Warner Bros. Pictures
In 1991, an action flick starring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze was released to some fairly decent reviews (Roger Ebert even liked it!) and box office. Since then, Point Break has become a cult classic spawning a live stage show parody and now the dreaded cinematic remake, which could take advantage of technologic advances in not only filmmaking, but in extreme sports.
In the original film, a group of surfers have been committing a series of bank robberies while wearing masks of ex-presidents. Their MO is that they only take the cash from the drawers so they’re in an out in 90 seconds. A former surfer, Johnny Utah, joins the FBI to become part of a sting operation to reel in the surfers, but Utah’s developing bond with the bad guys puts the whole operation in danger.
In the new film, now out on home video, Luke Bracy takes over the Utah role and this time he’s an extreme athlete who joins the FBI after the tragic death of one of his buddies (for which he blames himself). Studying a series of bank robberies — in which the robbers take the money and then give it all away as sort of Robin Hood bandits — Utah is certain that the robbers are also extreme athletes, and by studying the pattern, he also deduces they are try to conquer something called the Ozaki 8, a gamut of eight extreme ordeals that honor the forces of nature. By completing the final stage, nirvana will be reached. Yeah, okay.
Utah clumsily ingratiates himself into the group (not before being pummeled a couple of times), and the leader Bodhi (Édgar Ramírez) recognizes Johnny from his sporting days. Why no one questions why this famous athlete wants to join a criminal gang is beyond me, but Bodhi accepts him into the group and they all go on their merry way attempting to complete the Ozaki 8. Utah even begins a romance, but that turns really sour after the group goes for another bank job and takes too much time when Bodhi decides to go for the vault as well. Utah’s own ineptness also puts the operation in danger, especially when Bodhi discovers his true identity. Bromance over.
I’ve never seen the original Point Break so I was able to come into this one without any preconceived notions. While the new film boasts some truly amazing action sequences (most of them done by professionals with no special effects enhancements), the story is just tedious and silly, and the performances are middling at best.
Warner Bros. Pictures
The new Blu-ray release from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment give the film a crisp, clear video presentation in 1080p video, faithfully reproducing director Ericson Core’s severly color-graded images. I don’t know why some directors feel the need to color grade their films down to a sickly greenish hue, but when I learned Core was also the director of photography on the Mel Gibson action flick Payback, which also had a similarly greenish color palette, I understood why Point Break looked as murky as it did. It’s not a slam on the studio’s video presentation, but Core needs to step away from the color grading tool! You can see how much more vibrant the action scenes look in the bonus footage without the color grading.
Warner Bros. Pictures
The press release material for the Blu-ray states the audio track is Dolby Atmos, but it is just a DTS-HD 7.1 Master Audio mix. If you’ve got a good home theater system set-up, this audio track will give your surrounds a good workout with all of the various elemental sounds effects, from wind to waves, pummeling the viewer. Dialog is mostly intelligible, but not very memorable. The 3D version offers the same sharp image with some stunning 3D effects of depth that becomes particularly thrilling when the characters are at the tops of mountain peaks looking down and during the aerial sequences, especially at the beginning with thousands of dollars are released in mid-air and seemingly into your living room (Core obviously composed many of his shots for 3D even though the process was achieved in post production). Again, it’s just a shame that Core insisted on making the film so ugly with the color grading (which was a similar complaint I had with Into the Heart of the Sea).
Warner Bros. Pictures
The Blu-ray special features could have been a more immersive look at the behind-the-scenes process of creating all of the magnificent stunts. As it is, we get about eight minutes total which you can watch individually or together with brief looks at “Rock Climbing” (1:52), “Wingsuit Flying” (2:16), “Snowboarding” (1:58) and “Motocross” (1:55). None of the raw footage is uglied down so you can get a better look at what the film could have looked like. There are also a couple of deleted scenes, of which there is an alternate ending where Johnny returns to the motocross track where the film started instead of him snowboarding. The deleted ending actually brings the film full circle which makes Utah’s journey a bit more satisfying than it is in the theatrical ending.
If you want to see some breathtaking stunts, the likes of which have never before been captured on film (actually HD video) for a scripted drama from a major studio, then by all means give this one a shot. 3D enthusiasts may also want to purchase the title for their collection because the process is exemplary. How forgiving you are with the film’s look and story is the only thing that may hold you back, but Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has done a stellar job with what they had to work with.
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