The other day, September 2 of this year, was Keanu Reeves' 55th birthday.
There are too many people who tell too many stories about Keanu Reeves: giving up seats, sending motorcycles, sending hamburgers, spirited, blessed, miserable...
As soon as you type the keyword into the search box: Keanu Reeves, you will jump out of all kinds of stories about him.
It seems that he is the world, and he is the vicissitudes of the world. He is a moral model, he is a bowl of mellow chicken soup.
Whether these stories are true or false is aside. But there's no doubt about it, and that's that Keanu Reeves is a good actor.
With The Matrix actor Neo, Keanu Reeves was once Hollywood's most talked about actor.
But it is very puzzling that from the end of the "Matrix" series in 2003 to the popularity of "Fast And Furious" in 2014 among a small number of action movie fans, during this period, he rarely launched a work called a masterpiece.
Keanu Reeves was silent for more than a decade.
For that decade, few people now mention it again. But for Keanu Reeves, it was not good. The starring film failed at the box office, word of mouth hit the street, and at one point, he couldn't even take a job from a Hollywood blockbuster studio.
"It sucks, but it's just the way it is," he said.
So, what happened in that decade?
On November 5, 2003, The Matrix 3: The Matrix Revolution was released.
It grossed $48 million in its premiere week, number one on the box office charts, but that number was only half that of The Matrix 2: Reloaded.
Subsequently, "The Matrix 3" only grossed a total of $130 million in North America, far below expectations.
A month later, "Love is a Compromise" starring Keanu Reeves was released. The film's central protagonists are Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton. Diane Keaton also received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for the film.
"Love is a Compromise" performed well in the awards season, except for Diane Keaton's Oscar nominations, she and Jack Sr. won various nominations for best actor and actress in the awards season.
Not much attention remained on Keanu Reeves, though. The handsome doctor Julian he plays is a typical vase character in the film, and the male protagonist is a love enemy.
At that time, Hollywood paid attention to seniority, and It was reasonable for Reevesgan to make green leaves.
In 2004, Reeves had a bye.
In 2005, Reeves appeared in 3 films, starring in Constantine and playing supporting actors in The Thumbs up and Elle Parker.
Let's start with Constantine.
Constantine is a comic book adaptation of DC's comic strip. Reeves' protagonist, Constantine, has magical attributes and investigates mysterious cases and paranormal phenomena.
In fact, it is to slay demons and exorcise demons.
For now, this "Constantine" is still highly expected by Warner and DC.
A budget of $100 million (this film is an R-rated film, and $100 million in production costs is already very high), and! DC followed Constantine with Nolan's Batman: The Mystery of the Shadow, V-Vendetta, and Superman Returns.
It is conceivable that DC at that time actually wanted Keanu Reeves, who was still at the peak of popularity, to start the first cannon of a series of comic films after him with "Constantine".
Compared with the current superHero movies, "Constantine" is very special, dark and gloomy, and a little neurotic. Keanu Reeves' image in the film is also handsome.
However, Constantine failed miserably at the box office.
With a budget of $100 million, the North American box office received only $75 million. Huge loss. Even the face on the books could not be saved.
The other two, "The Thumb Sucker" and "Ellie Parker," are small-budget independent films.
Keanu Reeves enjoys being involved in independent filmmaking. Both films had their own successes: "The Man Who Sucked the Thumb" made a splash at the Berlin Film Festival, nominated for the Golden Bear, and one of the lead actors, Lou Taylor Pucci, won the Silver Bear; "Ellie Parker" made critics reaffirm Naomi Watts' superb acting skills.
However, none of them had anything to do with Reeves.
In 2006, Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock collaborated again after The Speed of Life and Death, starring in the romance film The Untouchable Lover: Two people in time and space suddenly connected because of a letterbox. This film is also a remake of the 2000 Korean film "Untouchable Lovers".
The film cost $40 million to produce and features the CP combination of Reeves and Bullock reunited. However, the North American box office performance of only $50 million shattered all good wishes.
The big defeats of two starring movies that were neither acclaimed nor popular, made Reeves start a difficult situation in Hollywood.
In 2007, Keanu Reeves again had a bye.
In 2008, Reeves starred in the action film King of the Streets and the sci-fi film The Day the Earth Stopped.
The former invested $20 million and lost $26 million at the North American box office; the latter invested $80 million and grossed $79 million at the North American box office.
