Point Break (2015) 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review
Brad Sturdivant
May 30th, 2016
As much as I love just about all of Patrick Swayze’s late 80’s and early 90’s movies, none of them are so good that they’re above being remade. So although the last thing we needed was a POINT BREAK remake, there was probably room to make a better film. Of course, abandoning everything that made the original film enjoyable and casting two of the blandest lead actors around was not the way to do it. So we get a completely unnecessary remake that only makes us appreciate the original that much more.
The general plot outline is essentially the same as the original. Rookie FBI agent Johnny Utah (Bracey) is assigned to investigate suspected criminal Bodhi (Ramirez) and his friends after a series of death-defying robberies. But Utah gets close with Bodhi and begins to question his guilt, eventually forcing him to decide between his duty as an FBI agent and his loyalty to his new friend. If we’re comparing and contrasting to the original, then the surfing angle is replaced with an extreme sports angle. Bodhi isn’t obsessed with catching the big wave, he and his friends are trying to complete a series of adventures that they believe will bring them closer to nature. They also believe that they need to “repay” nature by blowing up mines or robbing diamond sorters. Also, Utah is not a former quarterback any more, he’s an extreme sports star that left the life after his friend died.
The original POINT BREAK is not a great film, but it’s very enjoyable, thanks in large part to the charm and charisma of Patrick Swayze. It was always easy to see why Utah got enamored with Bodhi because the audience wanted to be friends with him as well. It didn’t matter that he was robbing banks; he was a cool, likeable guy and Utah’s struggles later on were understood. This new Bodhi is not charming or likeable. In fact, he’s kind of obnoxious and every time he starts spouting nonsense about getting closer to the earth or trying to give back, the audience just wants to reach through the screen and punch him.
Utah is an easy character to pull off, as Keanu Reeves demonstrated in 1991. You just have to be somewhat likeable and act dumb. I really don’t want to slam anyone after they got their big break, but Luke Bracey was terrible in this. He has zero charm and he clearly wasn’t ready to lead his own movie. The script didn’t help him out any as he basically figured everything out by accident, but Bracey was hard to watch for two hours.
As bad as POINT BREAK is, it does manage to succeed as a sort of IMAX, documentary-style film. The extreme stunts that the group did, such as surfing the big wave, free-climbing a mountain and snowboarding down another were actually very entertaining. It didn’t help the plot, pacing or direction of the movie, but I had a blast watching them because of how beautifully shot they were. But that’s not necessarily a reason to see the movie since you can pick up several 45 minute IMAX movies that would give you the same thing.
If you thought remaking POINT BREAK was a bad idea that wouldn’t work, then you’re right. The remake basically took everything you loved about the original and stripped it away, leaving you with giant plot-holes and unlikeable characters. Some of the action sequences are beautiful and the cinematography in general is great, but it’s not enough to save the film.
4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: Of the recent 4K titles from Warner Bros., I was probably most excited for POINT BREAK. The movie doesn’t feature much CGI, yet it has plenty of action sequences involving beautiful scenery. The release doesn’t disappoint. I was most excited to see the base jumping scene, where the group fly through the mountains. The scene looked great on Blu-ray, but the 4K video transfer takes everything to a new level as details in the trees and mountains come through, along with the nylon threads in their suits. And keep in mind, this detail is evident as the camera is flying through the sky. Rather than pick “reference movies” to show off the 4K format, I pick reference scenes and I now have a new scene to introduce people to the format.
Audio: The audio was equally as impressive.
There are no 4K exclusive special features, but the set does include a Blu-ray of the film and you can read our POINT BREAK (2015) Blu-ray Review by clicking the link.
Click 4K Ultra HD to read more of our 4K reviews.
