Warning: This will definitely spoil the end of Netflix's Point Blank.
There is definitely something to be said about Netflix original movies and the fact that they usually clock in at a tight 90-minute runtime. So convenient! So easy to accidentally watch instead of doing literally anything else!
The streaming site’s latest action film, Point Blank, follows this same format so if you’re looking for something to do with an hour and a half before bedtime, and enjoy dirty cop thrillers starring the New Captain America, you’ve now got evening plans. But if you find yourself pressed for time and can’t dedicate yourself to the entire movie (or you're one of those people who needs to know how a movie ends before you commit), just know that it's a remake and the only major change is the way this Point Blank ends.
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Point Blank is a remake of the 2010 French thriller by the same name, and for the most part, it follows somewhat of the same storyline. The story picks up with the assistant DA being murdered, and conveniently the main suspect has just been admitted to the hospital. Paul (Anthony Mackie) is assigned as his nurse, and things doing seem to be amiss until Paul is attacked by someone trying to flee his patient, Abe (Frank Grillo). Paul isn’t seriously injured and returns home to his nine-months-pregnant wife where he’s telling her about his day... and she’s suddenly kidnapped. The only way Paul can get her back is if he helps Abe escape from the hospital, and thus, the chase is on.
You’ve probably seen enough action thrillers and dirty cop movies in your life to know that something’s going to go wrong between the good guys and the bad guys. Also surprisingly, Paul actually has no other motive for anything in the movie other than just saving his wife and unborn child. He’s not tied to some secret underground crime ring, and he’s not trying to double or triple cross anyone. He just wants his family back together again. That’s... alarmingly kind of rare?
On the other hand, we’ve got Lieutenant Lewis (Marcia Gay Harden) who is actually only looking out for herself, as she’s the one who orchestrated the DA murder at the beginning of the movie and she’s trying to stop Abe (and also now Paul) from revealing her involvement. She later kills another officer trying to cover everything up and that’s when everyone — including the police department — starts to put everything together and realize that she’s actually behind the crimes. While she’s never formally charged, she is “sought for questioning” but takes her own life before that happens.
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This actually happens in the original film, as a dirty double-crossing cop is revealed. But, the biggest change between the original and the remake is how it ends, as the first one doesn’t exactly have a happy ending for Paul (who, in the French version, is called Samuel). In the 2010 version, the Abe character actually slips away into a crowd and disappears — sort of like how he does in the Netflix one, by masquerading as a cop and simply walking away — but before doing so, original Abe implicates Samuel in the entire scheme, sending him to jail. The movie actually ends with Samuel’s wife giving birth and he’s allowed to go visit her while in police custody. Talk about a downer, huh?
Netflix’s Point Break sees a happy resolution for everyone. Paul is clearly able to explain why he got roped up with Abe in the first place and he’s allowed to go free, returning home to his wife and newborn son. One year later, they’re seen celebrating his first birthday and playing a car chase video game, a callback to a moment between Paul and Abe earlier in the movie.
Meanwhile, Abe is still a free man and out on his own. We see him driving away for parts unknown, but it appears as if someone’s on his tail, so maybe he won’t be a free man forever...
...Or this is simply setting up for a Point Blank sequel? Netflix is always going to work in mysterious ways, and Mackie and Grillo make a great badass team together (par for the course for two Marvel alums), so who knows. Maybe this is the start of their Point Blank Cinematic Universe.