There’s nobody quite like Keanu Reeves. Is he a truly great actor? No one seems quite sure. But what everyone does know is that he’s always compelling to watch whenever he’s on screen, regardless of the character he happens to be embodying. Sometimes, he’s a butt-kicking assassin, sometimes he’s a Canadian daredevil toy, and sometimes he’s a tumbleweed dishing out life advice to SpongeBob SquarePants. Either way, he’s always Keanu.
His big-screen legacy spans multiple decades, and if anything, he’s better now than ever before. He’s playing a literal angel in the new movie Good Fortune, while his comic book exorcist Constantine is back in cinemas for its 20th anniversary. Bizarrely, there’s also almost certainly more John Wick on the horizon. Reeves has never been busier.
So let’s have a look back through the Keanu Reeves filmography and, based on IMDb ratings, pick out the 10 essential Reeves movies from over the years.
10 | Speed (1994)
Keanu Reeves in the excellent Jan De Bont thriller Speed. (20th Century Studios/Alamy)
There aren’t many 90s action movies as thoroughly entertaining as Jan De Bont’s Speed. The concept is delicious: what if a bus couldn’t drop below 50mph without setting off a bomb? At the heart of it all is Keanu Reeves as an LAPD officer and Sandra Bullock as the ordinary passenger reluctantly thrust into the driver’s seat of the dangerous vehicle.
Read more: Jan de Bont interview: The man who shot the Nineties from ‘Flatliners’ to ‘Twister’ (Yahoo Entertainment, 7 min read)
Reeves was cast in the lead role off the back of his action man work in Point Break, but this was one of the movies that really fired him into the Hollywood A-list. It showed he could hold a high-concept thriller together, despite the studio’s worries that cutting his hair would leave a Samson-like dent in his appeal. Given its $350m (£262m) box office haul, they needn’t have worried.
IMDb rating: 7.3
Where to watch: Speed is streaming in the UK on Disney+.
9 | Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. (Columbia Pictures/Alamy)
Reeves’ line delivery in that bizarre English accent might have become something of a meme over the years, but there’s a lot of love for Francis Ford Coppola’s epic take on the ultimate vampire story. Reeves plays Dracula’s solicitor, Jonathan Harker, who finds himself trapped in Transylvania while Dracula heads off in search of his fiancée — played by Winona Ryder.
The film won three Oscars, but Reeves’ performance has been savaged over the years as an enormous miscasting. In subsequent years, Reeves would lean in to his strengths and the force of his own persona rather than attempting work as transformative as this role.
IMDb rating: 7.4
Where to watch: Bram Stoker’s Dracula is available on Sky/NOW.
8 | John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019)
Keanu Reeves delivered a whole load of action in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. (Lionsgate/Alamy)
The third John Wick movie marked a real expansion of the universe’s mythology. Wick had been declared “excommunicado” after the events of the second film, which meant that the threequel saw him fleeing the guns, fists, and assorted spiky death machines wielded by the entire criminal underworld. It all ends, of course, in an enormous bloodbath at the Continental hotel.
Read more: Halle Berry wants her own John Wick spin-off movie (BANG Showbiz, 2 min read)
By this point in the Wick franchise, the joyous simplicity of the first film had been lost entirely; however, it’s fascinating to watch this entire criminal landscape unfold. Then there’s the action, which is just untouchable in its brilliance. Halle Berry and some highly-trained fighting dogs? Now we’re talking.
IMDb rating: 7.4
Where to watch: John Wick: Chapter 3 is available to rent or buy on digital platforms in the UK.
7 | John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
Keanu Reeves reprised his role as the titular former hitman in John Wick: Chapter 2. (Lionsgate/Alamy)
After the unexpected success of John Wick, there was a real appetite for expanding the universe in a sequel. John Wick: Chapter 2 teased things open a little more by introducing the idea of the High Table — a sort of underworld Parliament — and explaining the idea of unbreakable oaths conveyed by golden markers. That’s what draws Wick back into a world of assassinations and gunplay in the second movie.
More than the later entries in the series, which were increasingly sprawling, John Wick: Chapter 2 is essentially carried along by a handful of genuinely massive set pieces. There aren’t many franchises that can do hard-hitting, chaotic action like John Wick can, and that ability is definitely on show in this second chapter.
IMDb rating: 7.4
Where to watch: John Wick: Chapter 2 is available to rent or buy on digital platforms in the UK.
6 | Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
Keanu Reeves and John Malkovich face off in Dangerous Liaisons. (Warner Bros/Alamy)
Before Reeves settled into his groove as a brooding action man, he tried on a number of hats. One of those was in Dangerous Liaisons — Stephen Frears’ epic adaptation of the 18th-century novel. Reeves plays low-ranking nobleman Le Chevalier Danceny, who falls in love with Uma Thurman’s Cécile, but has no chance of winning her hand in marriage. Eventually, he finds himself in a duel with John Malkovich, as you do.
