There's good visuals in this unnecessary Point Break remake but they are some how blah without Kathryn Bigelow's direction or the under-rated work by Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze.
The acting isn't horrible but no one truly stands out. Keanu Reeves has gotten a lot of crap for being wooden or one dimensional. But there was something likeable and even vulnerable about his Johnny Utah. While he is more lively than Luke Bracey is in this film.
The Utah here is an extremist from the start who even lost a good friend doing an extreme and dumb stunt. So I never felt as if I was watching him sucked into a world totally new to him.
I will also point out that absolutely no one could replace how awesome the late Patrick Swayze was as Brody. For someone who before that mostly just played the likeable pretty boy; he was a great villain. Definitely was his best role.
Utah's love interest here isn't as appealing or stand out as Lori Petty was either. While Ray Wintstone is a fine actor he gets less to do than Gary Busey did in the original as Utah's partner.
In a way I am happy this was made since it shows how under-rated and well made the original film really was. It definitely makes you miss the original cast who all stood out more than this one.

An FBI trainee infiltrates an ecologic terrorist group in order to bring them down. But the head of the Eco-terrorists is a lot more likeable than the cop. Said antagonist is driven by the kind of ecologic spirituality which animates most environmentalists these days: a love for Earth, and a disdain for those giant multinational corporations that make ample use of natural resources. This particular Eco-terrorist is not above hurting these multinationals where they hurt: sabotaging their operations. Also, he is a modern Robin Hood, distributing his ill-gotten gains among the poor. That makes him very likeable in the film. On the other hand, this Eco-terrorist doesn't care which corporate lackey gets hurt during his exploits. This part is not as well highlighted in the film.

The main antagonist is driven by some kind of spiritual connection to an older ecologic activist who drew up a list of 8 extreme-sport challenges which would guarantee those who performed them some kind of spiritual ecological enlightenment. This is the chief motif of the movie, and it is telling that it simply is there in order to provide wonderful scenes of extreme sports athletes doing their thing in breath-taking natural environments. Yes, those scenes are very nice to see. But the motif seems no more than an excuse for the daring scenes, even at the end when the head Eco-terrorist presumably meets his end while surfing 100 foot waves.

There is a romance between the undercover cop and one of the Eco-terrorists. But this motif too, is extremely underdeveloped, and didn't add anything of substance. She is there purely to incite the lower passions of male viewers --- because sex sells, and modern culture seems to demand under-dressed women in all movies. I wish that the movie had paid more attention to this motif. It is, after all, a mythological tragic event when the cop shoots the girl while she tries to escape a bank robbery. And yet, this has little effect on he cop. That is how under-developed this motif is.

> Most deserved remake, but relying on CGI for everything ruined it.

This movie is only about stunts, the story wise, it's a great disappointment. I have seen the old version, for a 90s movie, the actions were fantastic with an awesome story. In this remake I don't know where's the story, the characters were underdeveloped and it rushed towards the end with plenty of high octane action sequences everywhere. This formula won't work all the time like '300' and 'Fury Road', but it's really good for watching in digital 3D.

The story was kind of sameness, but slightly altered, especially about that 8 ordeal and stunts were obviously freshly designed. The graphic works were weak in some parts, it failed to give a natured effect. Yeah, I think CGI is the issue, the movie relied on it for everything.

The cast performances were fine, but a big star in the lead might have given a different result. It's entertaining, but that was not enough these days, especially for a cop movie we expect details, not just physical tricks. IMO its a one time watch movie, or better try the original.

6/10

I went into watching this expecting the worst, but it wasn't bad. (In comparison, I gave the Bigelow original a 9/10). To its advantage was an intriguing update of the original W. Peter Iliff screenplay to incorporate a) more extreme sports; and b) more aspects indicative of the present generation, great cinematography and both Delroy Lindo and Ray Winstone--who are both 'cash money' in terms of great supporting actors.

Disadvantages include awful soundtrack choices, a highly-unbelievable and lazily-written, underdeveloped script, the actors selected aren't nearly in the class of Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Gary Busey and Lori Petty...and the director's no Kathryn Bigelow.

Good for a watch, out of curiosity, especially if you liked the original and are a fan of extreme sports. Otherwise, it's probably not worth your time.