Keanu Reeves has enjoyed a career in Hollywood unlike any other. Here are the best of Keanu Reeves movies, ranging from Neo to John Wick to Theodore Logan.
Is there a pleasant wind blowing over the mountains, or are you watching a Keanu Reeves movies? Reeves, born in Beirut and reared in Toronto, has become one of Hollywood’s most acclaimed and perplexing leading men. He can practice martial arts, speak like a Buddhist monk, and even compose poetry. On-screen, we know him as the ultimate stoner, then the steeliest action badass, romantic comedy love interest, and, on one occasion, the voice for a dog in the appropriately titled film Keanu.
Your mind may burst if a supercomputer transferred Keanu Reeves‘ movies the whole filmography into it. For more than 30 years, the always cool actor has honed his skill in distorted cyberpunk landscapes, bucolic romantic comedy dreamscapes, bullet-strewn action movie corridors, and, on one famous occasion, an out-of-control bus.
He’s most known for three mega-franchises: Bill & Ted, The Matrix, and John Wick, but he also parodies his persona in children’s films (Toy Story 4), makes surprise appearances in art films (The Neon Demon) and narrates the rare documentary (Side by Side). He was in a band called Dogstar, and he inspired memes (“Sad Keanu”). He’s quite busy.
These are Keanu Reeves movies, ranging from cute time-traveling slacker to improbable action superstar who transformed the genre.
John Wick Series
Throughout his career, Reeves has played several memorable characters. Still, John Wick may be the one for which he is most known. The world was exposed to the unstoppable assassin in this debut flick. After his car is taken and his dog is killed by thugs, John Wick embarks on an epic killing rampage to get revenge on those responsible.
Reeves was born to play this character. John is a guy of few words, but his passion and lethal look speak much. Reeves performs admirably in the combat scenes, which are among the most exciting ever seen in cinema. This Keanu Reeves Movie re-establishes his career and launched a fresh and thrilling franchise.
Following the unexpected success of John Wick, a sequel was swiftly planned. Many believed that the filmmakers were pushing their luck by remaking a film with one of the most simplistic plots. However, in John’s newest quest for revenge, John Wick: Chapter 2 intelligently opted to delve further into the mythos of this universe.
The sequel takes everything that made the first picture so enjoyable and elevated it to new heights. The action sequences are more intense, the world-building is more extensive, and the film introduces some interesting new characters.
Unlike nearly every other Hollywood series, the John Wick flicks seemed to be getting better with each passing year. This third installment in the series, which was released in 2019, is one of most popular Keanu Reeves movies of all time. Parabellum sees John on the run with a hefty bounty on his head in Chapter 3 of John Wick.
The third film delves even further into these films’ weird and intriguing universe. The film is a globe-trotting adventure replete with incredible moments, including one terrific set-piece involving Reeves, Halle Berry, and two extremely well-trained dogs.
Bill and Ted Series
Name a more well-known duet. Bill S. Preston and Theodore Logan, played by Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves, are far from the mean-spirited jerks inspired by these empty-headed, metal-loving sweeties.
The film is a joyous journey through history, a science-fiction allegory about the Chosen Ones who will bring peace to the cosmos, and a pleasant and kind-hearted reminder of decency in a harsh modern world. Keanu Reeves (and his co-star Alex Winter) are so fantastic here that it took him years to persuade people he could do more than play a California bozo, but this is a picture that will always be, to put it frankly, brilliant.
This 1991 sequel is sometimes seen as a significant step down from the original’s highs, though this isn’t always the case. Face the Music takes a similar road to Excellent Adventure. At the same time, Bogus Journey forges its own route, sending an evil dictator from the future to kill Bill and Ted and replace them with robots.
Our characters are tossed off a cliff 20 minutes into the film and spend the remainder of the running time attempting to escape the afterlife in an Ingmar Bergman-Esque purgatory. It’s a wacky film-literate sensibility. A scene-stealing performance from William Sadler as the Grim Reaper makes it a refreshingly ambitious comedy.
Early promos for this long-awaited sequel did not inspire confidence in the duo’s comeback. Still, when published during COVID times, the end result is just the type of warm “himbo” embrace we all needed. Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are superbly cast as the aging best friends who must now journey back in time to steal the music that would rescue the world from their future selves.
Not everything succeeds, but there’s so much hilarious affection for these people. The film’s heart is always in the right place that it’s difficult to resist Bill and Ted’s advice to “be great to one other, and party on, boys.”
Also Read, 7 Johnny Depp Movies That You Must Watch
The Matrix Series
Keanu Reeves has long been regarded as “monkish,” the kind of man who comes to mind when you imagine a contemporary philosopher-king waxing poetic about the essence of the world. He’s the ideal protagonist for a series of wuxia action films masquerading as tech thrillers, cyberpunk sci-fi adventure films with profound roots in ancient beliefs in mysticism and spirituality.
The Wachowski sisters’ Matrix trilogy, starring Reeves as The One, a messianic hero named Neo who chooses knowledge over ignorance, liberating himself—and, eventually, the rest of the world a lifetime of slavery at the mercy of machines and their dull, lifeless virtual prison, is an allegory for a newly technological society on the verge of self-actualization, a message with diminishing returns.
Reeves, with his gorgeous eyes, slicked-back hair, and bullet-dodging arms, was more than simply a physical conduit for all these varied ideas—he was the personification of them.
