THE AGE OF THE KEANUSSANCE
Keanu Reeves is back onboard
Earlier this year, Microsoft debuted its new flagship game at E3 – the world’s largest gaming convention. But they had a surprise in store. Not only were they showing new footage of sci-fi extravaganza Cyberpunk 2077, but they were bringing in one of the biggest actors in the world to introduce – and star – in the game. Enter: Keanu Reeves.
Ten years ago you wouldn’t have thought it possible. But the moment highlights the incredible resurgence of the actor’s career, dubbed the ‘Keanussance’. His back catalogue is an index of 90s classics – Speed, Point Break, The Matrix. But come the mid-2000s, Reeves spent the better part of a decade out of Hollywood’s good graces, landing fewer roles, and in more questionable movies.
But in 2014 he was cast as the lead of a low-budget action thriller, John Wick. The film was marketed as a one-off; the kind of B-movie that would sell DVDs rather than cinema tickets. But the beautiful brutality of the action, combined with a revenge plot all about an adorable dog, soon turned a second-tier movie into a blockbuster.
The franchise is now on its third
chapter, with increasingly magnificent action sequences including a motorbikestraddling, 100-mile-an-hour sword fight. Despite being sandwiched between other franchise juggernauts including Avengers: Endgame and Godzilla, John Wick 3: Parabellum still managed to carve out whopping box office figures in excess of US$300 million.
The John Wick franchise is clearly here to stay – as is its star. This month we’re celebrating all things Keanu with a collection of his best films – including The Matrix trilogy (a fourth film is confirmed to be in the works), Speed, Point Break and the John Wick trilogy. You can also see Reeves channel his ‘vulnerable action man’ persona in a scene-stealing role in Toy Story 4 (on Cathay Pacific flights from October), in which he voices Duke Caboom – ‘Canada’s greatest stunt man’.
Comeback king Keanu Reeves through the ages: in the adrenaline- pumping Speed, sci-fi classic The Matrix, and the action-filled John Wick