Keanu Reeves is an amazing actor, but some of his roles have been forgotten. These are the ones to go back and watch.
At some point, for whatever reason, Keanu Reeves became a joke in Hollywood. His movies didn’t quite hit the mark as far as expectations were concerned and then the Sad Keanu memes started. But, just like Keanu Reeves would, he kept going. Then John Wick caught fire.
All kinds of Keanu being a decent, humble, nice human being, and the actor was once again huge. The Keanu Revival was upon us and we’re still living in it now. Until the release dates changed, May 21, 2021 was going to be the peak of his stardom as both John Wick 4 and The Matrix 4 were due on the same day. As fans prepare for a new Bill And Ted, here are 10 Keanu Reeves roles you should go back and watch.
10 Parenthood (1989)
Keanu was just one part of the massive ensemble that was Ron Howard’s Paternity . The underrated 1989 classic should be watched by all families of all ages to fully understand the point of view of each member of the Buckman family. Reeves played Tod, Julia’s equally rebellious boyfriend. We’ve all met or been kids like Tod, sure he’s a little out there but he has an extremely kind heart.
9 My Own Private Idaho (1991)
In one of River Phoenix’s final performances, he teamed up with Keanu Reeves for the indie classic My Own Private Idaho .
The two play Mike and Scott, respectively, and embark on a road trip to Mike’s hometown in Idaho to find his mother. Reeves’ performance as a hustler and prostitute was something rarely seen in Hollywood at the time.
8 Speed (1994)
For a while, Reeves wasn’t thought of as an action star. Then The Matrix happened. A decade later, John Wick. But Reeves has always returned his feet to the action pool. Speed was Keanu’s first big action movie that caught on like gangbusters. The pop quiz hotshot phrase has been everywhere for months, and Runaway Train, alongside Keanu as Jack Traven’s unquestionable determination to stop an evil bomber, captivated a nation and showed for one of the first times that Reeves could play characters other than dimwits.
7 Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
Four years before The Matrix came into play , Reeves played Johnny Mnemonic , a man being hunted by the Yakuza for the data stored in his head. He must complete this last job in order to have a procedure to restore his own memories, which were taken from him to increase his data memory.
6 Feeling Minnesota (1996)
Soundgarden’s lyrics from Outshined influenced the title of this film Reeves Feeling Minnesota , which had a strong cast, well on the verge of A-list status. Reeves and Vincent D’Onofrio star as Jjaks and Sam Clayton, each in love with the same girl . Who could blame them, Freddie was played by Cameron Diaz; between The Mask and Something About Mary. Freddie is engaged to Sam, repaying her debts to a nightclub owner. But she falls in love with Jjaks and they plan to steal Sam’s money to run away together.
5 The Gift (2000)
Sam Raimi directs a very un-Sam Raimi story with Keanu Reeves playing a very un-Keanu Reeves role in 2000’s The Gift . The title refers to Cate Blanchett’s Annie’s fortune-telling skills. She is asked by the police to help find a missing girl. As Donnie Barksdale, Reeves brings a menacing twist not seen in his other films. But did he kill Jessica King (Katie Holmes)? Reeves’ role never seeks empathy from the audience, and this kind of role makes the show unforgettable.
4 Constantine (2005)
After participating in the heavily Anime-inspired Matrix trilogy, Reeves dove headlong into the world of comic books. He tackled the role of the Hellblazer in Constantine .
Taking elements from several comic book stories, John tries to buy his way into heaven by sending exorcised demons to Hell. Saving her own soul will be harder than she expected when she takes on a case to help a detective find out what happened to her twin sister.
3 The Devil’s Advocate (1997)
Speaking of Hell, Reeves has been involved with ghosts and goblins for his entire career. In The Devil’s Advocate , he plays a Florida attorney, Kevin Lomax, offered a phenomenal dream job in New York. As he entered the law firm, the head of the firm wants him to take on a seemingly impossible case. Meanwhile, his wife (Charlize Theron) may or may not be losing her mind, and the head of the firm is far from what he seems.
Bram Stoker’s Two Draculas (1992)
Reeves takes on Jonathan Harker in Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula . He becomes the target of the seemingly immortal Count Dracula, who has set his lecherous visions in motion on Harker’s fiancé, Mina. The Count believes that Mina is the reincarnation of his own beloved Elisabeta.
Meanwhile, Dracula feeds his other temptations on Harker, who is able to escape and tries to save Mina as the humans hunting the vampire destroy his land.
1 Chain Reaction (1996)
Chain Reaction would have been one of those bargain movies if it weren’t for the cast. Reeves and Morgan Freeman team up for action thriller. Reeves plays Eddie Kasalivich, an engineer forced to go on the run for a crime he didn’t commit along with Lily Sinclair, the woman who worked with the murdered Alistair Barkley. The film was directed by Andrew Davis, who certainly knows about man-on-the-run movies – he also directed The Fugitive.
