquired the rights to remake the original movie

Surprisingly, there is actually a couple of good points about this movie. And by a couple I mean only three. Considering director Ericson Core’s strong back ground in cinematography Point Break is actually a very beautifully shot movie, the filmmaker’s should be congratulated for using Teresa Palmer’s character ‘Samsara’ that it is indeed 2016 and that the lead female character in an action movie does not have to be used for the sole purpose of bedding the hero and it was also good to see Australian actor Luke Bracey be cast in the role of ‘Utah’. It should be noted that Bracey attended Australia’s alternate acting school which is more commonly known as the television series Home and Away. Bracey clearly tried to give a good performance but more care and attention needed to be given to the plot of the movie. Especially considering that Utah had such a traumatic moment to deal with before anybody had a chance to emotionally invest in his character or the movie. Come to think of it, I really did not invest any emotion into this movie at all.

As it has been said on to Yeezy after Glastonbury 2015 it so shall be said on to Ericson Core the director of 2015’s Point Break and also on to the writer Kurt Wimmer ‘do not mess with a power that ye fails to understand’.
In the pursuit of making movies there are so many lessons that Studio Executives, Directors and Writers need to learn. The constant need to remake movies with a ‘fresh, new hip edge’ has a tendency to reveal you as being creatively bankrupt. I’d also like to add to that lesson list contrary to the capitalistic ideal bigger is not always better and last of all when you use pseudo eastern philosophy (that might give audience members a brief warm and fuzzy feeling in the pit of their stomach) in the excess you run the very real risk of outing your supposed charismatic villain as a hipster.



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