Every Kathryn Bigelow Film Ranked From Worst To Best

Keanu Reeves' FBI Agent goes undercover to infiltrate a gang of surfing bank robbers lead by zen leader Patrick Swayze. It's a silly premise, nonetheless Bigelow was able to create a stone-cold action classic out of it.

Her 'outlaw family' thematic is played again, yet unlike several films that copied its tropes (a.k.a. The Fast and the Furious) the dark hangover of the criminal lifestyle comes crashing down in a devastating and violent third act.

Reeves is good, yet Swayze - who was the true A-list star at the time - is stunt casting done amazingly well. The audience is immediately drawn to the charismatic leader, falling for his carefree attitude as Reeves does, yet as things turn sour, it's heartbreaking to see the Dirty Dancing heartthrob brutally gun down an off-duty cop.

That said, Bigelow was smart enough to not take everything too serious; in a period filled with macho action, she excitingly executes the genre tropes whilst slyly satirising and dissecting them, with hints of homo-erotism between the leads even.

For many a years, this was the film that defined Bigelow’s career, her most straight popcorn effort. It holds all her strengths; kinetic action set-pieces, fully formed characters, and subtle undertones that hide a psychological rich story. It took an outsiders perspective to step back and look objectively at the testosterone era of Hollywood, only to deliver one of it’s most complete and flawless products.