Hollywood star Keanu Reeves choked up and had to take a moment when asked about his fondest memory of The Matrix on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The epic sci-fi film is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and Reeves, who played Neo in all four Matrix movies, feels “it’s the best”.
The Matrix isn’t the only Keanu Reeves film that is celebrating a double digit anniversary though. While Reeves shared his fondest memories of these films on the show, we compiled a list of our favourite scenes from them.
BILL AND TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURES (1989)
Celebrating 35 years, this excellent movie about two suburban slacker dudes who jump into a phone booth time machine to pass their high school history exam is still as zany today as it was then.
Reeves’s fondest memory: “Friendship and acting with Alex Winter (the Bill to his Ted).”
Our favourite moment: There are so many, from the boys teaching So-crates the three magic words “dust, wind, dude” to Napoleon cavorting in a water park aptly named Waterloo. But our favourite has to be the chaotic mall scene where Genghis Khan beheads a mannequin with a baseball bat, Abe Lincoln narrowly escapes having his beard pulled, Joan of Arc leads an aerobics class and, last but not least, Beethoven stealing the show with his piano solo.
POINT BREAK (1991)
Thirty three years and the original Point Break, starring Reeves as Johnny Utah and Patrick Swayze as Bodhi, still remains one of the best action movies of our time. High-adrenaline action sequences are in no short supply in this Katheryn Bigelow film.
Reeves’s fondest memory: “The genius of Katheryn Bigelow and the beauty and professional awesome, Patrick Swayze.”
Our favourite moment: Again, this is hard to choose. Should we go for Bodhi’s last surf or the sequence where Johnny chases Bodhi in a reagan mask? Or should we just choose Bodhi and Johnny sitting on the beach and shooting the breeze and talking about Mother Earth? Nah, there is one clear winner. Johnny skydiving without a parachute, gun in hand and latching onto an already airborne Bodhi. Phew!
SPEED (1994)
Is there anyone who has watched Speed and not fallen in love and/or lust with Reeves as LA copper Jack Traven? Tight, straightforward with edge-of-your-seat thrill, we wish they made more action movies like that today.
Reeves’s fondest memory: “Sandra Bullock and Jan de Bont, the director, saying ‘Give me the f---ing camera!’”
Our favourite moment: Each moment of this film was thrilling but nothing had us hanging on the edge of our seats like the time Jack goes under the moving bus. Man o man were there gasps in the movie hall!
THE MATRIX (1999)
Reeves said The Matrix changed his life; well, it changed movie making too. The Wachowskis came along and blew our collective minds. The concepts, the visual style, the themes, the music used in the film are still being referenced 25 years later.
Reeves’s fondest memory: “The Matrix changed my life. And then, over these years, it’s changed so many other peoples’ lives in really positive and great ways. As an artist, you hope for that when you get to do a film or tell a story. And so, when you say these years and the amount of people I’ve met who have said to me and been touched by The Matrix in such a positive way, it’s the best.”
Our favourite moment: You cannot simply ask one to choose one favourite moment from The Matrix. Let’s say that Neo’s ‘bullet time’ moves, the subway fight, the red pill blue pill sequence and the final showdown are just a few of the favourites in a very, very long list.
JOHN WICK (2014)
It is hard to imagine that John Wick has already turned 10. It seems that we’d met Baba Yaga just yesterday when he set out to get back his car and avenge his dog and unleashed all kinds of hell. What set John Wick apart is not just world building but also the action sequences themselves that are beautifully choreographed.
Our favourite moment: The action in the later chapters may have gone bigger and bolder but two action sequences, among many, from the first film that left us slack-jawed has to be the home invasion sequence, the first full fight sequence in John Wick, when you realise that the “boogeyman” does mean business, and, of course, the Red Circle Club scene where Reeves chases Alfie Allen from the baths below the club through neon-lit dance floors full of writhing bodies.
