Keanu Reeves is likely one of the best-loved and hottest actors working right this moment, whose profession has included motion, comedy, and drama. Whereas Reeves first received his begin enjoying a slacker teen, earlier than lengthy, he proved his skills as a significant motion hero whose unimaginable franchises stand as a few of the most acclaimed collection ever made.
The very best Reeves motion pictures are scattered all through his profession, and every decade because the Eighties provides attention-grabbing and distinctive roles. With extremely quotable Reeves motion pictures holding an essential place in common tradition, it’s a testomony to his vary that he’s equally snug with deadpan comedy, intense dramatic performances, or thrilling motion sequences.
Eighties: Invoice & Ted’s Glorious Journey (1989)
Keanu Reeves achieved his breakout position as one-half of the slacker duo in Invoice & Ted’s Glorious Journey, which informed the story of two underperforming highschool college students who journey by time to assemble historic figures. With a determined have to go their show-and-tell presentation, the pair encounters everybody from Abraham Lincoln to Socrates.
As Ted “Theodore” Logan, Reeves performed a guitar-loving teen who longs to grow to be a rock star along with his finest good friend Invoice S. Preston, Esq., performed by Alex Winter. Whereas these two knuckleheaded children would possibly look like innocent slackers, they’re destined to grow to be the long run saviors of mankind, with their music finally uniting the world.
Invoice & Ted’s Glorious Journey was a cult favourite that showcased Reeves’ skills for enjoying a clueless everyman, but his movie-star charisma was on full show proper from the beginning. The movie was so successful that Reeves and Winter reunited for Bogus Journey and even reprised their roles in a nostalgia-filled legacy sequel in 2020.
Nineties: The Matrix (1999)
The Nineties have been an ideal decade for Keanu Reeves, as he moved away from the slacker persona that made him well-known in Invoice & Ted and began to show his skills as an motion hero in classics like Level Break and Velocity. Nonetheless, it was simply on the finish of the last decade that Reeves gained his career-defining position in The Matrix.
Launched simply on the precipice of the brand new millennium, The Matrix was an era-defining movie that was elevated by Reeves’ unimaginable portrayal of the hero Neo. Depicting a dystopian panorama the place humanity was trapped inside a simulated actuality, The Matrix addressed deeply philosophical questions across the nature of existence itself.
Whether or not it was its unimaginable, choreographed motion sequences, which popularized the bullet-time visible method, The Matrix blended allegorical storytelling with spectacular stuntwork. With a cyberpunk fashion that has grow to be really iconic, The Matrix is the movie for which Reeves can be eternally remembered.
2000s: Constantine (2005)
A number of years earlier than the Marvel Cinematic Universe had even began, Keanu Reeves embraced comedian guide variations with the Hellblazer adaptation Constantine. This noticed Reeves play the cynical exorcist John Constantine, a person with the power to understand half-angels and half-demons and journey between the realms of Heaven and Hell.
Constantine was a singular spin on the comedian’s mythos that didn’t totally join with critics on the time and acquired blended evaluations. Nonetheless, the fame of Constantine has solely grown within the years since, and it’s earned its standing as a real cult basic. That includes one in all Reeves’ absolute best performances, the neo-noir stylings of the movie stand out.
The reality is that Constantine was underrated on the time, and that its distinctive depiction of the supernatural and religious worlds felt completely unique. Reeves was the proper option to play John Constantine, as his zen-like presence and calm demeanor added an air of gravitas and thriller to his characterization.
2010s: John Wick (2014)
Whereas Keanu Reeves remained a significant film star all through the 2000s, it at all times appeared like Neo in The Matrix could be the one position he was at all times tied to. Nonetheless, with John Wick, Reeves gained a brand new motion franchise that might truly rival that collection by way of cultural influence and mainstream enchantment.
Because the retired former murderer title character, John Wick leaned into many motion film tropes we had already seen in releases like Taken and took them to an entire different degree. With glossy worldbuilding and distinctive martial arts combat sequences, John Wick was elevated from a modest revenge thriller into a real phenomenon.
Reeves’ mixture of stoicism and vulnerability made Wick an intensely attention-grabbing character, and viewers have been instantly hooked into this legal underworld of lethal assassins and complicated rules. John Wick revitalized Reeves’ profession within the 2010s, and it hasn’t slowed down since.
2020s: John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)
Though Keanu Reeves has taken on a number of notable roles within the 2020s, from reprising Neo within the divisive Matrix Resurrections to voicing Shadow within the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, one position continues to outline this period of his profession. The John Wick collection stays his standout achievement within the 2020s, cementing him as a contemporary motion legend and cultural icon.
John Wick is likely one of the few franchises that will get higher with every installment, and John Wick: Chapter 4 upped the ante even additional with epic combat sequences and complicated character dynamics. The world-building of John Wick has at all times been a significant a part of its enchantment, and by this launch, audiences have been effectively versed within the workings of the Continental.
With Wick on a quest for revenge in opposition to the Excessive Desk members who left him for useless, the best way every John Wick film led into the subsequent added an total sense of continuity that’s lacking from most motion franchises. It’s a testomony to Keanu Reeves’ enduring enchantment that he’s maintained his standing as a number one motion hero because the early Nineties.