Keanu Reeves has a new sci-fi movie in the works, and it sounds like it could be his best in the genre since The Matrix. The new sci-fi movie is called Shiver, and reports indicate it is similar to Tom Cruise’s Edge of Tomorrow and the shark movie The Shallows. Deadpool’s Tim Miller is set to direct the film.
As the description indicates, the new film is a time loop movie about a smuggler in the Caribbean Sea, surrounded by dead bodies and sharks. This is not Reeves’ first innovative sci-fi film. Reeves appeared in two groundbreaking sci-fi franchises, though he has also starred in some disappointments over the years.
Replicas (2018)
In 2018, Keanu Reeves starred in the sci-fi thriller Replicas, which turned out to be one of the worst-reviewed movies of his career. In this film, Reeves plays William Foster, a biomedical research scientist working for a company that attempts to transfer the mind of a dead soldier into an android body.
It works, but the soldier recoils in horror and destroys its body, dying again. The movie is a look at the classical mad scientist theme of a man trying to play God. In this case, Foster’s wife and three children die in a car crash, so he wants to master the technique so he can bring his family back to life, breaking the law and bioethics.
It is an interesting concept, almost like the Frankenstein story mixed with ideas from films like RoboCop. However, the entire movie failed because the script attempted to make the unethical scientist the hero and added action scenes that felt out of place in this sci-fi genre. Critics savaged the film, giving it a 9% Rotten Tomatoes score.
The Lake House (2006)
The Lake House was an interesting movie because it blurred the lines between fantasy and sci-fi. The fantasy aspects were clear, with two people from different time periods communicating with each other. However, this entire concept is sci-fi, even though it never really embraces those elements, making it a confusing tale.
In 2006, Sandra Bullock played a physician who left a lake house she rented and left a note in the mailbox for the next tenants. Keanu Reeves plays Alex, an architect who moved into the lake house two years earlier and received the note in the mailbox. The two people share notes in the mailbox, despite living there two years apart.
The movie’s entire theme is a romantic fantasy, but it is clear that the sharing of notes involves time travel, and that is what carries the romance. Sadly, the movie, as sweet as it is, couldn’t seem to pay off its time-travel elements, and it was a slightly disappointing reunion for the two former Speed stars.
Chain Reaction (1996)
Chain Reaction was a complicated sci-fi action thriller that Keanu Reeves starred in during his run in the 1990s as Hollywood’s newest action star. However, the entire story played with themes that should have been intelligent and captivating, but were mostly confusing and overwrought. It centers on a non-contaminating power source.
Still earlier in his career, Keanu Reeves plays a student machinist named Eddie Kasalivich. While working on a project, he discovered a way to stabilize a method to convert hydrogen from water into clean energy. When his associates try to upload the discovery to the world, the U.S. government sends in a team to prevent this.
This is a generic sci-fi movie about a government that wants to stop progress because it’s in the pockets of companies that make millions off the public, and something that could create clean energy from water would hurt profits. Most of the plot here is junk science and makes no sense, and even Reeves has expressed disappointment in the story.
The Bad Batch (2016)
The Bad Batch is not only Keanu Reeves’ most obscure sci-fi movie, but it is also one of the rare cases where he plays a bad guy. In this movie, he isn’t just a bad guy. His character is a disgusting human being in general. Suki Waterhouse stars as a young woman who is exiled to the desert in Texas, where the government sends the “undesirables.”
There isn’t much “sci-fi” about the story, but it is a dystopian film that paints a picture of a United States where the government tries to make “undesirables” disappear so they don’t have to deal with them. While trying to survive, she encounters a cult run by a charismatic man known as The Dream (Reeves), who collects young women for his harem.
It is weird seeing Reeves playing a lowlife like this, and he is easy to hate in this despicable role. While it made no dent at the box office, it did well on Netflix and Prime Video. It received a lukewarm critical reception, scoring 45% on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics mostly complaining about its overindulgent storytelling.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)
In 2008, Keanu Reeves starred in the remake of the classic sci-fi alien movie The Day the Earth Stood Still. The original film, directed by Robert Wise in 1951, had America panicking when an alien spacecraft arrived and, too late, realized the alien was there to save the world. In the remake, Reeves plays the alien, Klaatu.
As in the original movie, the military immediately shoots the alien, which almost triggers an imminent attack from the ship’s robotic defense systems before Klaatu shuts them down. The themes from both movies remain the same. This is a sci-fi story about how even hyper-intelligent alien races can’t save humanity from its own impulses and violence.
