Read: A definitive ranking of Keanu Reeves movies

“I think there’s a purity and an innocence to him that translates—which, coupled with a very strong persona, is a winning combination,” Bigelow said in 1991, highlighting what’s special about Reeves. Yet even as he worked with acclaimed directors including Gus Van Sant (in My Own Private Idaho), Francis Ford Coppola (Dracula), and Bernardo Bertolucci (Little Buddha), he was never taken seriously as an actor. Reeves remained best known for starring in thrill rides such as Speed, The Devil’s Advocate, and of course The Matrix, his most recognizable role of all.

That movie marked a comeback after years of flops, as did 2014’s John Wick, which introduced him to a younger generation of action fans. While Generation X mostly dismissed him as wooden and one-note, younger viewers better understood his nuances as a performer; the weird, hypnotic specificity of his line readings; and the movie-star magic inherent in parts like Neo, John Wick, and Johnny Utah. It’s impossible to imagine anyone else in those roles, which is the best evidence of Reeves’s singular screen presence.

My Own Private Idaho

For the first film in this week’s series, we’re going to check out Van Sant’s daring and strange modern reimagining of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, which casts Reeves in the Prince Hal role. He’s a rich kid slumming with a group of young hustlers, including best friend Mike (River Phoenix); Van Sant digs into the grim realities of their lifestyle, but it’s a soaring and poetic movie that liberally borrows the Bard’s dialogue. This is the first Reeves movie I ever saw that showed me what a genuinely great actor he is—it’s the perfect way to kick off a mini career retrospective.

Where to watch: Prime Video and YouTube Movies

Speed

Reeves had made only one other action movie before Speed—1991’s Point Break, the Kathryn Bigelow classic that helped define him as more than a striking teen star. But in Point Break, he was playing a cheerful former football player with a puppy-dog smile, whereas Speed felt a little more geared toward Reeves’s grown-up persona. As the hero cop Jack Traven, he’s icy and calm, even when thrust into the truly ludicrous scenario of trying to save the passengers of a bus that will explode if it slows down. Reeves’s strange serenity is what distinguishes him in so many of the action hits that followed—the Matrix films, Constantine, John Wick. But in Speed, that quality is particularly elemental, an alpha heroism with none of the usual macho bravado.

Where to watch: Prime Video and YouTube Movies

Something’s Gotta Give

In 1991, Bigelow identified Reeves as a potential action star. In 2003, another great female filmmaker, Nancy Meyers, made the similarly bold decision to position him as a romantic foil, something he had struggled with in past movies such as Much Ado About Nothing and Sweet November. But Reeves’s Zen-like persona proved a perfect fit for Meyers’s zippy dialogue—he’s uniquely charming as a doctor who pursues the writer Erica Barry (Diane Keaton), despite her being almost 20 years his senior. Even though Reeves’s character does not end up with Erica, who is eventually drawn to lothario Harry Sanborn (Jack Nicholson), Reeves is compelling enough that her ultimate choice is still fiercely debated.