Point Break

A ‘Point Break’ refers to the crest of a wave as it breaks on its way to a sea shore. Surfers search across the world for the best points that create the greatest waves on which they can ride their boards. One memorable scene in Apocalypse Now has a surfing nut who happens to be a commanding officer (Robert Duvall) in the Vietnam War taking time off from a helicopter attack mission after he spots a terrific point break on a Vietnamese coast. It is clearly an extreme sport with a near fanatical following, and this 3D remake of the 1991 thriller of the same name by Kathryn Bigelow does indeed make the cut as far as its surfing scenes are concerned.

Unfortunately, this film’s plotting, pacing and casting are no match for the original. While the first film was based on the absurd idea of a group of surfers using their skills as professional athletes to pull off a series of daring bank heists (wearing masks depicting former US Presidents), it possessed a certain verve and sense of the unexpected, especially when the motive for the robberies turned out not to be materialistic, but a rebellion against a system that destroys ‘the human spirit’.

That vague value system is updated in this remake much more specifically. The protest this time is against the damage caused to the environment by capitalists. So now the daredevils have to counteract wanton destruction of the planet by honouring nature. To that end, they plan to go through eight ordeals that would reflect the triumph of nature over man.

Bodhi, a Sanskrit word referring to enlightenment in Buddhism, is the name given to the leader of the surfers. Unfortunately, the actor playing Bodhi, Édgar Ramírez, is miscast. He chooses to demonstrate his alleged ‘enlightenment’ by smirking cynically right through the movie. In the end, this film is just a series of pointless, death-defying sequences that do not hold together.

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Ajit Duara