Nobody moves like Keanu Reeves. Feet planted, arms up, his kind face set to a scowl — watching him move through a John Wick movie feels like watching a stationary object repel countless bullets, blades and knuckles. His control over movement and the tone that his performance sets for his films are what make a Keanu Reeves action film a Keanu Reeves action film.
With John Wick 4, Keanu has never been in more control. It’s an action performance for all time and a reminder that despite a slew of pop culture sneers, he was never a bad actor to begin with.
Released March 24, 2023, and directed by Chad Stahelski, “John Wick: Chapter 4” continues to pave the path of bloodshed left by the previous three films. Reeves returns as John Wick, the assassin who at this point in the series is wanted dead by nearly every assassin on the planet. He must grapple with the consequences of his actions and hopefully find some semblance of peace at the end of it all.
It’s been a few years since it was in vogue to call Reeves a bad actor. In part, his turn as John Wick has revived an already complex career which ranges from indie favorites like “My Own Private Idaho” to high-wire action films like “Speed.” Yet, to a large degree, much of the discussion around Reeves’ late-career work is focused less on his performances and more on his kindness on set and propensity to throw himself into films with intense stuntwork. We do him a disservice by ignoring what his performances bring to his films.
The emphasis in the general consciousness on what makes a performance good or bad is on line delivery, believability and emotionality. Reeves’s line delivery is very specific to him. Even when he says simple words like “yeah,” his inflection is very much his own. Yet, his distinct voice has been criticized as rigid and forced. These criticisms stem from audiences expecting a certain way of speaking to be “good” acting and other ways to be “bad.” But speaking on film is used to create a certain feeling for an audience and Reeves understands this better than almost any actor. He uses his voice to build gravitas: through and through he is keenly aware of his place within action filmmaking and how his way of speaking can ground his character within the film.
Beyond simple wordplay is the physicality of a performance and what that tells us about a character. How Reeves moves through John Wick is unreal, near transcendent acting. His stances and movements ground the audience in John’s perspective. As countless assassins descend around him and he works his way through the absurdist world created by Stahelski, Reeves’ physicality holds a thread between him and the audience. He throws us a lifeline with his movements so we’re never lost in the fury of violence.
Acting in the context of action filmmaking is often subconsciously brilliant. Reeves isn’t delivering pages of dialogue here, his character is quiet, with gritted teeth. A grieving warrior who can allow his emotional turmoil to bubble to the surface. That’s where true action star genius comes into play with John Wick. The trauma, the emotional catharsis, it’s all in Reeves’ performance even without the teary monologue. It’s in his slumped shoulders as he rests on a flight of stairs after a fight, it’s in each bloody fight and in each head nod to an unlikely ally.
At this point in his career, Keanu Reeves doesn’t need to be spoken for. The gravity that he brings to action films has been present for decades now. The John Wick films have gifted Reeves with a protagonist fine-tuned to precisely the style of acting that allows him to amp that gravity to new extremes. Watching John Wick 4 one can’t help but think they are watching one of America’s greatest modern action films. In large part, that feeling is owed to Keanu’s performance. His lone warrior cutting through the odds to reconcile his bloody past with the sliver of hope he lost because of it.
