The Origin Of 'Point Break' Will Surprise You

When Point Break came out in 1991, it was a cult phenomenon. Johnny Utah and Bodhi not only became famous names that would resonate with audiences for years to come, but the movie made Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze the most awesome on-screen pair of dudes in the '90s. The film is also notable for making surf culture popular, and causing everyone and their mothers to think they could surf. Almost 25 years later, director Ericson Core is attempting to recreate that totally tubular magic on a more global scale with a reboot, starring newcomer Luke Bracey as Johnny Utah and Edgar Ramirez as Bodhi. The original has become such a classic that it warrants a remake, and many people wonder if either version of Point Break is a true story. As awesome as that would be, neither the original nor the remake were based on an actual story. Sorry, folks.

According to Mental Floss, Rick King was the mastermind behind the story of the original Point Break. The idea for the film reportedly came to King while he on the beach, appropriately, and Mental Floss reports that he read an article in LA Weekly about how Los Angeles had become the crime capital of America. From there, King thought of a movie about an FBI agent who went undercover in a surf gang that robbed banks to fulfill their need of adrenaline-fueled fun. That's where the original film's plot started and it's what the remake uses as its foundation — with some "extreme" changes.

The original film, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, resonated with the time, so in making the remake, Ericson Core and screenwriter Kurt Wimmer thought it appropriate to turn the dial up for millennial audiences craving frenetic action sequences and drool-worthy eye candy. While Bigelow's Point Break kept things in the intimate confines of Los Angeles and made the film sort of a character study of two men challenging the status quo, Core caters his version to the Snapchat generation. Instead of staying in LA, he takes the movie and enlarges its scope to reach 11 countries across four continents. The film also expands its reach beyond the world of surfing and serves up some extreme sport realness via a fictional series of trials called "The Ozaki Eight," described by Core in the press materials as “a way of communing with all the energies of the Earth." This includes motocross, skydiving, wingsuit flying, snowboarding, and free climbing. It's sensory overload for extreme sport enthusiasts.

One of the main things that ties the new version of Point Break with the classic is its focus on challenging and questioning authority. The only difference is that 2015's version has a more rob-from-the-rich-give-to-the-poor "Robin Hood" mentality, whereas the original had a more anarchic feel to it. Either way, the new Point Break is bound to satisfy fans of the original, even if it does have some key differences.

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures