After being touted as the filmmaker of the future following the cult success of his first two films, Repo Man and Sid & Nancy, Alex Cox promptly alienated everyone in Hollywood with his next two films, the wildly self-indulgent political tract Walker and the rock-star-laden Straight To Hell. After moving to England, Cox made his return to directing with Highway Patrolman, a low-budget Spanish-language character study about an idealistic young highway patrolman who quickly gets sucked into the rampant corruption of his surroundings. Before long, he starts neglecting his family and spending his time with a coke-addled prostitute for whom he starts stealing confiscated drugs. But when his best friend and partner is killed by drug smugglers, he is forced to take action. While its plot—morally ambiguous cops vs. drug smugglers—would, on the surface, seem similar to that of any run-of-the-mill action film of the last several decades, Cox turns it into a quirky, grittily realistic portrayal of a weak man at war with his darker instincts. Though at times slow-moving and talky, Highway Patrolman is a sharp, intelligent, uncompromising film that deserves a wider audience than it's had at the few film festivals it's played over the last several years.