10 Most Inventive Keanu Reeves Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked

Keanu Reeves is working on a new science fiction film that many believe could be his best since The Matrix. Called Shiver, the movie is reportedly a blend of Edge of Tomorrow and The Shallows, and will be directed by Tim Miller, known for his work on Deadpool.

The new movie, as you might expect from the description, features a time loop and follows a smuggler navigating the dangerous Caribbean, complete with sharks and plenty of corpses. This isn’t Keanu Reeves’ first venture into creative science fiction – he’s well-known for his roles in iconic sci-fi series, though not every film he’s been in has been a hit.

Replicas (2018)

Keanu Reeves appeared in the 2018 sci-fi thriller Replicas, a film that received largely negative reviews. He played William Foster, a scientist researching how to transfer a person’s mind into an android body after their death, as part of a project for his company.

The technology functions, but the soldier is horrified by it and dismantles the device, resulting in his own death. The film explores the familiar trope of a scientist attempting to control life and death. In this story, Dr. Foster loses his wife and children in a car accident and becomes obsessed with perfecting the technology to resurrect them, even if it means violating laws and ethical boundaries.

The movie presents a fascinating idea, reminiscent of stories like Frankenstein and films such as RoboCop. Unfortunately, it didn’t work because the script tried to portray a questionable scientist as the good guy and included action sequences that didn’t fit the sci-fi setting. Critics heavily disliked it, resulting in a very low 9% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Lake House (2006)

The Lake House was a curious film that mixed fantasy and science fiction in a way that wasn’t always clear. While the story clearly had fantastical elements – people communicating across time – the core idea could also be seen as science fiction. The movie never fully leaned into the sci-fi side of things, which made the plot a little confusing.

In the 2006 film, Sandra Bullock portrays a doctor who rents a lakeside house and leaves a letter for the next occupants. Keanu Reeves plays Alex, an architect who previously rented the same house two years before and found the letter. Despite never meeting, the two begin a correspondence by leaving notes in the mailbox.

The movie is a sweet romantic fantasy built around the idea of time travel, which is how the love story unfolds. However, the time travel aspects weren’t fully developed, making the reunion of the two leads, who previously starred in Speed, a little underwhelming.

Chain Reaction (1996)

Chain Reaction was a complex sci-fi action movie starring Keanu Reeves, released during his rise as a popular action hero in the 1990s. While the story aimed for intelligence and excitement, it ended up feeling convoluted and overly complicated. The plot revolves around a clean and powerful new energy source.

Early in his career, Keanu Reeves starred as Eddie Kasalivich, a machinist who accidentally found a way to create clean energy by separating hydrogen from water. When his colleagues tried to share this breakthrough with the world, the government intervened to stop them.

This sci-fi film features a government suppressing the development of clean energy technology – specifically, a device that generates power from water – because powerful corporations are profiting from existing energy sources. The movie’s scientific basis is weak and often illogical, and even the film’s star has admitted to being unhappy with the storyline.

The Bad Batch (2016)

Okay, let me tell you about The Bad Batch. It’s easily Keanu Reeves’ most under-the-radar sci-fi film, and something really different for him – he actually plays a truly awful person. I’m not talking about a typical villain; this character is just deeply unpleasant. The story centers around Suki Waterhouse, who plays a young woman essentially banished to the Texas desert, a dumping ground for people the government deems unwanted.

Honestly, it’s not really a space opera or anything, but this movie shows a really unsettling future America. It’s about a government that just wants to make problems vanish by getting rid of people they don’t want to deal with. As the main character fights to survive, she stumbles into this creepy cult led by a guy called ‘The Dream’ – Reeves plays him – and he’s basically collecting young women. It’s disturbing, to say the least.

It’s surprising to see Keanu Reeves play such an unlikeable character, and he really pulls it off as someone you love to hate. The film didn’t do well in theaters, but it found an audience on streaming services like Netflix and Prime Video. Critics were generally unimpressed, giving it a 45% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and noting that the story felt overly long and self-indulgent.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)

Keanu Reeves took the lead role in a 2008 remake of the science fiction film, The Day the Earth Stood Still. The original movie, directed by Robert Wise in 1951, caused a stir when an alien spaceship landed on Earth, and people eventually discovered the alien’s mission was to help, not harm, humanity. In the updated version, Reeves plays Klaatu, the alien visitor.

Just like in the first film, the military instantly shoots the alien, nearly causing the spaceship’s robots to attack. Fortunately, Klaatu stops them. Both movies share the same central idea: even incredibly advanced aliens can’t prevent humanity from destroying itself through its own violent tendencies.

