Keanu Reeves is one of the most iconic actors in sci-fi, but how do his films from the genre rank from worst to best? A franchise fixture now involved in three trilogies, he's had a vast and varied career, from young, soulful heartthrob, to goofy, lovable lead, to one of the most bankable action stars working. However, sci-fi always seems to be where the actor is most comfortable.
In a career spanning more than 30 years and 50 movies, Keanu Reeves has been in a variety of genres, including everything from historical films, to romantic comedies, and even fantasy. While the actor has comfortably settled into the action genre with the John Wick franchise, science fiction remains a clear specialty of the actor — thanks largely to his career-defining stint as Neo in The Matrix.
Some of Keanu Reeves' best movies are sci-fi or action, which suggests that his talents are best suited for those genres. The success of the ever vengeful John Wick, in particular, thrust the actor back in the limelight in recent years, while the highly anticipated sequel The Matrix Resurrections, which debuted in theaters on December 22, 2021, has brought renewed attention to the Matrix franchise. With that in mind, here are Keanu's sci-fi films, ranked from worst to best.
13. Replicas (2018)
The 2018 film Replicas was all-around disappointing and is definitely not one of the go-to examples when people think of Keanu Reeves sci-fi movies. The sci-fi action thriller centers on William Foster, a neuroscientist who goes against professional bioethics in order to resurrect his family using his unproven research. Replicas is the kind of ambitious high-concept sci-fi thriller Reeves seems drawn to, but the end product simply doesn't deliver: ponderous, ridiculous, and unintentionally silly, it's an unbelievable story that fails to be griping or entertaining.
12. Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
Before The Matrix, there was Johnny Mnemonic, a 1995 cyber-punk Keanu Reeves-led thriller so bad that it's surprising that Lana and Lilly Wachowski (who directed The Matrix) still let him play Neo. The film is set in a futuristic society, and Reeves essentially plays a human flash drive, transporting sensitive content to the mega-corporations that control it. Johnny Mnemonic was directed by Robert Longo, and there are attempts at lofty critiques of technology's grasp over modern culture — but it all sputters and fails, thanks to its cheesy set design, lack of believable action, and tacky aesthetic.
11. Chain Reaction (1996)
Morgan Freeman and Rachel Weisz co-star in this 1996 thriller Chain Reaction where Keanu plays a rocket scientist on the run after being framed for murder. Although he turns in a solid performance, the surrounding film is a rote, formulaic carbon copy of Harrison Ford's 1993 hit The Fugitive — simply set against a sci-fi backdrop. Despite expanding the basic idea of The Fugitive into a government plot to suppress a new form of clean energy, Chain Reaction is more confusing than it is entertaining, with its convoluted plot undermining its thrilling action scenes.
10. The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008)
There's always been something alien about Keanu Reeves: through his four decades of work, there's been considerable debate about whether his acting style is extremely wooden or remarkably compelling. In this not-very-good remake of the 1950s sci-fi classic, The Day The Earth Stood Still, the answer is both. It's cool to see his striking looks put to such extra-terrestrial use, but other than that there's very little reason for this film to exist. Despite some impressive special effects, the 2008 remake fails to surpass the original, classic version, and those intrigued by the plot would be better served to watch that one instead, or even the hilariously bad mockbuster The Day The Earth Stopped.
9. The Animatrix (2003)
The Animatrix, released around the time of The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, presents a series of canon animated shorts that serve to expand the overall universe and storyline of the Matrix sci-fi movie franchise. Neo appears in one of the shorts, titled "Kid's Story," which focuses on a teenager that's essentially grown unhappy with life in a simulated reality, and yearns for Neo and Trinity to free him from his prison. Neo is voiced by Reeves, and while he doesn't get a ton to do, it's cool that Reeves took the time to maintain consistency for the Neo character by taking part in The Animatrix as well.
8. Bill & Ted Face The Music (2020)
Released during COVID times, this long-awaited follow-up to Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey was exactly the kind of warm "himbo" hug viewers needed. In the cold light of day, it's a bit less sturdy. Keanu and Alex Winter are marvelously keyed in as the aged best friends who now have to travel through time to steal the song that will save the world from their future selves. Bill & Ted Face The Music moves in fits and starts, and it's a tad over-cluttered with characters and plotting, but there's such goofy goodwill for these guys that it's hard to resist. Nearly 20 years after Bogus Journey, these character's hearts are still in the right place, and their reminder to "be excellent to each other" rings as true as ever.