Read more: Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter give verdict on potential Bill & Ted 4 (The Independent, 2 min read)
Dangerous Liaisons is far from being Reeves’ film — it was Glenn Close and Michelle Pfeiffer who received Oscar nominations — but he’s certainly a key presence in the story. It’s fair to say that prestige costume dramas were never Reeves’ strongest suit, despite his efforts.
IMDb rating: 7.5
Where to watch: Dangerous Liaisons is available to rent or buy on digital platforms in the UK.
5 | The Devil’s Advocate (1997)
Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino in the supernatural law thriller The Devil’s Advocate. (Warner Bros/Alamy)
Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino are two of the most unique Hollywood stars of the 20th century, so it’s no surprise that the film in which they appeared together — The Devil’s Advocate — is far from ordinary. Reeves plays a high-flying attorney who never loses a case, which leads to his recruitment by the shady owner of a top New York City firm. That owner, played by Pacino, turns out to be Satan himself.
Again, it was someone else who got the plaudits in this case, with Pacino’s over-the-top performance taking centre stage. But he needed Reeves as something of a straight man here, and though the film didn’t necessarily wow critics, it has won a lot of fans — especially in more recent years.
IMDb rating: 7.5
Where to watch: The Devil’s Advocate is available to rent or buy on digital platforms in the UK.
4 | John Wick (2014)
Keanu Reeves debuted as one of the world’s most feared assassins in John Wick. (Lionsgate/Everett Collection)
The John Wick franchise has become the most recognisable manifestation of Reeves’ recent career, and it all started in 2014 with the original movie. Narratively, it’s a stripped-down revenge thriller about a retired assassin who rediscovers his old ways in order to fight back against the gangsters who kill his dog, but the star of the show was the action. Mainstream Hollywood cinema had never seen anything like this.
Read more: John Wick director Chad Stahelski teases Chapter 5 (BANG Showbiz, 3 min read)
Directing duo Chad Stahelski and David Leitch turned cinematic butt-kicking up a notch with their work here, bringing the chaos and innovation of their own careers in the stunt world to every kick, punch, and fizzing bullet. So impressive was the Hong Kong-inspired action in John Wick that just about every movie in the genre since has been at least partially inspired by it. That’s true cinematic impact.
IMDb rating: 7.5
Where to watch: John Wick is available to rent or buy on digital platforms in the UK.
3 | Toy Story 4 (2019)
Keanu Reeves voiced daredevil toy Duke Caboom in Toy Story 4. (Pixar/Everett Collection)
There aren’t many instances of Reeves joining a franchise part of the way through, but that’s exactly what he did when he got a call from Pixar about a potential voice role in the animated sequel Toy Story 4. They pitched him the role of Canadian daredevil toy Duke Caboom — a parody of Evel Knievel toys in the real world — and then allowed the star to help develop the character’s voice and mannerisms.
Read more: The 100% rated animated classic that made Pixar a Hollywood powerhouse (Yahoo Entertainment, 4 min read)
Reeves is a ton of fun in the role, embodying the bravado and shame of Duke Caboom — a toy struggling to live up to the dramatic abilities promised in his advertising. It’s a great example of Reeves utilising his unique delivery for comedy, which is something he hasn’t always been given the room to do.
IMDb rating: 7.6
Where to watch: Toy Story 4 is streaming on Disney+ in the UK.
2 | John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)
Keanu Reeves apparently said goodbye to his long-running action role in John Wick: Chapter 4. (Lionsgate/Alamy)
Keanu Reeves may now have entered his sixties, but that doesn’t mean he’s showing any signs of slowing down. As recently as 2023, he went all-out in what was sold as the final entry in the Wick franchise, in which the title character takes on the might of the High Table as vengeance for their attacks on him. It culminates in a Parisian pistol duel, after the most ridiculous action sequence ever staged on a set of stairs.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is, like many of the other sequels in the franchise, overlong and hopelessly indulgent in its storytelling. However, it also features some of the most remarkable action ever committed to the silver screen, making it well worth celebrating.
IMDb rating: 7.6
Where to watch: John Wick: Chapter 4 is available to rent or buy on digital platforms in the UK.
1 | The Matrix (1999)
Keanu Reeves had his most significant role as Neo in The Matrix. (Warner Bros/Alamy)
Despite his 21st-century renaissance as a cult hero and beloved action star, Keanu Reeves is still inextricably linked with the role of Neo in The Matrix. The Wachowskis’ game-changing sci-fi tale is arguably the definitive 1990s movie and, with the innovation of “bullet time”, it influenced Hollywood action more than a decade before John Wick first picked up a firearm.
It’s no surprise that The Matrix is Reeves’ highest-rated movie on IMDb. It was a hugely admired success at the time of its release, and its influence and reputation have only grown in the decades since it first arrived on the big screen. John Wick might have provided us with a better franchise, but the first Matrix movie is untouchable.
IMDb rating: 8.7
Where to watch: The Matrix is currently streaming on Netflix in the UK.
Good Fortune and Constantine are both in UK cinemas from 17 October.