Keanu Darkly

Feeling very Geek Council today and after watching a very cool-looking trailer for A Scanner Darkly, I got to thinking:

As Geeks, is it time for us to just suck it up and claim Keanu Reeves as one of our own?

I know. It's a bitter pill to swallow. But we may have no choice. Just as we must begrudgingly accept Jar Jar Binks into the Star Wars mythos (and by begrudgingly, I mean angrily swearing and cursing the name Lucas for all eternity for raping our collective childhoods), we might also have to accept the fact that Keanu is a Geek icon.

Consider his career.

I mean, the guy is NEO, the most important recent addition to the sci-fi canon in the last decade.

If playing Neo in the Matrix Trilogy doesn't alone qualify him for Geek icon status, then also consider:

Constantine. Come on. Do I even have to explain? Geek cred.

The cult sci-fi thriller Johnny Mnemonic. Definite geek cred.

Pop quiz, hotshot. A deceptively well-written action movie with an absurd premise that twisted the genre. That would be Speed. Geek cred.

I'm also including The Devil's Advocate as a geek cred. Hotshot lawyer finds out he's working for Lucifer...who's also his dad...who's also AL PACINO?! Geek cred.

You want kitsch factor? How about playing an undercover surfing FBI agent? Named Johhny Utah?! Who's partner is Gary Busey! And he's trying to foil a gang of bank robbing surfers led by Patrick Swayze!!! I think Point Break might challenge Road House as the most unintentionally awesome Patrick Swayze movie ever. Geek cred.

I'm also gonna give him a cred for being in Bram Stoker's Dracula. Sure, he was awful and terribly miscast, but I think that just adds to the mystique here. The ridiculous level of detail and insanely good Gary Oldman redfined the look and feel for Dracula, making this a truly geeky movie. Plus. Come on. Vampires? HOT, naked chick vampires seducing him on a velvet bed? Geek cred.

Finally, he played twister with Death, saved the Princesses, and was one half of the Two Great Ones who will make the future excellent. Party on, Dudes. Ted "Theodore" Logan. Despite the sequel's inferior quality, Bill and Ted are true geek pioneers, predating Wayne and Garth by a few years and rivaling Marty McFly for time travel expertise. In fact, I would argue that Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure stands as one of the best time travel movies of all time. And I'm pretty sure Rufus would back me up on that. Geek cred.

A Scanner Darkly simply reinforces what we've kind of known all along. Keanu is one of ours.