On the timeline, 2008 was a decisive fiasco for Keanu Reeves.
After the fiasco of Constantine, Hollywood gave him smaller and smaller budgets for his films (meaning less and less confidence in his marketability), and each of Reeves's films could only achieve the same budget and box office figures in the North American market at best.
Usually, a film must have 3 times the production cost to truly achieve box office profitability.
"The Day the Earth Stopped" is a science fiction film, which supposedly be Reeves's specialty genre and fixed market, but it fails again.
The earth didn't stop, Keanu Reeves stopped.
A series of fiascoes allowed Keanu Reeves to receive not even a single film project controlled by a Hollywood blockbuster in Hollywood for 5 years from then to 2013's "47 Ronin".
He didn't have a good job, and he acted in a series of films that you might not have heard of, including "Pippa Lee's Private Life", "Henry's Crime", and "Speed And The Speed" and "Tai Chi Man" with Chinese investors.
That's why I got the passage that Reeves said at the beginning of this article, "What a fucking thing."
Even "47 Ronin" is still a box office failure.
The film is universally controlled, the actual production cost is more than 200 million US dollars before and after, and the final North American box office you guess how much?
Less than $40 million. Universal directly lost 170 million.
Really desperate, Reeves also made a "Knock on the Door" that no one says anymore.
What kind of film is this?
The architect played by Reeves took in two beautiful and sexy girls on a rainy day, and he did not hold on to it, thinking that the peach blossom luck fell from the sky this night, but he waited for not a wonderful carcass, but two girls completely abused him.
What a thing.
After "Knock on the Door", it is "Fast And Furious". With a budget of $20 million, North America's 40 million returns, a global $88 million small profit, and a good reputation.
This is exactly 11 years away from "The Matrix 3".
Why did Keanu Reeves end up like this?
Let's go back to before The Matrix.
Prior to the Matrix series, Keanu Reeves's most recognized solo performances were actually two action films.
1991's "Breaking Point" and 1994's "Life and Death Speed".
"Breaking Point" was directed by James Cameron's ex-wife Catherine Bigelow, in which Keanu Reeves played FBI agent Johnny.
Prior to this film, Reeves had just entered the mainstream Hollywood market with the nonsense comedy "The Adventures of Bill and Ted".
He played the role of Ted of the Second Commodity in that movie, and the audience response was very good. When everyone thought That Reeves would become a comedy star, he suddenly took a big turn and went from a fool to a detective.
"Breaking Point" was a success.
It grossed $40 million in North America that year and pioneered a new frontier in surf action movies.
(The origin of "Beach Rescue Team" before Dwayne Johnson is this "Breaking Point")
As for "The Speed of Life and Death", everyone may be more familiar with it.
Reeves went from FBI detective to Los Angeles police, chasing a crazy bus that would explode if it was below 50 mph.
The Speed of Life and Death grossed $120 million at the North American box office in 1994 for $30 million (note that this is 1994). Even looking at 1994 as a whole, only Cameron's True Lies performed better in action than The Speed of Life and Death.
(True Lies grossed $140 million in North America in 1994.)
The box office hit of "Life and Death Speed" also made Keanu Reeves truly become a first-line star in Hollywood, and at the same time, it also established Keanu Reeves's number one label: a very handsome action movie star.
That's why The Matrix came to Keanu Reeves to play.
His reputation is rising rapidly, he is handsome, he has a lot of experience in action movies, he is willing to do action stunts himself, and the salary is not high...
That's why Keanu Reeves finally revived River Mountain with an almost-from-start action movie, "Rush to Kill", but this is a later story.
However, the development of the genre in Hollywood is very interesting. The '90s were the pinnacle of its genre, and every producer knew that to make money, they were going to make action movies.
The action movie classics that you are very familiar with now are basically 90s products.
Including but not limited to, the "Die Hard" series, Michael Bay's "Brave To Die Island", "Prison in the Air", Wu Yusen's "Changing Face", "Mission Impossible" series, Pierce Brosnan's version of 007...
However, after entering the 21st century, the world has changed. Action movies are no longer Hollywood's ace genre.
So what is most popular about Hollywood after entering the 21st century?
IP。
If you look back at the box office after 2000, you'll see that the first few will always be a series of movies. And the most popular movies in the series: magic movies and fast-rising superhero movies.