While reviewers weren’t fans overall, the film’s ending still had a powerful emotional impact, depicting a world forced to rebuild after losing all technology. The main criticism, however, was that it didn’t live up to the quality of the original film, even with Keanu Reeves giving a strong performance as the alien.

Johnny Mnemonic (1995)

Despite being largely overlooked by critics when it first came out, Johnny Mnemonic – a sci-fi film starring Keanu Reeves – has gained a bit of a cult following thanks to its unique and forward-thinking story. The movie is a cyberpunk thriller where Reeves plays Johnny, a data courier navigating a bleak, futuristic world controlled by powerful companies and suffering from a technology-related epidemic.

Released in 1995, the film’s futuristic technology appears somewhat dated now. However, Keanu Reeves delivers a strong performance as the action hero, and the movie still offers some engaging sci-fi action sequences. It also features supporting performances from Takeshi Kitano, Ice-T, and Dina Meyer. Critics originally compared it unfairly to Reeves’ previous hit, Speed.

If you haven’t seen it, there’s a black-and-white version of Johnny Mnemonic that director Robert Longo felt better represented his initial idea for the movie. Though many critics considered it a somewhat cheesy sci-fi film, it’s still an enjoyable and unusual movie that’s likely to become a fan favorite over time.

The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

The original Matrix trilogy is widely considered a groundbreaking sci-fi series, but The Matrix Resurrections, released 18 years later, didn’t receive the same praise. This new film explores different themes than the original trilogy and can be seen as a reflection on those earlier movies.

Keanu Reeves returned as Thomas Anderson, a man with no recollection of his past as Neo, the hero who saved the world from machines in the original movies. Despite this, he had unknowingly based a video game on his own forgotten life, retaining some fragmented memories through the game itself.

This film explores the fascinating concept of fans shaping a creative work, sometimes even more than its original creators. While it didn’t do well in theaters or receive strong reviews after its release following the pandemic, it’s still a clever and fun movie that deserves more appreciation, especially from fans of the genre.

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure Franchise (1989-2020)

The Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure movies are often overlooked as science fiction, but they cleverly use sci-fi elements within primarily comedic stories. While the first film centers around time travel and bringing figures from the past to the present, the series as a whole is more focused on being a lighthearted comedy.

The second movie takes a fantastical turn, featuring Bill and Ted briefly dying and going to Heaven before being brought back to life. The third film revisits the time travel concept, but with an older Bill and Ted. A particularly brilliant choice was casting George Carlin as Rufus, the character who provides their time machine and helps them save the world.

The first film was also excellent, largely thanks to the fantastic chemistry between Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter. Their on-screen dynamic was seamless, and this movie really launched Keanu Reeves into stardom. It’s still considered one of his most memorable performances and a standout sci-fi comedy from the 80s.

A Scanner Darkly (2006)

Released in 2006, A Scanner Darkly is a unique sci-fi film starring Keanu Reeves, quite different from his other roles. Directed by Richard Linklater and adapted from a novel by Philip K. Dick, the movie is set in a troubled future where constant surveillance and a drug crisis are rampant. What makes it visually distinct is that it was filmed digitally and then animated using a special rotoscope technique.

Linklater filmed all the actors’ scenes live, and then used animation techniques to make the footage appear animated. The film features a star-studded cast, including Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, and Winona Ryder. Reeves portrays Bob Arctor, an undercover agent who eventually realizes the police are manipulating him.

This film, like many stories by Philip K. Dick, warns us about the dangers of unchecked power within law enforcement and how easily it can lead to corruption, even among colleagues. Despite a modest Rotten Tomatoes score of 68%, it remains a highly influential and groundbreaking animated sci-fi movie from the 2000s.

The Matrix Trilogy (1999-2003)

When people think of Keanu Reeves’ most groundbreaking films, The Matrix always comes to mind. Widely considered a science fiction classic, it truly revolutionized the genre in the early 2000s. While opinions differ on the sequels, the first Matrix movie remains a cinematic achievement.

The basic idea – computers controlling the world and using people as an energy source – wasn’t new. But the way the story unfolded was. The computers built a realistic simulation where people’s minds lived, completely oblivious to the fact that their reality wasn’t real – it was a virtual world, like the Matrix. However, one man named Neo suspected something wasn’t right.

The film The Matrix follows the classic ‘Chosen One’ narrative, and shares similarities with the story of Jesus Christ, with Neo acting as a savior figure who offers humanity a chance at renewed life. Its effects and filmmaking techniques – like the famous ‘bullet time’ – were revolutionary for their time, and it remains Keanu Reeves’ most groundbreaking film.

2025-11-06 21:54