Every Keanu Reeves Movie, Ranked

To call this era of peak Keanu saturation the Keanussaince would be a disservice to a decades-long career featuring quiet, powerhouse performances. To clarify: a lot of the films in this list are… not good, but even in the dredges of his filmography, Reeves remains committed to giving his everything. He’s also incredibly prolific, regularly churning out multiple films a year (to the detriment of this writer who had to watch them all).

Reeves has captured audiences for so long because he’s a singular kind of movie star. He’s chameleonic, and yet, he’s always, firmly himself. His mode of acting is unlike anyone else—and it’s the reason why he is such a formidable force on screen. There are the instantly recognizable films are what launched him to stratospheric heights—testosterone-fueled action flicks like The Matrix and Speed—but the real gems in his repertoire are formed when he’s allowed to be sensitive, empathetic, wounded and open. This is Keanu Reeves’s world, and we’re just living in it.

53. Replicas
No one deserves to be subjected to this.

52. Generation Um…
A mumblecore wannabe with the astute observation that millennials are superficial—never heard that one before.

51. The Night Before
It’s fun to see Reeves play against type as a high school nerd who traverses Los Angeles to figure out what happened on a wild prom night, but its appalling use of racist stereotypes explains why this John Hughes-esque comedy has mostly been forgotten.

50. The Watcher
This thriller is one of the biggest misfires for Reeves, who gets a rare villain role as a sadistic serial killer, but it wasn’t a job he took willingly—he was reportedly forced to star in the film after a friend forged his signature on the contract.

49. Little Buddha
The abhorrent casting of Reeves as Buddha (complete with brownface and an Indian accent) makes Bernardo Bertolucci’s spiritual epic unbearable to watch.

48. 47 Ronin
Keanu Reeves loves a good martial arts movie (see: Man of Tai Chi), but this isn’t one of them.

47. Exposed
There are traces of what Exposed was envisioned to be: an intimate Dominican drama that confronts issues of police brutality and mass incarceration.But after aggressive studio interference (the film was refashioned into a by-the-numbers thriller with Reeves’s small role upgraded to a lead), director Gee Malik Linton sued to have his name removed.

46. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
Gus Van Sant’s follow-up to My Own Private Idaho is as big of a mess as Uma Thurman’s giant fake thumbs.

45. Knock Knock
At one point, Reeves exasperatedly yells “what the fuck?” to himself. Me too.

44. The Replacements
This sports comedy with a penchant for misogyny has not aged well.

43. Johnny Mnemonic
So quintessentially ‘90s in that no one understands how the Internet works.

42. Feeling Minnesota
With a little bit of True Romance, and a little bit of early Tarantino, this dark gangster romance is wholly derivative.

41. Street Kings
A thriller by David Ayer about corruption in the LAPD? Groundbreaking.

40. Much Ado About Nothing
Reeves is horrifically miscast in Kenneth Branagh’s dull Shakespeare adaptation.

39. Flying
There’s a scene in this gymnastics movie with the aesthetic of Jane Fonda’s workout videos in which a 21-year-old Keanu Reeves rap-sings and I screamed.

38. The Last Time I Committed Suicide
Reeves has a small role as the buddy to Beat Generation author and poet Neal Cassady, and that’s all I can tell you because I forgot this movie five minutes after I watched it.

37. The Prince of Pennsylvania
Reeves’s early career is largely defined by punky bad boy type roles that are indistinguishable from one another, with the exception of The Prince of Pennsylvania, in which he rocks the most outrageous do: flowing shoulder-length locks with one side shaved and dyed silver. SILVER.

36. Chain Reaction
Come for the impressive cast and intriguing premise, feel yourself wanting to quit, then end up staying for Rachel Weisz and Reeves acting like an old married couple.

35. Siberia
Just watch John Wick.

34. Youngblood
In this hockey comedy starring Rob Lowe, keep your eyes peeled for a baby-faced Keanu Reeves and his French-Canadian accent.

33. Hardball
Hardball is the other generic, but slightly better, sports comedy in Reeves’s oeuvre, but a lovely highlight is a pre-teen Michael B. Jordan.

32. Sweet November
This is a John Green novel before John Green novels existed.

31. The Gift
This supernatural thriller from Sam Raimi never quite takes off, but it’s always exciting to see Reeves explore new roles. Here, he’s an abusive husband accused of murder.

30. To The Bone
As a therapist helping a young woman suffering from anorexia, Reeves doesn’t have much to do and he’s done this role before in a better movie.

29. The Bad Batch
Reeves, sporting an impressive ‘70s stache, plays a charismatic cult leader called The Dream, and well, yeah, fair enough.

28. The Neon Demon
With the rare chance to be a massive sleaze, Reeves chews up every brief moment he has in Nicolas Winding Refn’s divisive take on the L.A. modelling scene.

27. A Walk in the Clouds
Strangers pretending to be married only to fall in love with each other is one of the dumbest romantic tropes. Inject it into my veins.

26. The Day the Earth Stood Still
Sure, this sci-fi remake has lived on in infamy, but no one can question the casting of Reeves as a mysterious extraterrestrial.

25. The Lake House
Try not to question the logic of this high concept romance which reunites Reeves with his Speed co-star Sandra Bullock.

24. The Whole Truth
It’s pretty admirable that a film that takes place almost entirely in a courtroom doesn’t get boring.

23. Henry’s Crime
Mmm, yes Keanu, read Chekhov to me.

22. I Love You to Death
In what is perhaps the perfect antithesis to John Wick, Reeves plays a stoner hitman too incompetent to complete the job in Lawrence Kasdan’s slapstick farce.

21. Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Francis Ford Coppola’s period horror is infamous for Reeves’s British accent (which is really not as bad as everyone makes it out to be), but it gets bonus points for technically being Reeves and Winona Ryder’s wedding video.

20. The Devil’s Advocate
Al Pacino is Satan—what else is there to say?

19. Dangerous Liaisons
To fit in alongside such powerhouses as Glenn Close and John Malkovich is an unenviable task, and yet Reeves’s vulnerability makes him a great dupe in the power struggle between scheming aristocrats.

18. The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
It’s a crime that Reeves hasn’t played more romantic leads, and Reeves is on top heartthrob form as a cashier who woos over Robin Wright.

17. Destination Wedding
This romantic comedy with a sardonic edge received most of its press off that aforementioned wedding rumor, but it’s a joy to watch Reeves and Winona Ryder as a pair of ill-mannered cynics bicker for 90 minutes.

16. Thumbsucker
In Mike Mills’s debut feature, Reeves pairs wisdom with his calming presence as an orthodontist guiding a teen suffering from the titular habit, topping a hopeful monologue with the ad-libbed cherry: “The trick is living without an answer...I think.”

15. Toy Story 4
Who other than the world’s greatest Canadian could provide the voice for Canada’s greatest stuntman?

14. Point Break
Johnny Utah: he fights crime and surfs with Patrick Swayze—usually with homoerotic undertones.

13. River’s Edge
A disturbing account of troubled youth, River’s Edge shocked and disturbed audiences back in 1987, while Reeves, in his first major role, showcases a terrifying amorality that has become a rarity in his lengthy career.

12. Something’s Gotta Give
Contrary to popular belief, Something’s Gotta Give is, in fact, a horror and not a romantic comedy, which is the only reason I can think of to explain why Diane Keaton leaves hot doctor Keanu Reeves for Jack Nicholson.

11. Permanent Record
Like River’s Edge, Permanent Record is a glimmering exception in the actor’s career—he pulls off an understated but emotional performance as a teen grappling with the death of his best friend.

10. Always Be My Maybe
Always Be My Maybe, the Netflix romantic comedy the Internet conjured into existence, presents us with a nightmarish vision: Keanu Reeves is an asshole. The actor’s 15-minute cameo as a heightened version of himself is so memorable and hilarious because it toys with our perception of who the actor is—wholesome and pure, but totally unknowable. Most importantly, his appearance in a film with an all Asian-American cast means that Reeves is able to reclaim his own Asian-American identity.

