Ah, Keanu. He’s the man many of us came to know and love from such early films as Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989), Point Break (1991 – that’s not a typo, it really did come out in 1991, and is now streaming ), My Own Private Idaho (1991) or Speed (1994). There is something about him that inspires a unique kind of admiration. Just what is it about Keanu that makes us go straight to first-name basis?
Documentary Keanu Reeves: Pop Messiah is an unabashedly loving stroll through his career, and is made up entirely of footage that already exists. It’s an exquisite montage of scenes from his many and varied films, and of Keanu behind the scenes of those films, as well as snippets of him at premieres around the world, on talk-shows and podcasts, and in more serious interviews.
Keanu Reeves with River Phoenix in ‘My Own Private Idaho’. Source: New Line Cinema
For the most part, it’s Reeves speaking for himself. But we also hear smatterings of feedback from harsh critics, as well as his peers and why they adore him. (Refreshingly, the documentary completely avoids being gushy.)
From an idea from the late , to whom the film is dedicated, director Julien Dupuy (Stephen King: the necessary evil) and his team have meticulously woven a rich tapestry that tells a coherent story while celebrating the full-colour career of Beirut-born, Toronto-raised hockey-mad Keanu Reeves.
Keanu Reeves as Jack Traven in 1994’s ‘Speed’. Source: Hoyts/Fox/Columbia TriStar Films
In an attempt to define the indefinable, we reach for words to pin down just what makes someone that special something. When thinking of Keanu, those that come to mind include: sincere, private, passionate, deep thinker, loyal, adventurous, considered, playful, melancholy. Upon watching Keanu Reeves: Pop Messiah, it also becomes clear just how consciously Keanu lives his life, how he actively seeks moments of reflection and joy. He revels in his life.
As he told his fellow actor on The Drew Barrymore Show in 2021, “I’m really grateful to be able to earn a living and have a career… in something that I love, and then a simple thing – just to have fun”. That appreciation, that consciousness, just deepen his substance, somehow set him apart.
Keanu Reeves makes time for his adoring fans. Source: Yuzu Productions for ARTE
Early on, his career hit the big time. Only a few years after he arrived in Hollywood as an already dedicated 20-year-old, he landed the role of goofy Ted alongside Alex Winter’s Bill. Then, Point Break came along. It was his first action role. Director Kathryn Bigelow was “fixated” on making Keanu an action star. The risk was huge at the time, as “people didn’t really know who he was”. Bigelow fought for him. Over scenes from the movie, we hear Keanu say, “Thank you again, Kathryn, cos that [role] changed my life”.
Speed followed. As producer Mark Gordon says, “I think what’s nice about Keanu is that he is not the kind of character we’re used to seeing in these kinds of movies.” Then, Keanu says he “got sick of running”, and changed gears to appear in a host of independent films, then alongside Hollywood legend Al Pacino in 1997’s The Devil’s Advocate.
Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah in ‘Point Break’. Source: Largo Entertainment/20th Century Fox
Keanu has always seemed to take himself willingly into the unknown, a scary yet powerful act. When he turned down the eye-watering pay check for Speed 2, what unfolded for him was a little “kung fu science fiction picture” known as The Matrix, and we all know how that turned out.
We’re witness to how hard he pushes himself to train, learn new skills, heal himself to keep training when his body lets him down. And how, in the face of sometimes very harsh criticism, he stays true to himself, and hang the consequences.
Keanu has played in almost every genre there is: action, of course (most recently in the John Wick movies, Chapter 4 of which is coming out in March), horror (Dracula), period (Dangerous Liaisons), animation (A Scanner Darkly, now streaming ), romance (The Lake House), rom-com (in the deliciously unHollywood Destination Wedding with Winona Ryder, also ), independent (Sweet November) and supernatural thriller (Constantine, for a limited time) to list a mere few.
Some of the many books inspired by the adored actor. Source: Yuzu Productions for ARTE
Although it’s focused squarely on his career, it’s inevitable that the documentary reveals the “mysterious” man behind the actor, and what shows up is a beautiful image of a well-rounded top-shelf human, with many passions besides acting. True to his Canadian roots, Keanu adores and as a youngster played ice hockey. In one interview, he likens sports and acting. In both, “you have to be there in the moment… you do all this preparation and then they say ‘Action!’”
The doco also covers the “documentary about the science, art and impact of digital cinema”, Side By Side, which he produced and in which he interviews major directors about the evolution of filmmaking, and his directorial debut in 2013’s Man of Tai Chi, in which he also stars. We hear Sandra Bullock swoon over him during an Ellen interview, and Knock Knock co-star Ana de Armas share that “his humility make[s] you feel comfortable all the time”.
Keanu Reeves as Donaka in ‘Man of Tai Chi’, which he also directed. Source: Tai Chi Man/Village Roadshow Ltd/Beijing Film Production Co. of China Film/Wanda Media Co.
In the very few mentions of his private life (other than clarifying that he doesn’t like to talk about his private life), he credits his English mother for his “good manners” and says he last saw his father at the age of 13. The 2001 death of his partner Jennifer Syme not long after they buried their stillborn daughter is never mentioned. But when Stephen Colbert asks him what he thinks happens when we die, Keanu takes his time to exhale, then replies, “I know that the ones who love us will miss us.” With this simple and poignant sentence, he eloquently exposes the inanity of celebrity and brings us all back to what really matters.
Keanu Reeves: Pop Messiah opens with Keanu being shot in all manner of ways, not only with every kind of weapon imaginable, but also with a flotilla of flashing cameras while he makes his way down a red carpet or onto a stage alone, or to greet masses of adoring fans.
Keanu Reeves in ‘John Wick: Chapter 2’. Source: © Summit Entertainment/Ambi Distribution
It ends with him exiting various doors that open onto all manner of environments: creepily lit hallways, underground tunnels, outer space. It’s an apt wrap-up: the man we adore keeps on keeping on.
We love him for all his creative expressions, be it or , or acting, and for the way he’s managed to keep true to himself amid the kind of deafening clamour that it’s hard to fathom dealing with in real life. Just when you thought you couldn’t love him more.
Keanu Reeves: Pop Messiah premiered on SBS VICELAND on Saturday 18 February. It's now streaming at SBS On Demand:
