Terrible Movie for a Terrible Generation

Here we are again: another forced remake from Hollywood that NO ONE asked for. I rememember when first hearing about this remake, how annoyed I was. For one, I ask myself the simple question that most Hollywood executives seem to forget (and is the #1 most important business question you ask yourself before ever creating a new product): WHO IS YOUR MARKET AND TARGET AUDIENCE, AND IS THERE ONE?

The answer for this movie is NO. Had they just asked this question pre-production, they would have saved themselves millions of dollars. The original Point Break was a mediocre movie from the 80's/90's era, only recognizable today because of Keanu Reeve's subsequent success. The movie back then was flimsy, shallow, and full of plot holes, but it represented the era fine, and is a decently enjoyable watch for action movie fans of the era. That being said, it doesn't have a huge cult following, and even on YouTube it doesn't have much of a presence outside of Keanu firing his gun into the air while shouting like a fool.

So where lies the huge fan base for this movie? I watched this movie a lot when I was younger, but I had NO DESIRE to ever see this remake. Many I know shared the same assessment. The current generation of youth are not used to action movies of this nature, and most of them don't even know what the original Point Break was/is.

So who is your audience for this film? Well, obviously they were catering it towards X-Treme Game fans ... only problem there, that is a very small niche audience, and X-Games are not really popular beyond anyone that performs in them.

Worse yet, in this remake they had nearly 20 years to re-write, they basically make a shallower and more plot-flimsy remake than the original, which is pretty hard to believe. Instead of fixing the plot holes with the first, they just re-do them, and make them worse ... almost like they intended to. Not only was this a straight remake, but they stole half the dialogue and sequences from the first, and only did them worse here: partly because you knew it was coming, and partly because the characters were so stiff and scenes so forced, it just felt awful as a viewer. No attachment.

Without wasting more of my time, here's a few points:

- Why does Delroy Lindo (police captain) even bother mentioning that Ray Winstone's character is, "An acquired taste" ... as if he is some semi-crazy guy, akin to how Gary Busey's character was in the original? The guy seemed like a pretty typical movie-FBI guy to me. Did his job, that was it. He had nothing that even resembled Gary Busey's crazed persona, or wild west approach ... completely pointless character, and reference.

- Once again, the tie-in to why Johnny Utah believes this group of "surfers" (we'll get to that in a minute) are some criminal masterminds has no substance. Worse yet, this movie does a WORSE job of showing that connection that the original, and that was probably the largest plot hole in the original. Then, once Johnny is with them for 2 weeks, at what point is there any proof these jokers fit his ridiculous theory? NONE. Case closed. Movie over. He's fired, hopefully.

- What was the point of the relationship between Johnny and the girl? Oh, none. They just did it because Keanu and Lori had a relationship in the first, and as bad as it was, it was far more effective than this crap.

- Now, the fun...

- I'm so glad that these guys, including Johnny Utah, some former semi-good Motocross legend, were ALL grand master professional level: Surfers; Rock Climbers (bare hand); snow boarders; motocross bikers; MMA street fighters; Cliff Divers; Parajumpers/gliders; ... and criminals (though they hardly committed any crimes in the movie). That is like saying that Shawn White, or some other X-Gamer guy, can bike, surf, rock climb, parachute, snowboard/ski, wield automatic weapons against cops, and rob banks and setup staged rock slides all at the highest level, simultaneously, just because they have a few tattoos and follow the 8.

- Chasing the 8. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. Do I even need to elaborate? The best part is how quickly Bodhi figured out that last 8 (I forget the number) when he dove off the cliff. Utah just quickly goes, "Bodhi figured out the last one, that is why he intentionally jumped off the cliff." Okay? So we force that real fast JUST so we can have the obligatory scene of Bodhi killing himself in a ridiculous surf scene? AWFUL.

- Bodhi: Wow. Talk about stale. Patrick Swayze was a guy full of personality and charisma. This guy, whoever he is (not worth looking up) has one facial expression the entire movie and one level of personality: boring.

- Johnny Utah: this guy makes Keanu look like an acting legend. I didn't know you could find a worse version of Scott Speedman, but it looks like Hollywood managed to find him. Good luck, ace.

- Samsara: What was her point? None. Though she did have an amazing rack in the movie, so I'll let it slide.

- Lastly, did this movie even really have any plot? I'd say about 60 mins of it are landscape/x-game shots. Enough is enough. Not even anyone who does that stuff could find this trash entertaining for that long. It was just over and over again. And again I say, "who is your audience for this non-sense?"

Anyway. What a pointless and unnecessary remake. I'm glad it did awful. Perhaps one of the flattest and most unnecessary movies to ever be made. I feel bad for people of this generation that are having to grow up on movies that won't hold up past their time in the theater, let alone hold up over generations.