To be honest, I haven’t really been tracking the progress of the upcoming Keanu Reeves-starring police drama Street Kings for one simple reason- Keanu Reeves. Outside of his work in the two Bill & Ted movies and his role in Parenthood, Reeves has never really engaged me as an actor.
What does excite me now about the film, and which I can’t believe I overlooked, is that the screenplay is co-written by James Ellroy, the great novelist behind L. A . Confidential (which also made a pretty good film), White Jazz, The Black Dahlia and other gritty noir tales. Of course, one could point out that he also is credited with the sctory for the 2002 cop thriller Dark Blue, though his original screenplay The Plague Season was rewtitten and softened to what eventually made it to theaters. Here, he shares a screenwriting credit with Kurt Wimmer, who wrote the 1999 version of The Thomas Crowne Affair.
Street Kings opens on April 11.
Wow, you’re so original, bashing Keanu Reeves. How on earth did you ever come up with that?!
Name me the Keanu Reeves movies you’ve actually seen that aren’t Bill and Ted and Parenthood, genius, and I’ll point you in the right direction. Maybe then you’ll learn to give someone a chance instead of saying the same preconceived shit every narrow-minded jerk this side of 1989 can come up with.
Amanda
Wow, jumped right on me there, didn’t you Amanda? Actually, I’ve seen a fair share of Reeves’ filmography. Off the top of my head I can think of Permanent Record, Point Break, My Own Private Idaho, Dracula, Much Ado About Nothing, Speed, A Walk In The Cloud, The Devil’s Advocate, The Gift, The Matrix Trilogy, Something’s Gotta Give, Constantine and A Scanner Darkly. That’s 18 films that he’s been in, three of which, I like his performances. I’d say I’ve more than given him a chance. His work just doesn’t connect with me. I’d apologize, but there’s no reason to.… Read more »
Hey Rich it’s okay that you don’t care for Keanu. I’ve never understood why anyone would eat miracle whip, which I find the most disgusting food on the planet. Personally, I find that Keanu’s detractors are usually shallow snobs. Out of the films you listed, I like all of his performances, even Dracula. Why? Because to me, he is the single most interesting actor in Hollywood today. The Brads and the Cruises and even the Crowes and the Day-Lewises can’t give me what Keanu gives me, and that’s uniqueness. He takes chances, he’s smart, he’s uninterested in the glitz. He… Read more »
“I like asparagus and other people don’t. You don’t see me yelling at them over their personal taste in vegitables, do you?” You don’t see people jumping to bash asparagus as if their lives depended on it because it’s a cool thing to do, especially on a blog! don’t you know. I love how Keanu Reeves detractors all apparently have one thing in common- they are all very QUALIFIED to trash him because they really know their stuff! You’ve seen 18 movies from an actor you just said you’re AVOIDING in you original post because you don’t like him. Wow.… Read more »
Amanda- In the course of my professional careeer as a writer, both online and in print, I have had to cover many performers (actors and musicians) whose work may not have been my personal favorite. That’s bound to happen to any writer. I try to put my feelings aside and evaluate their performance on the merits of their work. As to Keanu, I just never really connected with his work in a way that excites me the way that I get about new projects with such diverse actors like Ellen Page, Johnny Depp, Steve Buschemi, William H Macy, Bruce Campbell… Read more »