Point Break ** (2015, Edgar Ramirez, Luke Bracey, Ray Winstone, Delroy Lindo, Teresa Palmer) – Movie Review

‘Everyone needs stories,’ says Luke Bracey. ‘Everyone needs to escape every once in a while.’ Well, yes, but is this the story that everyone needs? Everyone seemed to like it the first time Point Break (1991) when Patrick Swayze was crook Bodhi, Keanu Reeves was FBI rookie Johnny Utah and Gary Busey was FBI agent Pappas.

Now, 25 years on in 2015, they’ve re-made the story, and indeed, to their credit, are trying to tell a different story with the same characters. So it’s technically not a remake. Original writer W Peter Iliff and Rick King worked on the new story with Kurt Wimmer, who wrote the screenplay. That’s where this soulless movie’s problems start. Then there’s the big fat problem of how to replace Swayze and Keanu. This new Point Break never really overcomes these problems.

Sydney-born Luke Bracey, who made his debut in the soap opera Home and Away in 2009 as bad-boy Trey Palmer, lands the main star role as probationary FBI agent, who is offered the task of infiltrating the team of extreme sports athletes he suspects of masterminding a series of bold heists. Keanu was sweet eye candy and not much of an actor yet in 1991, so Bracey is probably well cast. Pleasant though Bracey is, he lacks Keanu’s effortless charisma and any rapport with the other actors in the movie. In a better movie, he might be much better.

The extreme heist team is led by top-billed Édgar Ramírez, who gives a commendable performance of quiet dignity, just when campy, lip-smacking villainy is actually need. His team comprises Matias Varela as Grommet, Clemens Schick as Roach and Tobias Santelmann as Chowder, all of them pretty bad, but it’s not their fault, they do what’s asked of them.

Talking of pretty bad, Ray Winstone, Delroy Lindo as FBI Instructor Hall and Teresa Palmer as Johnny’s sex interest Samsara all phone in their performances. But at least they have roles. Max Thieriot as Johnny’s ‘more than a friend’ Jeff is killed off at the start of the movie. Glynis Barber has a blink and you’ll miss it appearance as FBI Head of Investigations. Nikolai Kinski has a nothing part as Euro rich boy Pascal Al Fariq. And James Le Gros, who played Roach in the original, has a non-role as FBI Department Director Number 2. Indeed Winstone is horribly miscast and bored-seeming as Cockney FBI field agent Pappas. Does the FBI have Cockney field agents? It feels unlikely.

It is directed by Ericson Core, whose only previous feature directing credit is Invincible in 2006. He graduated from USC’s film programme and has a degree from the prestigious Art Centre College of Design, and is a long-term distinguished director of photography. The complicated movie eludes Core’s grasp, but it at least looks good, and it’s a slick, fast-moving package.

Cut to the chase: Lacking class and credibility, or even the sheer brazen cheek of the old movie, Point Break may not be not very good but it is a watchable crime thriller, with some exciting extreme sports action.