Point Break started with four lines of clunky exposition and didn’t really improve from there. I’m probably a bit biased, I loved the original Katheryn Bigelow film and after watching the trailer for this I was certain they’d ruined it. The original film stood out because of the characters. And without the charisma of Patrick Swayze and the intensity of Keanu Reeves this film becomes like any other action film, a bland combination of chases, shootouts and ridiculous stunts.

The story is not especially original; a young FBI agent, Johnny Utah (Luke Bracey) goes undercover to infiltrate a gang of robbers, led by the mercurial Bodhi (Edgar Ramirez). Whilst there, Utah’s loyalties are tested as he gets to know these criminals. Instead of locating the film on a Californian beach (like the original) we follow the gang around the globe as they try one crazy stunt after another in order to achieve the impossible eight tasks set by their late guru, Ono Osaki.

Point Break can boast to have some of the worst dialogue I’ve ever heard. It’s not just bad, it’s just so formulaic, so derivative that you wonder who actually thought lines like, ‘We can get these guys. I just need more time’ and ‘The only law that matters is gravity’ would sound good? In fact the dialogue was so poor at times I felt like I was watching a parody, I half expected Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg to appear to put us out of our misery.

Hollywood churn out sequels and remakes by the pound these days so it should come as no surprise that any vestiges of the original’s charm has been glossed over and replaced with beautiful scenery and one-note characters. It’s perhaps a sad reflection of Hollywood’s current mindset that they’d prefer to remake a film from twenty years ago rather than take a gamble on an original story.

None of the actors cover themselves in glory, especially not Ray Winstone who’s laboured performance seemed particularly desperate. I also felt like I was watching a clothes advert for many parts of the film. Highlighted in the arbitrary scene in which Utah and the gang decide to eat their dinner on an idyllic hillside. This film is meant to be about morally ambiguous criminals, not fashionable hipsters.

The only way I’d have enjoyed this and felt narratively engaged was if I cared about the characters. I didn’t. And that’s the films greatest flaw.

All in all, this is a carbon copy of the original but without the charm, intelligence or intensity. The films denouement was almost laughable it was so devoid of drama. Save yourself some money and re-watch the original. I wish I had done.

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