DVD REVIEW
Movie
Point Break is just one of those movies that makes you smile. It's got action, cool stunts, and beautiful scenery. When I got this movie, I remembered it, but it was a long time since I had seen it. The movie stars a real raw Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah and Patrick Swayze as the adrenalin junkie, Bodhi. It also stars Gary Busey as Johnny's partner Angelo. The movie is about an FBI agent who goes undercover to catch a gang of bank robbers who may be surfers. This was one of the first big movies for Keanu and it shows. He really came over as trying too hard in a lot of scenes. But that does not hurt the movie one bit. I personally think it adds to it. Patrick Swayze plays the character of Bodhi perfectly. He is truly believable in this part. He is so into playing this part that he actually jumps out of a plane in one sequence. This was before they could have had a stunt guy do it and digitally put Patrick's face on the stunt double. If your looking for a flick thats got a little bit of everything then you should give Point Break a try.
7 out of 10
Video
Point Break was originally released on DVD on May 22, 2001. It was a pretty bare bones edition, having just one behind the scenes extra, but it did include a DTS track. I was not able to see the original DVD, but the picture on Pure Adrenaline edition was great. Everything was sharp and the scenes of the ocean looked perfect, capturing the blue hues. From what I have read, this was a new transfer of the film and they have done a nice job for fans of the film.
8 out of 10
Audio
This DVD lacks the DTS track that was on the original disk. But the original track was only 4.0. The new Dolby Digital track on this disk is 5.1 and it does a good job of conveying the sound of the ocean and other effects in the film. As is often the case for a film that did not have 5.1 in the first place, there is nothing too spectacular here though.
7 out of 10
Extras
8 Deleted Scenes
4 Featurettes
Trailers
Still Gallery
Well when I sat down to watch the features, the first thing I looked at was the deleted scenes. I have never been a big fan of deleted scenes, because they are usually cut for a reason and not very long in length. Well this describes the 8 that are deleted here. The picture quality on these are very bad.
The first featurette I watched was titled “Its Make or Break” and it is your standard behind the scenes piece, but out of the four, this was the most interesting in my opinion. This film was originally scheduled to be directed by Ridley Scott, but that fell through and James Cameron brought in Katheryn Bigelow. This was unusual at the time because there were not many female directors directing action movies. This featurette was the longest of the four. Next up was “Ride the Wave” which was about the surfing in the film. It featured interviews with some of the real life surfers they used for the film. I did not find it that interesting and it was short in legth. Next up was “Adrenalin Junkies” This was definitly more interesting than “Ride the Wave” but again there was not much to it. The last feature was “On Location :
6 out of 10
Overall
Should you pick this dvd up. I would say yes. The new transfer and the 5.1 audio is worth it alone. I wish they would have had a commentary with Kathryn Bigelow, because it would have been interesting to get a women's perspective.
8 out of 10