by Nathaniel R
Whoa. Keanu Reeves turns 55 later this year and he's made roughly that many movies, too. Time sure does fly since he's still implanted in our consciousness as that stoner-like raven-haired looker of convenience store, surfing, and bus adventures. Figuring him out has always been an impossible trip. Keanu means "cool breeze over the mountains" in Hawaiian but, that geographically specific well-known trivia aside, he's always been hard to visually or sonically place anywhere on the map OR within the pantheon of contemporary stars; Born in Lebanon and raised in Canada, though he's of Hawaiian/British/Chinese/Portuguese descent, and with a voice that conjures the early 80s and California. Who/what/where is he even other than on his own planet and his own unique star?
Though it seems hard to imagine now, when he first came to fame he was a very unlikely candidate for longevity...
And he was definitly hard to picture as a future action-star with that skinny frame, then-androgynous beauty, and those charmingly dopey line deliveries. But then Speed with that buzz cut and muscles happened, and then the billion dollar franchise The Matrix, and always small dips into weird indies. He's still a headliner 25 years after that A list ascendance. With John Wick 3 in theaters, let's look back on all the movie posters. How many of his 55 films have you seen?
Who's this new guy with the unusual name? (1986-1988)
It's mostly indies but one of them is a true critical darling (River's Edge) and he's working a lot. The name is circulating...
YOUNG BLOOD (1986)
FLYING also known as TEENAGE DREAM (1986)
RIVERS EDGE (1986)
THE NIGHT BEFORE (1988)
PERMANENT RECORD (1988)
THE PRINCE OF PENNSYLVANIA (1988)
Get me Keanu Reeves... Rising Star (1989-1993)
...for any genre! Whether or not its even possible to imagine him in the role.
DANGEROUS LIAISONS (1989)
BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE (1989)
PARENTHOOD (1989)
I LOVE YOU TO DEATH (1990)
TUNE IN TOMORROW (1990)
POINT BREAK (1991)
BILL & TED'S BOGUS JOURNEY (1991)
MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO (1991)
BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA (1992)
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (1993)
EVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES (1993)
LITTLE BUDDHA (1993/1994)
The A List Leading Man Peak (1994-2003)
His peak stardom, mainstream modest hits and failures sandwiched between two colossal hits: Speed and The Matrix trilogy.
SPEED (1994)
JOHNNY MNEMONIC (1995)
A WALK IN THE CLOWDS (1995)
CHAIN REACTION (1996)
FEELING MINNESOTA (1996)
THE LAST TIME I COMMITTED SUICIDE (1997)
THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE (1997)
THE MATRIX (1999)
THE REPLACEMENTS (2000)
THE WATCHER (2000)
THE GIFT (2000)
SWEET NOVEMBER (2001)
HARDBALL (2001)
THE MATRIX RELOADED (2003)
THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS (2003)
Post Matrix Fade (2003-2013)
Did Hollywood lose interest or did he? Or both?
SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE (2003)
THUMBSUCKER (2005)
CONSTANTINE (2005)
A SCANNER DARKLY (2006)
THE LAKEHOUSE (2006)
STREET KINGS (2008)
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (2008)
THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE (2009)
HENRY'S CRIME (2010)
GENERATION UM... (2012)
MAN OF TAI CHI (2013)
47 RONIN (2013)
The Now: Indie Supporting Work + Leads in Gritty "B" Actioners (2014-2019)
During this period there's definitely been a reappraisal of his past work and some critical appreciation for the John Wick series.
JOHN WICK (2014)
KNOCK KNOCK (2015)
EXPOSED (2016)
THE WHOLE TRUTH (2016)
THE NEON DEMON (2016)
THE BAD BATCH (2016/2017)
TO THE BONE (2017)
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER TWO (2017)
A HAPPENING OF MONUMENTAL PROPORTIONS (2017)
SIBERIA (2018)
DESTINATION WEDDING (2018)
REPLICAS (2018/2019)
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER THREE - PARABELLUM (2019)
That's it (we left out uncredited roles, voice roles, and a couple cameos when he played himself.) So how many is it for you?
I'm personally at 25, so not quite half of them, but that's largely because gritty violent indie actioners aren't really my thing and I avoided the most acclaimed one of those because wasn't the whole plot about revenge because his dog was murdered? Can't handle violence against doggies.
For fun here are two lists.
Best Movies (not the same thing as Best Performances)
- Dangerous Liaisons
- My Own Private Idaho
- Bram Stoker's Dracula
- Speed
- Point Break
Most Frequent Co-Stars
- Winona Ryder and Laurence Fishburne (4 times each)
- Carrie-Anne Moss, Common, Monica Bellucci, Hugo Weaving, and Ian McShane (3 times each)
- Alex Winter (soon to be 3 times with another Bill & Ted movie on its way)
- Sandra Bullock, Charlize Theron, River Phoenix, Uma Thurman, Essie Davis, Patrick Swayze, Crispin Glover, John Leguizamo, Bridget Moynahan, Lambert Wilson, Nathaniel Lees, Collin Chou, and Tilda Swinton (twice each)