Critics were not impressed, though the movie’s ending delivered the same gut punch to humanity, leaving the planet without tech so the people of Earth had to learn to survive on their own again. Of course, the biggest complaint is that it never came close to matching the brilliance of Robert Wise’s movie, despite Reeves’ solid alien performance.
Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
Johnny Mnemonic is a Keanu Reeves sci-fi movie that critics mostly dismissed, but it has an interesting and innovative storyline that makes it a slight cult classic. This is a cyberpunk movie starring Reeves as Johnny, a data courier in a dystopian future ravaged by a tech-induced plague and run by mega-corporations.
Since this was 1995, much of the film’s computer-sci-fi world looks a little ridiculous today. However, it still features a solid Reeves action-hero performance and some interesting sci-fi action beats, with Takeshi Kitano, Ice-T, and Dina Meyer in supporting roles. Reviews at the time unfairly judged it against Speed, Reeves’ previous movie.
For anyone who has not seen the film, there is also a black-and-white version of Johnny Mnemonic that director Robert Longo said was closer to his original vision than the theatrical release. While most critics found it lowbrow sci-fi, it remains a fun and eccentric film destined to become a cult classic.
The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
After the original Matrix trilogy was considered one of the most innovative sci-fi movie franchises of all time, not as much love was given to The Matrix Resurrections, which came out 18 years after the trilogy ended. This remains a separate entity, as it took things in a different direction from the trilogy and tried to work as an examination of the originals.
Keanu Reeves was back as Thomas Anderson, and he had no memory of his life and battles as Neo, the Chosen One who saved the world from the computer takeover in the original trilogy. However, he did have some memories, as he created a video game based on his former life, although he didn’t know he had lived it.
This was an interesting film that spoke to the idea of fans taking ownership of a property from its creators. Released after the pandemic, it flopped at the box office and received lukewarm reviews, but it remains an innovative and enjoyable film. It definitely deserves a better reputation among genre fans than it currently has.
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure Franchise (1989-2020)
One movie franchise that doesn’t get enough credit for its sci-fi is Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. That is because, at its heart, the three movies are almost slacker comedies above all, using sci-fi to move the story forward and deliver the jokes. The first movie is all about time travel and bringing historical figures to the present day.
The second film is more of a fantasy, with Bill and Ted dying and going to Heaven before being allowed to return. The third brings back the time-travel elements for an older Bill and Ted. That said, the idea of casting George Carlin as Rufus, the man who brings the time machine to help Bill and Ted save the world, was genius.
The first was also a perfect movie, with the chemistry between Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter as a big reason. The two played off each other perfectly, and this was the movie that made Keanu Reeves a star. It remains one of his most iconic roles and is among the best sci-fi comedies of the 1980s.
A Scanner Darkly (2006)
Released in 2006, A Scanner Darkly is a Keanu Reeves sci-fi movie that is unlike anything he has ever starred in. Directed by Richard Linklater and based on a novel by Philip K. Dick, this film takes place in a dystopian future that is constantly under police surveillance during a drug epidemic. It is also shot digitally and animated using an interpolated rotoscope.
That meant Linklater shot all the actors’ scenes, then went in and animated the footage to make them look animated. In addition to Keanu Reeves, the cast included Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, and Winona Ryder. Reeves plays Bob Arctor, an undercover agent who learns too late that the police are using him.
Like all Dick stories, this is a cautionary tale about what happens when law enforcement agencies gain too much power and how they can even turn on their own to achieve their goals. While it has only a 68% Rotten Tomatoes score, its legacy is immense, and it is considered one of the most innovative sci-fi animated films of the 2000s.
The Matrix Trilogy (1999-2003)
In Keanu Reeves’ career, there is one sci-fi franchise that tops everyone’s list of his most innovative movies. The Matrix is not only considered one of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made, but it was also one that changed the entire sci-fi industry in the 2000s. Critics are divided on the second and third Matrix films, but the original is still a masterpiece.
The story wasn’t entirely original. Computers have taken over the world and are using humans as batteries. However, what happened next was. The computers created a simulated world in which human consciousness lived, unaware that it wasn’t the real world; it was the Matrix. However, one man, Neo, knew something was wrong.
The Matrix was a Chosen One story, and in some ways, it was also a Messiah storyline, with Neo as this world’s version of Jesus Christ, saving the humans, and allowing them to live again. Everything from the world inside the Matrix to the bullet time filming was groundbreaking, and this is easily the most innovative movie of Keanu Reeves’ career.
