This week, John Wick: Chapter 2 hits theaters. It marks another successful action franchise for the always marginalized, never fully appreciated Keanu Reeves. Sure, these days, Reeves has finally been canonized by a few pockets of self-respecting movie nerds, but general consensus out there is he’s just a bad actor.
False.
Even outside John Wick and the Matrix Trilogy Reeves has, more often than not, managed to find the perfect vehicle for his unique acting chops. And his decisions have been consistently interesting over the years, rarely boring moves outside that Bullock lake movie. Even when his movies fail (late 90s crap like Johnny Mnemonic and Chain Reaction), the movies aren’t boring. Just bad. After all this is the dude who was awesome in Speed, and smart enough to pass up on Speed 2.
To celebrate Wick Week, let’s have some fun looking back at Reeves’ 10 best roles, or best movies, however you’d like to couch this thing. Enjoy…
10. Hank, The Neon Demon
Keanu Reeves has played some nasty villains before, but nothing quite as morally bankrupt or disturbing as the perverted slumlord in Nicolas Winding Refn’s twisted Hollywood fable. His Hank is morally the bottom of the barrel in a morally bankrupt film, which is impressive in and of itself. Reeves had to have fun playing such a scoundrel.
