by Graeme Stirling
The key question that this project raises is one that those involved in the film industry rarely seem to stop and ask themselves: Why?
Why are they doing this? True, the endless barrage of remakes and reboots sometimes rake in heavy profits. Sometimes, they also flop. Often those that fail are the ones that seemed pointless to begin with.
The key question that this project raises is one that those involved in the film industry rarely seem to stop and ask themselves: Why?
Why are they doing this? True, the endless barrage of remakes and reboots sometimes rake in heavy profits. Sometimes, they also flop. Often those that fail are the ones that seemed pointless to begin with.
Why do we want to know? Because this is set to be a pretty divisive project. Point Break is a treasured chunk of nostalgia, a near-perfect film as far as what it was trying to achieve, made at that glorious point in time that combined 80s cop film plotting (more guns, less questions) with 90s aesthetic. You’ve got grungy, 200% denim Keanu Reeves in the lead, backed by some of the best and most fondly remembered performances from Patrick Swayze – who blends seamlessly into his role as a charismatic hippie – and Gary Busey, whose manic FBI veteran is the perfect foil to Reeves’ shuffling, baby-faced, hands-ten-feet-deep-in-pockets hero.
The whole package is something like a zeitgeist version of Heat – a well-paced, action-packed crime flick with the personality of a ridiculous, bullet-based and badly made 80s cop caper. It also shares the same sort of bromance narrative between cop and criminal that makes it impossible not to root for the latter at least some of the time, complete with the final handshake scene to be mulled over by a sombre audience – a few years before Heat gave us Pacino holding a dying De Niro’s hand amidst the runway lights of LAX, Point Break gave us Patrick Swayze surfing himself to death off the coast of Australia as Reeves stood in the rain and watched. If that’s not the best onscreen departure ever, who knows what is.
The whole package is something like a zeitgeist version of Heat – a well-paced, action-packed crime flick with the personality of a ridiculous, bullet-based and badly made 80s cop caper. It also shares the same sort of bromance narrative between cop and criminal that makes it impossible not to root for the latter at least some of the time, complete with the final handshake scene to be mulled over by a sombre audience – a few years before Heat gave us Pacino holding a dying De Niro’s hand amidst the runway lights of LAX, Point Break gave us Patrick Swayze surfing himself to death off the coast of Australia as Reeves stood in the rain and watched. If that’s not the best onscreen departure ever, who knows what is.
The chemistry between the actors, therefore, is what gives the original film its power and appeal. Polish a film up all you want, but when its finest ingredient lies not in the production, you’re in trouble – especially if the key role of your charismatic antagonist is (possibly) going to Gerard Butler. He may not the worst actor in the world, but he categorically cannot do accents. No one in Hollywood seems to have noticed this, since they keep giving him these roles. This is the first red flag for the Point Break project as it is going distract the audience, just as it did in every other Butler film – his best role to date has been that of King Leonidas of Sparta, for no other reason than that the wise decision was made not to try and decipher a Spartan accent and instead to let him be from Paisley.
Not that they haven’t messed with the plot as well, of course. Details have been sparse so far, but an official press release stated that the film will be set “in the word of extreme sports”. As this is being typed, Vin Diesel is presumably in talks for the lead role.
As yet no director has been confirmed, either, but the script’s apparent fast-track production status suggests that the powers at be are feeling awfully confident about it. The original, whilst not exactly high-brow, remains Kathryn Bigelow’s highest-grossing film to date, so this is no easy task.
At this stage, it’s impossible to tell how the final film is going to look. For such a bare-bones project, it’s been remarkably well publicised and is more likely than not to be setting itself up for a fall. Once in a while, Hollywood needs to ask Why?, especially before fidgeting with an era-perfect piece of cinema and the potential favourite film of a generation.
Not that they haven’t messed with the plot as well, of course. Details have been sparse so far, but an official press release stated that the film will be set “in the word of extreme sports”. As this is being typed, Vin Diesel is presumably in talks for the lead role.
As yet no director has been confirmed, either, but the script’s apparent fast-track production status suggests that the powers at be are feeling awfully confident about it. The original, whilst not exactly high-brow, remains Kathryn Bigelow’s highest-grossing film to date, so this is no easy task.
At this stage, it’s impossible to tell how the final film is going to look. For such a bare-bones project, it’s been remarkably well publicised and is more likely than not to be setting itself up for a fall. Once in a while, Hollywood needs to ask Why?, especially before fidgeting with an era-perfect piece of cinema and the potential favourite film of a generation.
RSS Feed