9. Man of Tai Chi
Man of Tai Chi is the first, and so far, only film Reeves has directed—which is a shame because it’s batshit crazy. A megalomaniacal millionnaire (played by Reeves) enlists a fighter skilled in Tai Chi for an underground fighting operation. Reeves has a great respect for martial arts movies—beautifully choreographed sequences filmed in long takes, with authentic representations of the many fighting styles it features. He lets the action (of which there is many) speak for itself.

8. Constantine
The failed DC comic book adaptation starring Reeves as a demon-slaying detective is in dire need of a critical reassessment. Sure, it’s heavy CGI hasn’t aged well, and it isn’t exactly faithful to the source material—but it stands as one of the most trenchant explorations of loneliness in the actor’s career. As he wanders through the blazing wasteland of hell, he almost seems at peace, as if he’s content with his fate.

7. Parenthood
Underneath Ron Howard’s ensemble comedy is a subtle depiction of masculinity. Tod (played by Reeves) is an airhead with seemingly zero ambition, but he defies expectations with his resolute kindness and dedication to his girlfriend and her family. Seeing himself as something of a father figure to the youngest son of the family, he knows all too well what an abusive patriarch can do to a boy: “You need a licence to buy a dog, or drive a car. Hell, you need a licence to catch a fish. But they’ll let any butt-reaming asshole be a father,” he says, before reverting back to dumbass mode.

6. Speed
There’s an uncanny quality to Keanu Reeves. The way his body moves, the cadences in his voice, suggest someone who isn’t completely comfortable in their skin. His character in Speed, however, doesn’t exhibit these behaviours. Jack Traven is the everyman. Thankfully, Speed is silly enough for Reeves, who has never been particularly suited to playing regular people. Nothing brings communities together like a bus jumping over a 50-foot gap in the highway.

5. John Wick, John Wick: Chapter 2 and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum
Hell hath no fury like a Keanu scorned. The story of a retired hitman who does the absolute most to avenge his murdered canine resonated with many. The first John Wick—directed by Reeves’s stuntmen from The Matrix—was a surprise hit, spawned two sequels and a future TV show, and relaunched Reeves as an action star. In the words of our beloved Baba Yaga: Yeah, I think he’s back.

4. A Scanner Darkly
The future depicted in Richard Linklater’s Phillip K. Dick adaptation doesn’t look so far removed from today. The war on drugs has been lost, an undercover agent (Reeves) infiltrates a community of addicts hooked on the hallucinatory drug Substance D, only to lose his identity as he becomes addicted himself. Reeves is devastating—aided by the rotoscoped animation, he drifts through the frame like a breeze, while his descent into a psychological prison infects the film’s mutable aesthetic. It’s intensely hypnotic, almost addictive.

3. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey
Bill S. Preston Esq. and his best bro Ted “Theodore” are two idiots with hearts of gold, and their most excellent adventures through time, the afterlife and hell itself have cemented the two films as cult classics. Reeves has since progressed into darker, more serious films, but Ted has, and will always be, one of his defining characters. That isn’t to say it’s a role he wants to shake off;a third film, Bill and Ted Face the Music, is on the way. Woah, dude.

2. The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions
When we think of Keanu Reeves, we think of Neo. As the Chosen One fated to wake the world up from simulated slavery, Neo was born great, achieves greatness and has greatness thrust upon him. The Matrix is a revolutionary film in many ways,and though its sequels don’t have the same glowing reputation,its shockwaves have been felt through sci-fi and action films ever since.

1. My Own Private Idaho
The restrained performances that make the bulk of Reeves’s career are frequently mischaracterized as wooden or lifeless. But this is all part of the allure—he’s impossible to judge, a puzzle made to decipher. With Gus Van Sant’s bleak and beautiful My Own Private Idaho, Reeves is at the height of his powers as Scott, the unattainable heir that River Phoenix’s narcoleptic hustler Mike desires. Scott is impenetrable, all the more enticing as we try to unravel his motives. We hope that Scott returns Mike’s love, and sometimes Reeves makes us believe so until we’re blindsided. It’s utterly heartbreaking.

Originally Appeared on GQ