Keanu Reeves utilizes very different martial arts disciplines in The Matrix and John Wick movies, but what led to the transition? Reeves underwent extensive martial arts training to prepare him for his respective portrayals of the messianic hero Neo and highly skilled assassin John Wick, with his athleticism and training commitment being consistently praised by those who have worked with him. Neo and John Wick also called upon Reeves' to partake in distinct training regimens for each character.
For The Matrix, Reeves trained for months with legendary fight choreographer Yuen Woo-ping, also with much guidance from stunt man Tiger Chen, both of whom Reeves later collaborated with in his directorial debut Man of Tai Chi. While Neo may have had every martial art in the world downloaded into his brain, such all-encompassing knowledge would be far too much to ask of any actor, so as Neo, Reeves primarily utilizes punching and kicking techniques. Fast-forward to John Wick, and Reeves' training and on-screen fighting style had a much greater emphasis on throwing and grappling techniques. The reason for this lies in the production of John Wick itself.
In an interview with Scott Adkins on his YouTube series The Art of Action, John Wick director Chad Stahelski explained that Reeves had not done an action-heavy role in some time, so his training for the character was tailored with this in mind. Stahelski also cited the lack of a second unit and the fact that "we just didn't have f--king time" on the first John Wick, which made longer takes an actual necessity. With these parameters in mind, Stahelski explained that "We told Keanu, 'We're going get you in shape. We don't want to risk punching and kicking, because it's going to take you a year to get your splits back'", and specifically geared John's fighting style towards grappling "so no matter what angle we're at, it's going to be a sell", with Reeves then committing to fifteen weeks of training for the film.
Stahelski, having also been Reeves' own stuntman in the original Matrix trilogy, also emphasized the importance of training and rehearsal time as paramount, so that actors such as Reeves "can have the memory, so he can have the skill set." The very stuntmen Reeves trained with also returned for John Wick, enabling everyone involved to be completely familiar with the flow of John Wick's fight scenes.
Part of what made John Wick such a surprise hit in 2014 was the unique fighting style Reeves employed in role, blending grappling, throwing, and gun-fu in a way that had genuinely not been seen before in a Western action film. Reeves' diligence in training for both a superhuman protagonist like Neo and a darker one in John Wick is also clearly on-screen in both series, and both also presented their own specific style of action that audiences around the world thrilled to. As Neo, Reeves battles the Agents of The Matrix with fluid punches and kicks, and for John Wick, hip throws, chokes, and restraints are his calling cards, and in each, Reeves showed his strong dedication to the art of cinematic action.
