Explosive
Summary
Point Break is one of my favourite films and it looks and sounds better than ever on 4K, but the lack of many new special features make it hard to recommend if you already own the Blu-ray.
Plot: After a string of bizarre bank robberies in Southern California, with the crooks donning masks of various former presidents, a federal agent, Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves), infiltrates the suspected gang. But this is no ordinary group of robbers. They’re surfers — led by the charismatic Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) — who are addicted to the rush of thievery. But when Utah falls in love with a female surfer, Tyler (Lori Petty), who is close to the gang, it complicates his sense of duty.
Review: This review initially started out as a rant about how 4K isn’t all that great as it freezes and crashes all the time however, my very good friend bought me a new Panasonic Blu-ray player at the weekend and it’s absolutely amazing. No freezing or glitches, just perfect picture and sound, so all the issues were just with my LG 4K player.
I picked up the new 4K of Point Break which is one of my favourite films and the picture and sound are better than ever. The film still looks like it’s from the early 90s while cleaning up the picture, but not having anyone look waxy.
I’ve talked about the film before a while back, but I feel like doing a new review for it as for me it still holds up as a classic of the genre. There wasn’t really anything like it before where skydiving and surfing where major parts of the story. All of those scenes look gorgeous and Kathryn Bigelow needs to direct more action movies. She’s one of my favourite directors having helmed Point Break, Strange Days, Zero Dark Thirty, Blue Steel and The Hurt Locker to name just a few. She always knows how to shoot an action scene and Point Break still has that almost wistful look to it which captures Bodhi’s love of nature and the sea.
The movie is basically a bromance between an undercover FBI agent called Johnny Utah (Reeves) who falls in love with surfing and befriends the charismatic Bodhi (Swayze) who may or may not be part of a group of bank robbers called The Ex-Presidents. It would be remade as The Fast & The Furious and then got another remake in 2015 which to this day I have never watched.
Patrick Swayze is at his absolute best here as you understand why Utah falls under Bodhi’s spell; he tries to battle the system and be a free spirit however, in the end he is just a criminal who leaves his friend’s body behind but still grabs a bag of money. There is the whole morality at play here with you asking just how good is our hero and how bad is our villain? Utah does after all use and manipulate Tyler (Lori Petti) to get close to Bodhi and his crew, but he ends up falling in love with her; she has every reason to be pissed with him by the end. I’ve always wondered what happened to Utah after he throws away his badge during the finale; too bad we never got a sequel to this, but instead got 45 Fast & Furious movies.
I love how in a passing conversation someone mentions Patrick’s Roadhouse; I see what you did there!
The action is still as gritty as ever with a few fight scenes – one featuring Cyborg’s Vincent Klyn and a final showdown on the beach between Utah and Bodhi. We get one of my favourite foot chases ever put on screen (later mocked in Hot Fuzz) and some shoot-outs too; all of which are still awesome.
The new 4K has a few special features which you can check out below:
- It’s Make Or Break (SD 23:03)
- Ride the Wave (SD 6:08)
- On Location: Malibu (SD 8:32)
- Adrenaline Junkies (SD 6:01)
- Additional Scenes (SD 4:35)
- Image Gallery
- Theatrical Trailer 1
- Theatrical Trailer 2
- Theatrical Trailer 3
Most of these are archival features and don’t really offer anything new, so if you already own the movie on Blu-ray it’s hard to recommend making this upgrade. The film looks and sounds better than ever, however the lack of new special features makes me question if it is worth it.
Overall, Point Break is one of my favourite films and it still holds up with amazing stunts and action scenes but also one of Swayze’s best performances as the charismatic and yet unsettling Bodhi. The 4K looks and sounds decent but the lack of new features means if you already own it on Blu-ray then it’s not worth the upgrade.
