The original Point Break remains one of the great ’90s action films, and this new 4K release gives its spectacular surfing, skydiving and all-out mayhem a welcome visual upgrade.
Kathryn Bigelow’s Point Break is one of those films that should, on paper, be completely ridiculous. An FBI agent goes undercover with a gang of surfers who rob banks wearing former US Presidents’ masks, becomes best mates with their charismatic leader and then gets caught up in a world of surfing, skydiving, guns and people shouting “Utah!” a lot at each other. Somehow though… it’s fantastic! Over 30 years later it’s still one of the most entertaining action films of the ’90s.
A big part of that is Patrick Swayze as Bodhi, he could have been nothing more than the usual ‘bad guy’, but Swayze gives him enough charm and genuine conviction to make you understand why Johnny gets sucked into his world. Then you’ve got Keanu Reeves, still very early in his career, as Johnny Utah, Gary Busey doing what Gary Busey does best as Pappas, and Lori Petty as Tyler. It’s a fantastic cast, and Bigelow gives everyone enough room to make the film feel like more than just a collection of action scenes.
What makes Point Break really stand out, though, is the way Bigelow shoots her action scenes. From the surfing, to the skydiving, to the bank robberies, there’s an energy and physicality to the film that you just don’t get from a lot of modern action movies (including the crappy 2015 remake), where everyone seems to be replaced by CGI at the first sign of danger. Even the famously bonkers final confrontation has a roughness to it that makes everything feel much more… ‘real’.
It’s serious when it needs to be, but it’s never afraid of being a bit daft either, which is probably why it’s remained so much fun to watch. In fact, sounds rather similar to another film doesn’t it? No?… how about ‘The Fast & The Furious‘? When I was working at my local Odeon in 2001 and F&F came out, my first thought was… “This is just Point Break with cars!”. Whatever… it seems to be a winning formula, at least it is enough to produce 9 more ‘Fast‘ films, lol.
Video
This new 4K presentation is a slightly unusual one because it isn’t a scan of the original camera negative. The restoration was created from a new 2023 4K scan of the 35mm interpositive, with Dolby Vision HDR. Shout Factory has explained that they weren’t able to access the original negative, so the interpositive was used instead. The UK release from Icon appears to use essentially the same master, although with its own encode.
That does mean you shouldn’t go into this expecting the sort of jaw-dropping transformation you can get from a pristine original negative. Some shots are softer than others, the grain can be quite pronounced (but I love that, especially in this era of action films) and a few of the darker interiors aren’t quite as impressive as the outdoor material. Some reviewers have even questioned whether the upgrade is big enough to justify replacing a good Blu-ray? Well, I think it is.
Personally, I think the film benefits more from the HDR and improved colour than from the increase in resolution. When Point Break looks good, it looks really good. The beaches, sunsets and ocean shots have a lovely amount of depth, and the colours have a much nicer richness to them. The famous surfing sequences are particularly impressive, with the water looking properly natural rather than like a slightly murky blue blob, especially in those night surfing scenes toward the start of the film.
There is also a pleasing amount of fine detail in the better shots. You can pick out the texture of clothing, facial hair and skin, while the film grain remains intact rather than being scrubbed away. It still looks like a film from 1991, it’s dirty, hot and grimey, which is exactly what you want California to look like in movies from that time. The HDR is where the biggest difference comes in, particularly with the bright skies, sunsets, explosions and the contrast between the sunny California exteriors and darker scenes.
It’s not reference-quality 4K from beginning to end, but that’s really more to do with the source than anything else. The fact that the original negative wasn’t available means there was always going to be a ceiling on what this restoration could achieve. Even so, this is a very natural-looking presentation that I think is clearly a step above the old HD releases.
Audio
The audio doesn’t get the same sort of makeover. There’s no Dolby Atmos track here, with the 4K disc carrying a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track alongside a 2.0 stereo option. It is effectively the same basic 5.1 presentation that appeared on previous releases, or at least derived from the same source. That’s not really a problem because it’s still a very good mix. The waves, gunfire, explosions and general chaos make good use of the surround channels, and there’s plenty of bass when things get going. Mark Isham’s moody score also fills the front soundstage nicely.
It isn’t going to give a modern Atmos soundtrack much competition, and there are occasional moments where the dialogue sounds slightly thin or the old-fashioned production of the track becomes obvious, but considering the age of the film, it holds up very well. There’s enough going on around you to make the big action sequences properly enjoyable without the whole thing sounding artificially remixed for the sake of including an Atmos track.
Special Features
The bonus material is a little more interesting than you might expect, although most of it is carried over from previous releases rather than being newly produced for this 4K edition. The extras themselves sit on the accompanying Blu-ray rather than the UHD disc.
The main attraction is It’s Make Or Break, an approximately 23-minute behind-the-scenes featurette covering the film’s development, casting and production. It includes interviews with Bigelow, Swayze, Reeves, Gary Busey, Lori Petty and others, and there’s some genuinely interesting stuff in there about Bigelow fighting for Reeves to play Johnny, Swayze originally wanting the role of Johnny himself, the casting of real surfers and the sheer danger involved in getting the surfing and skydiving footage.
There’s also Adrenaline Junkies, which concentrates more on the stunts and the people who actually had to throw themselves out of planes, into enormous waves and generally put their lives in considerably more danger than the actors were expected to. Given how much of Point Break depends on the action looking real, it’s a worthwhile extra rather than just another collection of people saying how great the film was.
You even get a few collectables with the disc.
The disc also includes deleted and extended scenes. These are presented from old video sources and look pretty rough, but there’s still some interesting material in there for fans who want to see what didn’t make the final cut. There’s also a still gallery and theatrical trailers, along with the other archival featurettes from previous editions. For a film now 35 years old (bloomin’ heck!), I’d always rather have a collection of slightly scruffy archival material than a completely empty bonus section, and there’s enough here to make a decent afternoon of digging into the production.
You also get a pretty cool mini-poster and set of postcards in the case, which is a nice touch.
Verdict
The picture isn’t a perfect 4K showcase, but the HDR, colour and improved detail do make the film look considerably better at its best, though, while the existing 5.1 soundtrack still has plenty of life in it. It’s also nice to see the previous bonus material retained rather than being thrown away just because we’re now living in the 4K era. This isn’t the definitive Point Break release in the same way that some of the very best 4K restorations can be, but it’s still a very welcome upgrade for one of the most entertaining action films of the ’90s.
And if nothing else, it gives you another excuse to watch Keanu Reeves fire a gun up into the air and go, “Ahhhh”.
Author: Arron, Marketing Department
