Other than the fact that it has remained a sort of cult favourite of its own accord, I think Hot Fuzz is easily responsible for much (if any?) resurgence this film has seen in the last few years. I know my interest was re-ignited some time ago when I discovered Kathryn Bigelow had directed it, which is a very good thing to me--since she was responsible for Near Dark, in all honesty probably my favourite vampire film of all time. I also saw this movie on TV, sometime shortly after its release, because one of my parents was watching it (I can't recall which, though by the nature of the film I'm more inclined toward my mother, but it's so far back I could only make wild guesses, really). It has its reputation more from its stars than anything else--people think of Patrick Swayze and they think of Dirty Dancing or Roadhouse (though now they may think "pedophile"*), then they think of Keanu Reeves and his horrific accent in Bram Stoker's Dracula, or
Ted Logan--or any of a number of other very wooden roles he's played. Sticking Keanu--with his Ted reputation--into surfing, well, now...it's the perfect mash-up of surfer stereotypes in a character and a film. It's not too hard to understand why the film is, then, snickered at.

Johnny Utah (Reeves) is a newly Quantico-graduated FBI Agent, assigned to Los Angeles and the bank robbery division. His partner is 22-year veteran Pappas (Gary Busey), who is not the favourite agent of their superior Harp (John C. McGinley) or their fellow agents. Pappas has a theory about the incredibly effective team of bank robbers known as the Ex-Presidents because of their rubber ex-President masks (Nixon, LBJ, Carter and Reagan) who have never been caught, despite 27 robberies over three years. Pappas' theory is especially unpopular, because it seems ludicrous and random--he believes the Ex-Presidents are surfers. His plan to prove this involves Utah going undercover as a surfer to attempt to find these guys. The contact he chooses is the person who saves him on his first (untrained) attempt at surfing: Tyler (Lori Petty). Pappas is incredulous at this contact, but she teaches Johnny to surf and introduces him to local surf guru known as Bodhisvatta, or "Bodhi" for short (Swayze). It's with his help that Utah escapes the wild aggression of an extremely suspicious group of surfers--Warchild (Vincent Klyn),** Bunker (Chris Pedersen), Tone (Anthony Kiedis), and Archbold (Dave Olson). Pappas and Utah are given their suspects, and now only need to take them down.

In starting to watch this movie, I knew basically instantly that in fact I was not being set-up for a movie that was just a good action movie, fun, exciting and adrenaline-pumping. A score by Mark Isham opens the movie with beautiful, silhouetted images of surfing set to a dully throbbing, low-pitched synthetic score. Intercut with this are the rain-soaked images of Johnny Utah's test at target shooting. I knew immediately that I was right to have faith in Kathryn Bigelow being behind this, though I also watched as more and more familiar and pleasing names crossed the screen that were previously (and probably still, for most) dwarfed by the two stars. John C. McGinley, who I think is going to be sadly always referred to as "Oh yeah, Perry Cox!" to most people of my generation as if he hasn't done much better work? Gary Busey, known to be utterly out of his mind, but always incredibly engaging as an actor? Lori Petty, who is an atypical choice for leading lady but who has a lot more spirit than many of those simplistic pretty faces? Hell, this doesn't even cover the names I didn't recognize. We have poor baby-faced James LeGros as Bodhi's pal Roach (who is too strange looking to ever have a leading role--I think, but who is continuing on with Bigelow after a brief appearance in Near Dark). We have Lee Tergesen as the psychotic Rosie, who I couldn't place to a specific role no matter how I tried until I realize that, yes, he was the replacement for Bill Paxton in the television version of Weird Science. We have John Philbin, who played the rather geeky Chuck in Return of the Living Dead (but reveals in the special features for this film that he was an actual surfer). Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, for crying out loud. And, of course, a brief (and uncredited) appearance by Tom Sizemore!

