If Keanu Reeves isn’t the greatest action hero of the modern era, then he’s pretty damn close. The 1980s had been dominated by musclebound meatheads like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme and the rest, but Die Hard signaled a paradigm shift.
Bruce Willis’ John McClane proved that audiences were just as invested, if not even more so, in a character they could relate to. Eventually, biceps and brawn were replaced by smarts and quick-thinking as the action genre’s prime sensibilities, and few stars have proven their worth as regularly as Reeves.
Point Break, Speed, The Matrix and John Wick could comfortably be named a quartet of the most exhilarating actioners of the last 30 years, and the latter two both have fourth installments in the works. The Matrix: Resurrections is coming to theaters and HBO Max in December, but we have to wait until May 2022 for the return of Reeves’ sharp-suited assassin.
That hasn’t stopped his most recent outing from finding new life on Netflix, though, with Chapter 3: Parabellum currently riding high on the Netflix most-watched list, where it occupies a space on the Top 25. Audiences will never grow tired of Keanu kicking ass, and the good news is that he’ll play John Wick for as long as he’s wanted.
