Advertisement

Keanu Reeves is a man of peace – then why are his movies so violent?

Keanu Reeves in John Wick 2 - Niko Tavernise
Keanu Reeves in John Wick 2 - Niko Tavernise

As Oliver Stone’s Oscar-winning Vietnam film Platoon approaches its 40th anniversary, it is salutary to learn that its star-making lead role – that of naïve young recruit Chris Taylor – nearly didn’t go to Charlie Sheen. Instead, according to Stone, several actors were considered for the part, including Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks star Kyle MacLachlan and Johnny Depp, who ended up playing the smaller role of Lerner. However, one unorthodox possibility was the-then unknown 21-year old Canadian actor Keanu Reeves. However, the actor rejected the role because, as Stone recalled to Entertainment Weekly in 2011, “he didn’t want to do violence”.

It is therefore something of an irony that Reeves’s signature character, that of the all-powerful assassin John Wick, a man who is entirely synonymous with violence. Granted, in the first film, the character had retired from paid killing in favour of a quieter domestic life, but after his wife died of an unspecified illness and his dog was murdered by a gang of Russian gangsters, Wick ceremonially breaks out his artillery once more and begins what has now been a four-film cycle of destruction, vengeance and bloodshed, interspersed with moments of black comedy and contemplative reflection about a hitman’s lot. It is estimated that the character slaughters 299 people on screen in the first three films – averaging almost one kill a minute of screen time – and this number will rise inexorably when the new picture is released.

As audiences worldwide prepare to head to the cinemas this weekend to watch the latest adventures of Wick, they know the formula by now: Reeves’s character will kill hundreds of antagonists in innovative and increasingly grisly ways (pencils may be involved), shoot dozens of guns and bond soulfully with gritty-looking men of a certain age who have experienced their fair share of violence. The ensemble cast includes everyone from Ian McShane, returning for his fourth outing as Reeves’s ally and friend Winston, to the legendary Hong Kong star Donnie Yen. Even with a 169-minute long running time, only a fool would bet against the film exceeding John Wick 3’s worldwide gross of $327 million; a testament to the character’s remarkable pulling power, and of Reeves’s continued stardom.

The release has been partially overshadowed by the death of Lance Reddick, who played the concierge of the Intercontinental Hotel that Wick, and other assassins, take refuge in. The relationship between the two men, on and off screen, was a close one. In a 2021 interview with Vulture, Reddick – a notably private actor, who eschewed stardom and red carpets in favour of a quiet life at home – spoke warmly of their friendship. “Whenever I work with a big movie star for the first time, I keep my guard up to protect my work from an ego,” he said. “And if there’s any big movie star who’s not that person, it’s Keanu.” Reddick went on describe Reeves as “he’s also very shy… incredibly deep and insightful and thoughtful…a wonderful human being”.

Reeves occupies a near-unique place in the contemporary film industry. His films have made billions at the worldwide box office, he is an A-list celebrity by any definition of the term, and after decades in which he was ridiculed for his apparent lack of acting ability, the pendulum has so far swung back towards appreciation of him that the New York Times declared in 2020 that he was the fourth greatest actor of the 21st century, outranking the likes of Tilda Swinton, Joaquin Phoenix and Julianne Moore.

Its critic A.O Scott explored the enduring appeal of Reeves when he wrote: “Maybe you’re surprised to find Keanu Reeves so high on this list. But ask yourself: have you ever been disappointed when he showed up in a movie?” Scott also suggested that “there is not another movie star who exhibits so much range while remaining so irreducibly and inscrutably himself”. He neatly encapsulated how Reeves’s appeal has grown as he has aged, like a fine wine, by writing: “In middle age, he has risen to a new level of achievement, a zone where artlessness and self-consciousness converge. He’s one of our most credible action heroes, and also one of our most resourceful and inventive character actors. He has weathered beautifully, becoming at once sadder and more playful without losing the otherworldly innocence that was there from the start.”

This combination of sadness and playfulness is key to Reeves’ portrayal of the action heroes that he has taken on throughout his career, from the “young, dumb and full of c--” new FBI recruit in Kathryn Bigelow’s Point Break, the splendidly named Johnny Utah, to his playing none other than “The One” in the form of the Christ-like Neo in the Matrix films.

Not for him the macho excesses of his peers, either the Stallones or Schwarzeneggers of the Nineties or the Dwayne Johnsons or multiple actors named Chris of today. The reason why Reeves is such a sympathetic and engaging presence on screen – even as the monosyllabic, multitalented Wick – is because he eschews the glib delight that most action heroes appear to take in violence in favour of something altogether more soulful and measured. He may slay countless villains on screen, but there is still the same instinct in the actor that led him to turn down the lead role of Platoon: he doesn’t want to do violence, but if he is compelled to, then he will do it better than anybody else.

Action hero: Keanu Reeves as new FBI recruit Johnny Utah in Point Break (1991)
Action hero: Keanu Reeves as new FBI recruit Johnny Utah in Point Break (1991)

This ambiguity has been expressed in many of the public statements he’s made. He once commented that his favourite action film was Norman Jewison’s 1975 sci-fi picture Rollerball: “Violence, a game, and philosophy, social commentary. Fantastic!” Reeves also commented that he took on the role of Wick because “I liked his suffering. I liked his grief. And then on the other side of that I liked his will. I liked his violence”.

