Keanu Reeves Movies, Ranked

Whoa, in order.

Entries
10
Category
Film
Updated
  1. A shimmering rotoscope-style suit hanging in a closet, its surface flickering into different patterns.

    10. A Scanner Darkly

    Richard Linklater · 2006

    Philip K. Dick's paranoid drug novel, shot live and then rotoscoped over 15 to 18 months. Keanu plays an undercover cop assigned to surveil himself, in a suit that reshuffles his face. Robert Downey Jr. is in it too. It lost money, which tracks.

  2. A gold Zippo lighter and a crushed cigarette pack on a church pew, rain streaking a stained-glass window behind.

    09. Constantine

    Francis Lawrence · 2005

    The comic's John Constantine is a blond Liverpudlian drawn to look like Sting. Keanu is dark-haired and Canadian, and nobody minded. Tilda Swinton plays the angel Gabriel and Peter Stormare plays the devil in a white suit. A sequel has been coming for twenty years.

  3. A muddy riverbank at dusk with a crushed beer can and a bike thrown in the grass.

    08. River's Edge

    Tim Hunter · 1986

    Teenagers find out a friend killed a girl and mostly shrug, loosely based on a 1981 Milpitas case. Keanu is the one kid with a conscience, opposite Crispin Glover and Dennis Hopper. Ebert compared it to In Cold Blood. Bleak, great, and young Keanu.

  4. A vintage motorcycle parked on an empty Idaho road under a vast sky, a dented hubcap at the shoulder.

    07. My Own Private Idaho

    Gus Van Sant · 1991

    Henry IV relocated to Portland street hustlers, with Keanu as the mayor's son slumming it. He rode his Norton motorcycle from Canada to Florida to hand River Phoenix the script. Phoenix won best actor at Venice. Keanu did the Shakespeare.

  5. A long Paris staircase at sunrise leading up to a white domed basilica, a single dropped pistol on the steps.

    06. John Wick: Chapter 4

    Chad Stahelski · 2023

    169 minutes, a blind assassin played by Donnie Yen, and a fight up the stairs to Sacré-Cœur that ends with one very long fall. It earned $447 million, the series' best. Lance Reddick died before it opened. The early cut ran 225 minutes.

  6. A vintage phone booth parked in a suburban garage beside an electric guitar and a history textbook.

    05. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

    Stephen Herek · 1989

    Two San Dimas metalheads kidnap Napoleon, Socrates and Lincoln in a phone booth to pass history. The release was held up by a studio bankruptcy. The writers say the phone booth was not a Doctor Who reference; they had never seen it. Be excellent to each other.

  7. A rubber president-style novelty mask lying on a surfboard on a beach at dawn, waves breaking behind.

    04. Point Break

    Kathryn Bigelow · 1991

    FBI agent Johnny Utah goes undercover with surfers who rob banks in ex-president masks. Keanu had never surfed before training in Kauai. The film was first titled Johnny Utah, which only makes sense once you have heard Gary Busey say it.

  8. A city bus speedometer needle hovering just above fifty, a freeway stretching out through the windshield.

    03. Speed

    Jan de Bont · 1994

    A bus that explodes below 50 miles per hour, a buzz cut the studio worried about, and Joss Whedon's uncredited rewrite giving Keanu Pop quiz, hotshot. It made about $350 million. He skipped the sequel, which went on a boat and sank.

  9. A beagle's dog bowl and a pencil on a basement floor that has been cracked open to reveal a buried gun case.

    02. John Wick

    Chad Stahelski · 2014

    A retired hitman's late wife leaves him a beagle puppy, and some idiots kill it. The script was called Scorn, distributors shrugged, and David Leitch co-directed without credit. A 49-year-old Keanu reloaded his career. It was a puppy. Fair.

  10. A pair of tiny oval sunglasses resting on a leather armchair beside a red pill and a blue pill on a small table.

    01. The Matrix

    The Wachowskis · 1999

    Will Smith passed to make Wild Wild West, and so did Cage, DiCaprio, Pitt and Kilmer. Keanu took it and became a messiah in a long coat. Four Oscars, $473 million, a word for slow-motion dodging, and every sequel since trying to explain it.

Honorable mentions

  • A pair of empty eyeglass frames with no lenses on a fancy restaurant table beside a tiny tasting-menu plate.

    Always Be My Maybe

    Nahnatchka Khan · 2019

    Keanu plays himself as the worst date in San Francisco, in lensless glasses he suggested himself. He shot two scenes while making John Wick 3. Ali Wong and Randall Park wrote it, and he steals it.

Dishonorable mentions

  • A pen resting on a contract with a scribbled signature next to a stack of Polaroids on a Chicago desk.

    The Watcher

    Joe Charbanic · 2000

    Keanu said he never wanted to play this serial killer and that a friend forged his signature on the contract. He did it at union scale rather than sue. It scored 11 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a Razzie nod. He was right.

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