Still, the cast aside, what's most impressive about this film is how it does not resemble other action films. Apparently some have said Bigelow gave it a "softer touch" via her femininity, but this is pretty absurd. There's a little more truth to the love scenes, but it's actually a little colder and harder truth rather than a schmaltzy truth. Beyond that, a scene that involves a lawnmower actually made me think, for about two seconds, "Gosh, I wish Bigelow would do a horro--oh, right." "She'd be good at it," I thought in that brief moment. Of course, I was right, but not making the right synapses fire at the right time I didn't realize that I already knew she was good at it because she HAS done it. So it isn't softer, not in the least. There is a shoot-out leading immediately into a car chase leading immediately into a foot chase leading immediately into gunfire. There's even a makeshift flamethrower in the middle of all of this, and it's all incredibly intense. It's filmed in tight shots, especially the footchase, and avoids the usual gag of the innocent bystander sneaking a note of buffoonery into the scene. There is, of course, one bystander who beats at Johnny Utah, but it's not exactly unbelievable since he just destroyed her glass door and a number of items right behind it in his chase. Otherwise, though, faces of the bystanders knocked down and pushed aside are barely glanced at, keeping the focus of the scene on the actual pursuit. It's always right behind the actors (or stuntmen, I think stuntmen did these scenes, but the point remains) and never leaves away from them for a cheap sight gag that interrupts the tension.

The adrenaline junkie activities, too, are well-filmed and avoid any real element of unintentional cheese. Skydiving is often filmed with plenty of room to keep stuntmen looking enough like actors while still showing off the actual skydiving, with close-up shots constructed in a way that is very helpful in tying together the close-ups to the wide shots. The surfing does the same, with everyone filmed in silhouette when their entire body is visible, making it a part of the "language" of the picture that surfers are shown in silhouette and thus maintaining the illusion that it is the same person in the actual waves as the actor we know to be playing the character. The bank robberies are not overly theatrical, but rapidly cut to emphasize their rapidity, and sleek and mechanical without feeling staged to give us the sense that these are professionals. When we learn later that it is a concerted effort to achieve the end goals via pure intimidation and instillation of fear, the scenes fit even better.

It's actually worth noting that the actors in this film, even beyond those you expect (or should expect) to be good, are uniformly pretty excellent, or near enough to it. Considering the wild variance in performances from some over their careers, one is inclined to believe that the cast and crew are very correct in suggesting Bigelow deserves far and away the most credit for this film. Keanu has intensity where necessary, though he does maintain that stoic distance throughout, but a scene where Lori Petty as Tyler calls attention to his distant scowl sort of seals the performance as utterly appropriate for the character, sealing Keanu into that sheath of "Johnny Utah." Swayze is absolutely magnetic as the intensely charismatic and philosophical Bodhi, with an appropriate wildness to him behind the calm Bodhi is known for. Busey is as over-the-top and out there as always, but it's right for the character. His interactions with Reeves and everyone else are so unbelievably organic and natural that it's easy to lose him in the role. He smacks of a guarded man with amusingly open idiosyncrasies who will be prickly until he trusts someone, but who is more than happy to do so. Petty has the kind of defensive-but-vulnerable feeling one feels ought to come from someone who has suffered a loss like Tyler has (one that Utah exploits, no less, thus bringing in the vulnerability), especially when she chooses to run with a group as known for insular behaviour and territoriality as surfers.

I was expecting the film to be better than its reputation with snobs, but I didn't quite expect it to be this good. I'm not surprised when there's someone like Bigelow at the helm--now I really DO need to see Strange Days--but it's still good to see something this stylistic and pretty without it resorting to degradation of its status as action movie. It's not Terrence Malick kind of pretty, it's Bigelow kind--very, very well shot and rich with feeling and suspense in the very colours and images of each frame. It's a subtle art but a very effective one that she uses.


*If you don't know what I'm talking about and your heart skipped a beat, fear not, Swayze is not (to the best of my knowledge) any kind of pedophile, he just played one on TV.
Okay, film, but come on. That just wouldn't replicate the old phrase right.
If you're still lost, Donnie Darko.

**Weird trivia: Klyn played "Utah Johnny Montana" in The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.. Johnny Utah was named a la Joe Montana. Coincidence? You decide.