Point Break’s Luke Bracey is kissing the ring of a fellow Aussie.
The up-and-comer from Down Under has been tapped for a lead role in Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge, a chronicle about Desmond Doos, the first American Conscientious Objector to win the Medal of Honor for bravery in World War II.
The project also counts Andrew Garfield, Vince Vaughn, and Sam Worthington as cast members.
Bracey will play the hard-nosed alpha dog of Doss’ (the erstwhile Spider-Man) platoon, with whom he initially clashes. A lot.
Photo: Zimbio.com.
Also this week we got the first trailer for the upcoming Point Break remake.
And it looks so whoa, yo.
Aussie up-and-comer Luke Bracey (The Best of Me) and Gerard Butler Édgar Ramírez lead the way, in the Keanu and Swayze roles of yore, Johnny Utah and Bodhi...the extreme athlete-newbie FBI agent chasing the extreme athlete Robin Hood-type rebel who has been using his skills to disrupt the international financial markets.
Of course.
Naturally, and because bigger is better, this little movie will not be limited to the SoCal surfing scene but will go ’round the world, setting its action against the backdrop of many a thrill-seeking opportunity.
Check out the trailer for a taste.
The new Point Break – featuring Teresa Palmer, Ray Winstone, Delroy Lindo, Clemence Shick, Tobias Santelmann (Kon-Tiki), and a cameoing original-flavor cast member James Le Gros, among others – will be in theaters on Christmas Day.
Photo: UsMagazine.com.
Nicholas Sparks sure doesn’t care for totally happy endings, huh.
Thank goodness the movies Hollywood makes outta his books do lend themselves to some fine-ass shirtless moments, I tell ya.
The Best of Me has exactly one and a half of those, and they are – no joke – the highlight (and a half) of an otherwise predictably leaden story.
Michelle Monaghan (HBO’s True Detective) and Paul Walker James Marsden star in this weeper, as Amanda and Dawson, a couple of high school sweethearts who reunite as adults 20 years years after parting, no, not ’cause her rich parents paid him to go away (her father did make him such an offer at one point) or even because his wrong-side-of-the-tracks-ness, as embodied by his dangerous-element redneck dad, proved inescapable.
Young Amanda (Liana Liberato) and young Dawson (Aussie newcomer Luke Bracey) would never have given into other people’s disapproval. And he’d already gotten out from under the thumb of his father and taken in by a loveably gruff surrogate played by Gerald McRaney (Netflix’s House of Cards) and reset himself on a good path, anyway.
No, as it is often the case in Sparks’ stories, these two lovebirds were torn asunder by tragic circumstances beyond their control. In this particular instance, that was the choice one of them made shortly after prom to spare the other a world of pain he – or was it she? (No Spoiler Alert!) – anticipated.
It had to happen, though, so we the audience could pay 10 hard-earned smackaroos to be manipulated into rooting for their older incarnations. Theirs, we are told, was a love that was always meant to be, no matter how far Dawson eventually ran away or how married-with-children Amanda got.
They would always knowingly look up to the stars and think of each other, and, eventually, come together again for a sweet, if short reunion.
If only the emotions in this one hadn’t been telegraphed into landing with an uninteresting thud. This could have been one of the better Sparks adaptations.
Instead, it’s a dud.
Sure, one that gave us an extended scene of Bracey gardening sans shirt (but only a hint of what Marsden is working with...), but not much in the way of effective emoting. That is like, the minimum required in a joint such as this on, and an unforgivable sin. No matter how much beefcake you throw into dud soup, it’s still dud soup.
My Rating *1/2
Photo: Relativity Media.
Phew: Both James Marsden and Luke Bracey will be in the upcoming adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ The Best of Me.
Double the hotness!
See, Bracey will be playing the younger – ! – version of Marsden’s character, a man who reunites with his beloved high school sweetheart (Michelle Monaghan) 20 years after her parents tore them asunder. It had originally been reported that Marsden would take over Paul Walker in the male lead, and then that Bracey would be doing the honors.
But I guess that was just...wrong.
Anyway, get your tissues ready. This one is gonna be a weeper. (Duh, it is Nicholas Sparks territory – you know something bad is gonna happen to someone.)
The Best of Me opens on Oct. 17. Check out the trailer now.
Photo: Collider.com.
New Keanu Reeves Alert!
And say hello to Luke Bracey.
Well hello!
The Aussie – of course! – up-and-comer (Monte Carlo, G.I. Joe: Retaliation) is going all Utah on us. As in he’s going to play Johnny Utah in the remake of Point Break that has Gerard Butler on board in the role of Bodhi (the Patrick Swayze part)
And thats not the only big-ticket project you will see the actor. It was announced recently that it will be him, not James Marsden, who will replace the late Paul Walker in the adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ The Best of Me.
So I say again: Hello!
Photo: LaineyGossip.com.