This seems a consistent feature in this otherwise gentle man’s life. When he was promoting his 2007 police drama Street Kings, he hinted – albeit via a translation from a German title, Berlinger Morgenpost – that he was drawn to the world of brutality, saying: “Guns can be sexy… to be confronted with a very, very powerful object filled me with enormous respect.” After all, who can forget the moment in the first Matrix film where Neo summons “Guns. Lots of guns”?

The actor’s directorial debut, the ultraviolent Man of Tai-Chi, in which he made one of his few appearances as a villain, saw him learn martial arts (which, ever self-deprecatingly, he referred to as “movie kung-fu… it's not martial arts practice, it's not dedicated”) and, in 2021, he created a comic book, BRZRKR, in which he described the pitch meeting thusly in an interview with Polygon: “I went to meet with [BOOM! Studios] and they were like, 'What’s going on?' I said I had this idea of a character, Berserker, that kind of punches through chests, rips arms off, etc. And they were like, 'Cool, we like that. Do you want to make a comic? Have you ever thought of doing a comic?' And I said, 'No.' And they said, 'Would you like to?' And I said, 'Yes, that would be neato.'

Keanu Reeves starred as Neo in The Matrix Reloaded (2003) - Jasin Boland/ Warner Bros. Pictures 2003
Keanu Reeves starred as Neo in The Matrix Reloaded (2003) - Jasin Boland/ Warner Bros. Pictures 2003

Yet Reeves’s continued “neato” popularity as an actor is reflected in the fascination that we hold for the offscreen performer and his enigmatic, contradictory character. He has always made the distinction between ‘acted’ violence and the real thing entirely clear,  and in private life he has a reputation as a calm, kind man whose generosity to strangers leads to reciprocal feelings of loyalty from them to him. Around a decade ago, a picture of Reeves eating a sandwich on a bench and looking contemplative became a meme, described as “Sad Keanu”. Such is the actor’s popularity that there was even a day, June 15, designated “Cheer up Keanu Day”. Reeves laughed off the interest that the photo elicited – “Man, I was eating a sandwich. I was thinking—I had some stuff going on. I was hungry” – but the idea of him as a thoughtful, solitary figure who might need cheering up now and again has persisted.

He pops up in British village pubs with surprising regularity, happily posing for pictures with starstruck admirers, and stories about his kindness and courtesy are legion, whether it’s donating large sums of money to children’s hospitals or leading fellow stranded airline passengers to a replacement bus while entertaining them with music from his phone. As the television producer Andrew Kimmel tweeted after observing the actor’s cheerful and friendly response to a young fan at an airport, “We need more Keanus.”

On the other end of the scale, Winona Ryder – who laughed off a particularly absurd rumour about her and Reeves being secretly married – had an especially unpleasant experience filming Francis Ford Coppola’s film Bram Stoker’s Dracula, when Coppola encouraged her co-stars to shout abuse at her in order to elicit the performance that he wished from her. Reeves, ever the gentleman, refused to do so. (Coppola later said that Ryder's account was "not how it happened".)

His own appearance as Jonathan Harker, complete with perhaps the strangest English accent ever heard on screen, may have been ridiculed, but sometimes courtesy and decency have a longer-lasting effect in a notoriously unkind industry.

While many of his most self-consciously eccentric fellow thespians have long since ended up mired in self-parody – the Cages and Depps of this world – Reeves has been unafraid to experiment and develop his craft, knowing that the box-office behemoths of Wick and (until recently) the Matrix franchise will ensure that he remains a bankable star. He has always excelled at comedy – think of Bill and Ted – and his interest in offbeat projects, from Gus van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho to his portrayal of a pre-enlightenment Buddha in Bertolucci’s Little Buddha, has been consistent throughout his career.

It is hard to think of many other A-listers who will appear in a small supporting role in an experimental Nicholas Winding Refn film, as Reeves did (The Neon Demon), or who will parody themselves mercilessly in the animated likes of The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run or Toy Story 4. Yet the actor is unafraid to take on new challenges with every role that he accepts. Some may be more successful than others, and he has a conspicuous lack of Academy Awards or Baftas, although plenty of MTV Movie Awards. Yet, given the ongoing curse of the Best Actor award, Reeves may consider that – rather like his Matrix character – he has dodged a maelstrom of bullets in this regard.

Keanu Reeves in John Wick: Chapter 4 - Murray Close/Lionsgate
Keanu Reeves in John Wick: Chapter 4 - Murray Close/Lionsgate

Next year, Reeves will be 60. Once, the idea of his continuing to slaughter assassins by the hundred as a sexagenarian would have seemed absurd, but Tom Cruise, who is now that age, has proved that advancing years are no bar to action heroics. It seems almost unthinkable that Reeves will retire his John Wick character as long as there is an appetite for him to continue to slay, in both senses. He once observed that he found “some loneliness, some tragedy” the key to playing the part; this is what makes both the role and its performer so fascinating.

And perhaps the key to understanding this contradictory, fascinating actor is to remember that he played Hamlet on stage in Canada in 1995. Although his performance was not universally popular, it won acclaim from the notoriously hard-to-please critic Roger Lewis. “He quite embodied the innocence, the splendid fury, the animal grace of the leaps and bounds, the emotional violence, that form the Prince of Denmark,” Lewis wrote. “He is one of the top three Hamlets I have seen, for a simple reason: he is Hamlet.”

A brooding, solitary man, much given to introspection, who eschews violence until it becomes absolutely necessary, and transcends space and time to become an icon in the process? It’s surely impossible to see the similarities. But one thing is for certain. Keanu Reeves, the one-time butt of every cineaste’s snobbish jokes, is having the last laugh, and he entirely deserves to.