Such is his status as one of the most beloved and wholesome names in Hollywood, there’s little reason for Keanu Reeves to ever lend his hand to playing a villain, because his fans would simply refuse to buy it. Admittedly, he’s tried on a couple of occasions during a career that dates back over 35 years, but no matter how good of an actor he is, Reeves simply can’t hide the fact that he doesn’t have a bad bone in his body.
However, he can do the charming asshole pretty well, as evidenced in Eli Roth’s forgotten thriller Knock Knock. Reeves takes top billing and executive produced the $2 million feature, which follows a happily married and successful architect who welcomes two complete strangers into his home, before a spot of extramarital hanky panky leads to a series of events that rapidly spiral out of control.
It’s a blend of the classic home invasion thriller and the sort of artsy erotic drama that was all the rage in the 1990s, and while Roth doesn’t strike the balance perfectly, it’s a diverting and enjoyable enough 99 minutes of entertainment regardless. Knock Knock failed to catch fire at the box office in 2015, though, and made just $6 million in theaters, while the critical consensus sees it sitting on a Rotten Tomatoes score of only 36%, but it did manage to capture the imagination of Netflix subscribers when it was added to the library last November.
If you haven’t checked it out, though, then you’d better get a move on, because Knock Knock is leaving the platform on the first of next month, although it probably won’t be too long until it pitches up at another streamer given Keanu Reeves‘ presence.
Published: Apr 24, 2021 10:24 am