10 Keanu Reeves Movies To Marathon After The Matrix: Resurrections

Neo (Reeves), the hacker alias of computer programmer Thomas, discovers humans are living in a simulation called the Matrix controlled by evil cyber-intelligence. So, he joins forces with Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), rages against the machines in a full-length black coat, and learns to backbend really, really well. He reprised his star-making role in two succeeding movies, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, which both premiered in 2003 under the direction of siblings Lana and Lilly Wachowski.

Assassin extraordinaire John Wick (Reeves) retired from his murderous life to live peacefully with the last remaining link to his dead wife: Daisy, his beagle. So when Iosef (Alfie Allen) and his gangster goons decide to steal his car one night and kill Daisy in the process, John takes up arms once again and goes on a killing spree in the name of canine revenge. Justified? Completely.

Released in 2014, the action-packed film marked Reeves’ return to the genre, where he very much thrives. Speaking about his character, Reeves told AP, “I love his will, his passion.” Among other traits he listed were the “depth of his feeling,” honor,” “how he fights for his life,” and the character’s “sense of humor.” That’s a lot of qualities to love — perhaps it’s why he keeps returning to the role. A fourth installment of the hitman’s franchise is set for a May 2022 premiere. (And in true nice-guy fashion, Reeves even gifted his John Wick 4 stuntmen engraved Rolex watches.)

Sasha Tran (Ali Wong) is a culinary star while Marcus Kim (Randall Park) never left his San Francisco hometown. But when the two reconnect more than a decade later, they find that, despite their differences, the romantic spark from high school is still there. Unfortunately, so is Sasha’s movie star boyfriend: Keanu Reeves. Reeves may be famous for being down-to-earth IRL, but in the Netflix rom-com Always Be My Maybe (2019), his self-referential cameo couldn’t be any more pretentious.

“I made Netflix spend all this money on this movie just so that, as a 37-year-old mother of two, I could kiss Daniel Dae Kim and Keanu Reeves,” Wong, who co-wrote the film with Park, told Variety. Their resulting kissing scene — where they take turns enumerating what they missed about each other — is hilarious and, apparently, improvised. Wong told W, “None of that is scripted. It was so funny, but I didn’t crack up once because I was so into it,” adding, “He was so committed.”

Harry Sanborn (Jack Nicholson), 63, exclusively dates women below the age of 30 — including the daughter of playwright Erica Barry (Diane Keaton). So things get really awkward when the two develop an attraction following Harry’s heart attack, which was caused by a sexual encounter with her daughter. Good thing another leading man tries to woo Erica: the floppy-haired doctor Julian Mercer (Reeves), who shops at the farmer’s market and supports all of her plays.

In the nailbiting 1994 film Speed, a bomber (Dennis Hopper) with a fetish for high-speed explosions rigs a bomb in a bus, and it’s up to officer Jack Traven (Reeves) to save the passengers. Unfortunately, driving below 50 mph will cause the bomb to detonate, so Jack needs to find a way to defuse the bomb while the bus pummels through the streets of LA. To make matters worse, the driver gets injured and one passenger, Annie (Bullock), is forced to take control of the bus.

It turns out the two leads had a crush on each other while filming and had absolutely no idea. Both Bullock and Reeves fessed up to Ellen Degeneres on her talk show in their 2018 and 2019 appearances, respectively. Degeneres asked Reeves about Bullock’s revelation saying, "Did you know she had a crush on you?" He responded, "No, she obviously didn't know that I had a crush on her either.”

Twelve years later, Bullock and Reeves reconnected for a romance drama. In The Lake House (2006), Alex (Reeves) finds himself in a long-distance, pen-pal-type relationship with Kate (Bullock) — only instead of a geographical gap, they’re separated by a time chasm. As in, their present-day is two years apart, which means they can never meet up despite living in the same lake house. (Don’t ask us, we can’t explain this either.) As they correspond through letters left in their residence’s mailbox, they catch feelings and try to find a viable solution to their situation.

In Kathryn Bigelow’s 1991 heist movie, Reeves’ Johnny Utah is a keen FBI rookie who goes undercover after a series of bank robberies. When evidence suggests a group of surfers may be behind the attacks, Johnny takes up a surfboard for the operation. It gets a tad confusing, especially when Johnny befriends surfer Bodhi (Patrick Swayze), aka the criminals’ boss, and is seemingly inspired by his free-spirited, anarchist ways. But it’s 100% worth the watch just to see a young Keanu surf.

As if Toy Story needed more reasons to be included on any watchlist, the writers go and add Reeves to the cast of the Pixar franchise’s fourth installment. In it, a new toy, Forky, is created out of a spork and brought to life, and he quickly becomes Bonnie’s favorite. Of course, loyal Woody will do everything to make sure his human is happy, including rescuing Forky when he’s kidnapped. To do that, Woody and the gang enlist the help of Reeves’ Duke Caboom, Canada’s greatest stuntman.

In an interview with People, Reeves talked about his decision to take on the animated project. “I don’t know what it was, but I instantly connected to Duke Caboom,” he said, adding, “I felt like his physicality was important, so even when he’s talking to you, he’s doing stunts. He can’t help himself.”

In the 2001 sports dramedy Hardball, Conor O'Neill (Reeves) is deep in gambling debt. To earn money to pay it back, he needs to coach a group of Black fifth-graders from Chicago’s housing projects, and leadership doesn’t come easy to him. There are softball league rules he needs to maneuver around, there’s a teacher (Diane Lane) he’s trying to woo, and he still has that betting problem. Somehow, after several screw-ups, it’s Reeves’ character who becomes the boys’ unlikely hero. He changes their lives, and they change his. Well, except for Michael B. Jordan’s character.

Fair warning: The movie has been criticized in years past for what some say is a white savior narrative and negative stereotypes, but it remains beloved by some who connected with the story long ago, so watch and see for yourself.

Twenty-six years after they starred together in Bram Stoker's Dracula, Winona Ryder and Reeves reunited in 2018 for Destination Wedding. In this unlikely rom-com, two jaded-in-life-and-love strangers Lindsay and Frank meet at the airport on their way to an out-of-town wedding. Lindsay happens to still be in love with the groom, her ex-boyfriend, while Frank is his grumpy step-brother. They’re both cynical and a little infuriating, but somehow their neuroses match and they end up not resenting each other so much.

Ryder was apparently the one who first sent the script to Reeves and invited him to join her in the project. Speaking to Today, Reeves said, “I was really excited to get a letter and email from Winona and to get this script.” He added, “It’s a marvelous script. I thought it was really kind of modern and taking in a new way to do this idea of a relationship.”

A cinematic masterpiece in under five minutes, Paula Abdul’s music video for “Rush, Rush” features a very young Keanu. Abdul flirts with Reeves a bit before her fella arrives in an overcrowded convertible, sensing the tension between them. After tense interactions, including a scene where Abdul’s man slashes Reeves’ tires, the rivalry culminates in a race where Abdul serves as the flag girl. Just as his nemesis’ car plunges down a cliff, Reeves jumps out of his, allowing him and Abdul to finally spend the night together.