The Screen Addict | Keanu

I have always loved films that feature The Devil or a representation thereof. One of the greatest I have ever seen in this category, is without a shadow of a doubt The Devil’s Advocate (1997). The reason I feel the need to mention this picture in relation to the No. Bad. Films. initiative is not only to defend it from the tons of negative press it got through the years, but more so because of the reason most critics appear to have for hating this film – its lead actors.

I think I first saw Keanu Reeves in the Action classic Point Break (1991). I was actually made aware of him and the film by my girlfriend at the time – she had a huge crush on the actor and I realized he was everything that I was not. We broke up soon after. Broken heart not withstanding, I understood exactly what she liked about Keanu – this guy was an Action hero redefined! The Eighties had very clearly defined what an Action star should look and sound like, and if your name was not Arnold, Sly or Bruce, you shouldn’t bother auditioning. But then all of the sudden here was this guy who up until that point had only made Comedies and sensitive Dramas, and he completely re-sold me on the idea of what a hero could be. Look – Arnold, Sly and Bruce are and forever will be my idols, but their problem is that they were always old men, even when they were young. Keanu spoke to me because he looked and acted like a guy my age.

PB was a game-changing film on many levels beyond its lead actor. Produced by James Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment and directed by his then love-interest Kathryn Bigelow, it was the first movie that made me realize you don’t need a man behind the camera to understand what makes fantastic Action. I know this sounds condescending, but I was an ignorant 13-year-old at the time, so please bear with me. PB features some of the greatest sequences ever put on film in the genre and it still holds up today, more than 30 years later. Actually, Bigelow’s film puts a lot of the current Action-output to shame. How’s that for inclusion.

A large part of PB’s effectiveness is due to the chemistry between its lead actors – Reeves and Patrick Swayze. It is very easy to dismiss their performances as shallow surfer-dude charisma – and unfortunately, a lot of critics did – but that would be to deny the brilliance of the film as a whole. All of the talent involved in PB understood that they were creating something truly original within a genre that was getting tired as it was entering a new decennium. Reeves’ laidback, unassuming style was exactly what this story needed in a leading man. The fact that Bigelow almost walked away from the film because the studio didn’t believe in her vision of Reeves as an Action star – they wanted Johnny Depp – only further attests to her skills as a filmmaker. Although I have to admit that PB starring Johnny Depp is an interesting thought…

The one thing you can always trust critics to write about when they are reviewing a film that stars Keanu Reeves, is that he can’t act. Allow me to pause a second for that statement to sink in...

Keanu Reeves can’t act… Given my disdain for film critics, maybe I shouldn’t even dignify this opinion with a retort, but I can’t help myself. If you were to ask a hundred people to name three stone-cold Action classics, I am willing to bet my house that aside from PB, Speed (1994), The Matrix (1999) and John Wick (2014) would dominate the results. Would these films have been successful with, for instance, Johnny Depp as the main actor? Perhaps, but that is exactly my point. These stories survive on the strength of their lead character and would not have worked if the audience had not accepted Reeves in those roles. That is why I am not even remotely interested in the very subjective opinion of a critic regarding Reeves’ acting in these game-changing films. The box office proves that the people believed in Reeves as Johnny Utah, as Jack Traven, as Neo. And what is acting but make believe? Without Reeves, I doubt we would still be talking about any of these films today.

I don’t remember when I was first introduced to the force of nature that is Al Pacino. I would love to claim that I saw a classic like Dog Day Afternoon (1975) upon its release, but the truth is that I only saw that film when I was much older. Probably closer to what happened is that I rented Dick Tracy (1990) from the video store as a teenager and was totally mesmerized by the guy in heavy makeup playing mobster Big Boy Caprice. Either way, I was always aware of Pacino until I realized that he was my favorite actor. When he made the film hat-trick Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) - Scent of a Woman (1992) - Carlito’s Way (1993) in the early Nineties, I couldn’t imagine ever loving an actor more.

Maybe DT is a fitting example for the point I am trying to make here, because it is by far Pacino’s most colorful performance. And where Reeves is always dismissed as somebody who can’t act, Pacino is routinely accused of overacting. DT unfortunately, was no exception. As with the public outrage over Batman’s nipples, I was completely blindsided by the apparent aversion against Reeves and Pacino under critics. Sure, I could understand maybe some people not connecting with Reeves’ “dudish” persona or Pacino’s exuberance, but accusing either player of bad acting struck me as utterly preposterous. Anyway, it had an opposite effect on me, because it only made me love both actors more.

I had initially intended to write about my love for TDA today. But as always, somewhere along the way I got sidetracked into talking about other films that I have deep affection for. That’s okay though, because that is what this platform is really all about – I want to share with you which films moved me and why.

In closing I would like to mention that I once had the enormous pleasure of meeting Keanu Reeves. I was trying to buy the rights to Passengers (2016), a SciFi film that would ultimately star Chris Pratt – but that is a story for another time and blog. Reeves was personally pitching the film, and contrary to everything you always hear about actors, he was genuinely one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met.

As you can see, I still have the picture to prove it…

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