The Matrix 4 is released more than 20 years after the original in 1999. Lana Wachowski not only wrote and directed it, but it also reintroduces Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Ann Moss.
It will also feature big personalities like Priyanka Chopra, Jonathan Groff, and Neil Patrick Harris.
Constantine
In this 2005 horror fantasy, Constantine, Keanu plays a demon hunter. Reeves appeared in this grim DC adaption about a demon hunter brought back from hell following a childhood suicide attempt and is now striving to gain a seat in paradise, just before the superhero craze really took off.
This schlocky horror-fantasy mix about a demon hunter received reasonable criticism at its first release, owing mostly to unfair and ungenerous parallels to The Matrix. No, Constantine never reaches the heights of that series, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t much to love. Director Francis Lawrence adds a vision and aesthetic to the film that is a breath of fresh air compared to the cookie-cutter attitude of current comic book movies, and Keanu performing a few more of them wouldn’t have been the worst thing in the world.
The Devil’s Advocate
The Devil’s Advocate is a legal thriller with a sinister undercurrent. Reeves portrays a young hotshot lawyer hired by a prominent metropolitan company after winning a high-profile case. However, as he grows accustomed to a life of money and success, he begins to think that his boss is more than he appears.
Al Pacino has accepted the pull of theatrical barnstorming with wide arms after an early career of wonderfully restrained performances in films such as The Godfather and Dog Day Afternoon.
Nowhere is this more clear than in this picture, in which he plays Satan. While he has the most fun, Keanu is the true protagonist here, as the new lawyer at the Manhattan firm operated by the devil (go figure). While his Southern accent is dubious, he matches Pacino with enthusiasm, and the entire thing adds up to a rather enjoyable if brief, encounter.
Speed
The idea is simple: a bus must maintain a speed of more than 50 miles per hour, or it will explode. Absolutely ludicrous, but because of Keanu’s sincere, straight-faced portrayal, the whole thing transcends into loopily mad pleasure. This is the kind of thing Reeves can accomplish that few people can: provide stakes to something so ridiculous while maintaining a knowing smile that it’s all a movie. The real pyrotechnics, of course, comes from his combustible connection with Sandra Bullock.
Speed just has enough explosions, near misses, and glimpses of Dennis Hopper baring his teeth like a vampire to keep the audience glued to the edge of the yellow line, no questions asked. It’s thrilling. I could make a creative analogy, but watching Speed is basically like riding a bus with a bomb attached to the bottom of it. It takes a crazy imagination and a steady hand to convert something so outrageously stupid into a masterclass in action escalation.
Also Read, The Best of Brad Pitt Movies You Must Watch
Point Break
Point Break is sometimes disregarded as a frivolous and goofy surfer-action film, but it’s so much more. The narrative, which revolves around an FBI agent infiltrating a gang of surfer bank robbers, is certainly ridiculous. Still, it sets the setting for an imaginative and high-octane action-adventure.
With the heart-pounding action moments, Kathryn Bigelow demonstrated her exceptional directing abilities. As the almost mystical surfer commander, Patrick Swayze was attractive and dangerous, and Reeves was the ultimate action hero. This is the part that paved the way for some of his most well-known action film performances.
Point Break is known for its corny, testosterone-fueled entertainment. Yet, at its core, it speaks to the director’s intuitive knowledge of male frailty. The whole affair is an insanely entertaining thrill rush that also capitalizes on Bigelow’s exceptional talent at bringing humanity to cinema’s most action-packed cliches.
The friendship between surfer and occasional bank robber Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) and undercover FBI agent Johnny Utah (Reeves) reaches Shakespearean proportions when the other shoe drops, revealing that Johnny is investigating Bodhi and his group of wave riders on suspicion of being a group of thieves known as the “Ex-Presidents.”
My Private Idaho
Before Call Me By Your Name, before Brokeback Mountain, there was Gus Van Sant’s freewheeling and charming version of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, My Own Private Idaho. It’s a picture most known for River Phoenix’s magnificent performance as homosexual narcoleptic street hustler Mike Waters, which was made even more poignant by his untimely death two years after the film’s debut. On the other hand, Reeves matches him beat for beat, transforming his distant, impenetrable presence into agonizing unattainability as the target of Mike’s yearning.
The film also has an inevitable undercurrent of melancholy since it shows a teenage Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix on the road, two real-life best friends whose relationship was cut short two years later by Phoenix’s death in 1993. But it’s the same friendship that gives the picture an extraordinarily delicate aspect, a true emotional bond between these two wandering souls.
Mike’s confession of love to Scott next to a roadside bonfire is one of the most sensitive performances ever captured on film. You’re both grateful that something so primal exists and horrified by what might be gone in an instant.
Honorable Mention
An Amazing Storyline, but worst graphics left it a flop
47 Ronin
Those expecting a Keanu Reeves-led action picture about a gang of samurai who band together to avenge their lord’s murder will be disappointed by this mainly brainless, needless version of this twice-filmed Japanese epic. The picture may have mythological monsters and shape-shifting witches, but moviegoers are sure to leave with a headache.
The finale of “47 Ronin,” a classic Japanese story about a band of rogue samurai, is a horrifying carnage. It’s a fitting finale for a big-budget remake that has left Universal heavily in debt after one of the year’s most expensive box office disasters.
