Terrible Remake! 3/10

Rating: 3/10 (25 August 2016)

Review: I've always said that some films should definitely not be remade, and this is definitely one of them! Luke Brace (Utah), definitely didn't have the screen charisma as Keanu Reeves had in the original movie and Edgar Ramirez (Bodhi), was not in the same league as Patrick Swayze. The storyline was also pretty poor but I liked Ray Winstone (Pappas) and Delroy Lindo (Instructor Hall), even though they wasn't in the film that much. The director seemed to concentrate on the stunts more than the actual storyline and the film lacked emotion and purpose. As this movie went down well with audiences on it's first release, making nearly $85million at the box office, the director should have used A Class actors, except for these unknown actors, who weren't that great. On the plus side, some of the stunts were original and executed quite well, which did bring some intensity to the project but Bodhi seemed to waffle on most of the time and Utah wasn't a convincing adrenaline junkie. I personally think that most of the money that was made at the box office, was basically due to the popularity of the first movie, and not because this movie was any good. Anyway, I did have high hopes for this film but like many other remakes, it just turned out to be a big let down. Disappointing!
Round-Up: This movie was directed by Ericson Core, whose only other credit for the big screen is Invincible in 2006, starring Mark Wahlberg. You can tell that this movie was made by a director who hasn't had that much experience behind the camera, because he didn't bring important elements to the movie, like suspense, drama and a couple of twists, which this movie certainly needed. He is known for his cinematography skills, in movies like Payback, The Fast and the Furious and Daredevil, and you can't fault the cinematography in this movie but the script needed a lot more work and the actors didn't do it for me.
Budget: $105million Worldwide Gross: $134million
I recommend this movie to people who are into their sport/action/crime movies starring Edgar Ramirez, Luke Bracey, Ray Winstone, Teresa Palmer, Delroy Lindo, Matias Varela and Clemens Schick. 3/10