7. The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
There exists an ever-growing crew of defenders for The Matrix Revolutions, the finale to the original Matrix trilogy, and it's impossible to deny the ambition of the Wachowskis' vision. That said, this is a sequel that too often eschews the franchise's innovation and imagination for ponderous mythologizing and an endless barrage of CGI. Keanu's Neo is shockingly blinded halfway through the film, and although he reaches a solid conclusion by the film's end, he's constantly battling for screen time in a movie more preoccupied with an interminably long battle between mech-suit warriors and the Matrix's multi-tentacled Sentinels.
6. The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
After nearly 20 years, 2021 finally saw a return to the world of The Matrix, this time via The Matrix Resurrections sequel. Directed by co-creator Lana Wachowski, The Matrix Resurrections is a very cerebral, meta, and introspective science fiction movie, but at the same time, those looking to watch Neo and Trinity do crazy stunts while beating up bad guys won't find much of that here. The general consensus seems to be that The Matrix Resurrections is easily better than Matrix Revolutions, but a bit shy of topping the best moments of The Matrix Reloaded. Either way, Reeves slips the Neo role back on like a glove he never took off, and before that serves as the audience's guide through a surreal journey of discovery through the mind.
5. The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
The Wachowskis' ambitious sequel The Matrix Reloaded has one foot in the rip-roaring entertainment of the original and another in the ponderous mythologizing of the second. It's a mixed bag, its first and second acts largely comprised of statically-shot dialogue scenes that read less as character exchanges and more as instruction manuals for future analysis. These long exposition dumps stand opposed to what are some actually pretty thrilling action scenes, some that rival the original movie. There are, of course, plenty of high points: a rave-style orgy, a Keanu-centric matrial arts sequence that dovetails into an electric freeway chase, and an eleventh-hour visit with The Architect. It's this last scene that, for better or worse, changes the game of the series, inspiring interpretation and analysis to this day.
4. Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)
There's a school of thinking that the 1991 sequel Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey is a marked step down after the highs of the original, but true Bill & Ted fans know that's not the case. While Bill & Ted 3 follows much of the same blueprint as the previous Bill & Ted movie Excellent Adventure, Bogus Journey refreshingly paves its own road, sending an evil dictator from the future to kill Bill and Ted and replace them with robots. This comes to a head 20 minutes into the film when the heroes are thrown off a cliff and spend the rest of the run time trying to escape the afterlife in an Ingmar Bergman-esque purgatory. The results — including a literal trip to a Hell that's quite unlike what metal music promised — are shockingly ambitious for a comedy, with a gonzo film-literate sensibility and a scene-stealing performance from William Sadler as the Grim Reaper.
3. A Scanner Darkly (2006)
Richard Linklater has long been one of America's most interesting and unique filmmakers, but A Scanner Darkly ranks as one of his most underrated efforts. A paranoia-ridden adaptation of the Philip K. Dick novel about a futuristic society where a narcotics cop goes undercover and becomes an addict, the film utilizes a rotoscoped animation technique that gives it the feeling of a lucid dream. This distinctive look also nicely complements Keanu's often-cartoony acting style, and his detached blankness adds just the right unsettling quality to the film's portrayal of police state surveillance.
2. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
Not enough ink has been spilled on the fact that Keanu's two most career-defining franchises have been polar opposite riffs on the sci-fi genre where he has played a Chosen One figure. Beneath this film's gleeful romp through history is a sci-fi parable about the Saviors of Mankind who will bring peace to the universe through their Wyld Stallyns musical endeavors. Of course, in the hands of lovable doofuses Bill S. Preston and Theodore Logan, it's also a warm and kind-spirited reminder for decency in an oppressive modern world. Keanu Reeves (and his partner in crime Alex Winter) is so good here it took him years to convince people he was capable of more than just playing a California bozo. These empty-headed, metal-loving sweeties launched two Bill & Ted sequels, cementing them as one of cinema's most iconic duos — but their debut film will always be, to put it bluntly, excellent, even if it's not the best example of Keanu Reeves sci-fi.
1. The Matrix (1999)
Even those who somehow haven't seen The Matrix can conjure the image of Keanu Reeves as Neo. Simply put, the Wachowskis' undeniable masterpiece is one of the most groundbreaking, audacious, influential, and iconic pieces of cinema of the last 30 years. It's a stellar melding of dystopian science-fiction, film noir, and martial arts action films. Will Smith was originally considered for the lead, but it's impossible to imagine anyone else in the shades and black trenchcoat of Neo but Keanu. His blend of androgynous beauty and distant impenetrability fits like a glove on the hero chosen to save the world. This actor has given audiences a full career of hits and misses, action heroes, and lovable goofballs, but his performance as Neo ranks as one of sci-fi's most instantly iconic, and with The Matrix itself being one of the best Keanu Reeves movies.