One of our favorite quotes from promotional footage recently is:
“In our reimagining of Point Break, we basically took everything we loved about the original movie, and made it bigger.” — Luke Bracey, star of the upcoming 2015 remake.
That led to this:
“Much, much, much… much bigger.” — Anybody watching these new Point Break featurettes.
Despite your feelings about the original Point Break movie, or the idea of remaking it with actors who dare to replace Keanu Reeves (AKA “the chosen one”) and Patrick Swayze, you’ll probably want to check out the upcoming film (out Christmas Day) for the stunts alone, because they are… trying to find words for this… pure mind-bending, gut-wrenching, eye-popping, Matrix–defying insanity. No, honestly, not even that description does justice to the stunts in these clips. These stunt performers found the edge of reason, and then kissed it goodbye as they jumped off it going 145 miles per hour in their wingsuits.
In the four featurettes (below), viewers get a behind-the-scenes glimpse at what are probably some of the most dangerous cinematic stunts ever performed, as well as snippets of interviews with the stars, director, and stunt performers. The featurettes include snowboarding, wingsuit flying, surfing, and motocross, and yes, the qualifier “extreme” belongs before all four of those categories.
A few things to look out for include: Laird Hamilton, international surfing legend, discussing the remake and the original (as he was a supervisor on both films); a look at Laurie Towner (at 2:15 in the surfing video), who broke his jaw while attempting a surf stunt at Teahupo’o; a “class-four avalanche” that follows four snowboarders down a mountain (at 1:19 in the snowboarding video); and “the first proper extended wingsuit proximity sequence in any movie ever shot.”
As for the plot of the movie, if that matters at all after hearing about these stunts, it revolves around good ol’ F! B! I! newbie! Johnny Utah going undercover to infiltrate a gang of extreme-athlete criminals who steal from the rich and give to the poor. In the film, the gang is attempting the “Ozaki 8,” which is a fictional “series of eight ordeals that honor the forces of nature.” Which are, in other words, a big fat excuse to do a whole lot o’ stuntin’ and have whole lotta fun!
What do you think about the stunts performed in these videos? Would you ever attempt anything like this, or do you need to change your underwear after just watching these stunt performers? Let us know in the comments section below!
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HT: Slashfilm
Image: Warner Bros
