2025 Actor Focus: Keanu Reeves

Going into 2025, I had never seen any Keanu Reeves films. I had heard the Midnight Boys talk about him as an incredible action star and heard Van Lathan, on that same podcast, talk about how much The Matrix mattered to him. I set out to understand what the hype was all about, and I ended up watching 17 films throughout the year starring Keanu Reeves, including his starring franchise roles as John Wick and Neo, supporting roles in Parenthood and Something’s Gotta Give, classic 90’s action films like Speed and Point Break, and more.

I have to say, I sort of get it. It’s a mixed bag for me. Keanu brings a pretty consistent affect to most of his characters that serves some of them better than others. In John Wick, his gruff line-readings make the character feel deeper and more mysterious. In Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, it plays very successfully as comedy. In Street Kings, though, it makes the character of Tom Ludlow hard to root for - reading as uncaring and detached. I understand why some of his performances hold such a hallowed place in people’s hearts, and why he specifically makes those roles work as well as they do. But I also tend to think that the most impressive actors are impressive because of their range. His worst roles are those where I felt like I was watching Keanu, rather than watching a Keanu character. Some more range would have made his bad movies a lot less bad.

Please check out my Letterboxd list for some more thoughts and opinions.