‘Point Break’ Being Remade…Hopefully Not By the People Who Remade Red Dawn

1991's 'Point Break' is the latest film to be dusted off for remaking, as former cinematographer Ericson Core has been hired to direct it, and there's already a finished script. Which means this might actually happen. After my recent experience with the Red Dawn remake, I can't say I have high hopes.

However, I'll remain optimistic. With the advances in filming technology, if they use those cameras that shoot at faster frame rates per second, plus employ all the amazing talent in the surfing world today, at least the scenes in the water could be off the hook.

The problem is replacing Swayze. As Jed, Chris Hemsworth didn't quite cut it. I like Chris Hemsworth. He's a great Thor. He was excellent in Snow White. Swayze was special. And Point Break was one of his signature roles. How many signature roles can Patrick Swayze have? Many.

The problem with Red Dawn 2012 was...everything. The troops are paratrooping into town, and no one looks at their smart phone for anything? Come on. You expect me to believe that? I didn't. And don't.

In the original FBI agent Johnny Utah (played by Keanu Reeves) was on the trail of bank robbers (headed by the late Patrick Swayze), who he found out were also surfers. In the remake, it's a gang of extreme sports stars who spend their spare time as criminals. Kurt Wimmer, who also wrote 'Salt' and 'Equilibrium,' is the credited writer.

This comes from Deadline, and what's fascinating about this is that we're now getting remakes of 90's films (which was bound to happen). Sure, 'The Amazing Spider-Man' rebooted a franchise, but that was an outlier. We're still at about a twenty year window between remakes, but with so many sequels, franchises and remakes, eventually it feels like the studios will eat their own tail.

The original worked in part because it was absurd, in part because of the casting -- with Swayze perfect as a zen bank robber -- but mostly because of director Kathryn Bigelow, who treated the material with so much seriousness you might miss that she saw how silly and heightened the whole thing was. As with most films that work on tone, it makes us very pessimistic about the remake, mostly because of films like 'Red Dawn' that seemed to miss completely while the original was so celebrated. But you never know.