The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Spider-Man, X-Men, Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean...
It's easy to understand that these types of movies are essentially visually enhanced versions of action movies, with more exaggerated special effects and more amazing character abilities.
In contrast, one punch and one kick action movies naturally fall behind.
In 2004, there were only two action movies in the top 20 box office in North America, namely Matt Damon's "Spy 2" and Cage's "National Treasure".
In the top 20 of 2005, only "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," starring Hollywood top Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, was an action movie.
In the top 20 at the box office in 2006, there were still only two action movies, namely "007 vs Casino Royale" and "Mission Impossible 3".
In 2007, with the light of 4 big IPs, action movies saved a little face. The 4 films are "Spy 3", "National Treasure 2", "Rush Hour 3" and "Die Hard 4".
In 2008, Marvel officially announced its rise with "Iron Man". Old-fashioned action movies are completely beaten in front of superhero movies, and if there are 2 in the box office top 20 in a year, even if the performance is very good.
The decline of action movies in these years is directly related to the actors who have settled on action movies.
Bruce Willis starring in "Die Hard", Tom Cruise, Nicolas Cage... These Hollywood powerhouses who made the most of the action movies of the '90s were all disgraced by then after the end of their iconic series.
(Bruce Willis can still breathe a sigh of relief or rely on "Die Hard 4", Atango can slowly come back also by "Mission Impossible", Nicolas Cage never came back, all the way down)
And, of course, our Keanu Reeves.
In terms of coffee, Reeves is not as good as Willis, Cruise. The situation is also more difficult. The last straw for him to catch can only be a movie like "The King of the Streets", which is an obvious gamble, but has no choice.
Along with action movies, there are science fiction movies. That is, the type of "The Matrix" that made Reeves famous belongs.
And action movies are almost twins, science fiction movies have also experienced highs and lows, the 90s explosion, into the 21st century gradually niche.
A series of classic science fiction films developed from the 1980s have all been staged in the first few years of the 21st century.
"Alien 4" stopped in 1997; "Men in Black 2" stopped in 2002 ("Men in Black 3" was not released until 2012); "Terminator 3" stopped in 2003 due to box office and unsatisfactory word-of-mouth; even the last star wars prequel trilogy of the American national IP "Star Wars" prequel trilogy, "Star Wars Prequel: Revenge of the Sith", also stopped in 2005...
The decline of science fiction films is actually very similar to the reason for the decline of action movies, and it lacks the power to resist in the face of the impact of more market appealing magic films and big IP epic films.
At the same time, on a deeper societal level, the impact of 9/11 in 2001 on the entire United States was profound. It forced all Americans to look at themselves from the opulence and euphoria of the 1990s.
In Hollywood, the kind of space ballet presented by science fiction films, or the mainstream science fiction theme of human battle machines, has become inappropriate.
Only intermittent sci-fi films like Will Smith's "I, Robot," "I Am Legend," and Danny Boyle's "Sun Havoc" have sprung up sporadically.
Science fiction films are at ebb, who is the unluckiest?
The first to bear the brunt is the people who eat the bowl of "The Matrix". Rush to the top with the golden body of science fiction, and then quickly fall to the bottom with science fiction.
Lawrence Fishburne, who played Morpheus in The Matrix, and Kerry-Ann Moss, who played Trinity, were barely acting after The Matrix.
The Wachowski sisters, the directors of "The Matrix", were obsessed with science fiction films during this time, and launched a "Speed Racer" with a budget of $100 million, which resulted in a North American box office of 43 million, a big failure. It wasn't until 2012 that "Cloud Atlas" was made again (another decade).
And, of course, there's our ups and downs, Keanu Reeves.
He wanted to turn around again with the classic sci-fi film "The Day the Earth Stopped", and as a result, the sci-fi film was still in the pre-dawn darkness.
If you remember, in 2008, Reeves chose both the action movie "King of the Streets" and the sci-fi film "The Day the Earth Stopped" to save his career, but he didn't want to, but it became the last straw that crushed him at that time.
The revival of the entire science fiction genre will not wait until the birth of "Avatar" in 2009.
Actors are subject to genre; genres are subject to times.
Keanu Reeves, who was an actor, disappeared.
The decade in which an actor disappears is behind the decade of Hollywood's change of dynasty.
The waves exhaust the heroes, and everything is the result of the times.