by Matt McCafferty, Staff Writer

With the upcoming release of John Wick: Chapter 4, you are bound to see a handful of these Keanu-related lists popping up on different outlets for the next week or so. This list is pretty straight forward enough. Keanu’s 5 best action movies…according to me. Skimming through his IMDb listings, it looks like there are close to 20 or so action films to choose from. While there are some busts mixed in there for sure, the top of the list is pretty incredible. It’s the kind of career that would make any actor jealous. I would probably pit him up against Tom Cruise as the biggest action movie star of the last thirty years or so. I guess that’s an exercise as subjective as creating this list, but it’s something that will be on my mind as they each release another film this year from their respective franchises. 

5. John Wick (dir. Chad Stahelski, 2014) 

The main takeaway here: Don’t mess with John Wick’s dog! When a Russian mobster kills his dog and steals his car, John Wick, an ex-hit-man comes out of retirement to seek vengeance. It’s the movie that kicked off another hit franchise for Reeves. And it’s again another reminder of the unique presence that he has whenever he’s on screen. A calmness and coolness that you can’t teach. Reeves puts his martial arts training to good use here with some incredible hand-to-hand combat sequences. Until my rewatch for this list, I forgot how funny this movie is at times. All of the phone calls with the “oh” responses seem to work even better now that I’ve seen John Wick in action for three films. 

4. Point Break (1991, dir. Kathryn Bigelow)

This is a movie I saw countless times as a kid. My dad still quotes it pretty regularly today. Reeves plays undercover FBI Agent, Johnny Utah, who befriends a group of bank robbing-surfers, led by Bodhi (Patrick Swayze). The bromance between Utah and Bodhi is what drives the stakes of the film. But as far as action movies go, it’s one of the best of the 90s. There’s a particular foot chase scene after a bank robbery that is a standout sequence. Bigelow lets it play out much longer than you might expect, keeping the camera right up on the action as Utah and Bodhi crash through windows and run through narrow alleyways. Sure, Hot Fuzz had a good time spoofing it, but it’s also a nod to how effective the scene actually was. 

3. The Matrix (1999, dir. Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski)

Most lists involving Keanu Reeves will have this one at the top. That’s totally understandable. No other action movie that came out in 1999 or before then looks anything like this. It also holds up extremely well. This is where these lists get a little tricky when saying something is the “best.” No matter how you construct them, it always boils down to the personal preference of the person/people creating them. The Matrix is undoubtedly a great movie that I like a lot. And as important as it is to the action genre, it just falls short of the two movies ahead of it for me on the adrenaline-pumping scale. I guess that says a lot about the kind of movies Keanu has been involved with over his career. 

2. John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017, dir. Chad Stahelski)

Rules…without them, we live with the animals. John Wick: Chapter 2 is so much more than the vengeance flick that is its predecessor. Instead of focusing on revenge as the primary theme, the film focuses more so on world-building. All of it centered on a strict set of rules this secretive world of assassins must abide by. Keanu makes every action sequence look utterly effortless. He flows through the hand-to-hand combat scenes as eloquently as a trained dancer going through a routine. It’s a beautiful thing to witness. Not something you might expect to think while watching violence of this nature. But that’s just how good he is here.

1, Speed (1994, dir. Jan de Bont)

I’m not sure Reeves can make anything that will ever over take this number one spot for me as far as action movies go. I wrote about my love for Speed a couple years ago when we did our 25 favorite blockbusters (it came in at #6). I can’t help but get nostalgic for it. But honestly, it has to be up there with the best action movies of all time. It’s the kind of movie that rarely takes a breather for more than a moment or two. And as far as Reeves goes, he has a steady presence here that lets the movie do its thing around him. He’s as cool and calm as he always is, knowing just when it's time to ratchet up his energy. He also has enough chemistry with Bullock to make their mini-romantic side story fairly intriguing. You also get an unhinged Dennis Hopper. What’s not to love?