Keanu Reeves is set to star in Maelstrom, a new Netflix action thriller directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, the guy who gave us the sleeper hit Carry-On. Reeves steps into the lead role after Alan Ritchson, best known as the star of Reacher, exited the project for reasons nobody’s talking about. Netflix declined to comment, which is Hollywood-speak for “it’s complicated.”
Some folks are saying this is karma for Ritchson being a Trump hater and Netflix not wanting to deal with the blowback, but we’re honestly not sure what happened here. Netflix does a lot of things wrong, like making gay scenes for no reason whatsoever, other than to check boxes and tick off the majority of viewers who are sick of the programmatic grooming.
But to be honest, Keanu Reeves is a lot better, anyway, no matter why Ritchson was replaced.
The plot is a straight-up pressure cooker. A Federal Marshal is tasked with protecting the fiancée of an arms dealer who flipped to become a witness. Then a hurricane rolls in, cuts off all communication, strands them without any backup, and the dealer’s men descend on their safe house. One brutal night. No help coming. Keanu Reeves shooting people in a storm. Honestly, sell the tickets now.
The current script is by Mark Bianculli, built on a first draft by the late Gregory Fitzpatrick. This project has been kicking around since it was first set up as a spec at Warner Bros. all the way back in 1993, which means it’s older than some of the Netflix executives greenlit it. Jeff Robinov and Tabitha Shick of Talking Pictures will produce. You can read more about Keanu Reeves in Maelstrom over at the outlet that first confirmed the casting.
Reeves is on an absolute tear right now. Fresh off the fourth John Wick film, he’s entered talks to lead James Wan’s adaptation of South Korean crime actioner The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil for Paramount. He’s also set to reprise his voice role as Shadow in Sonic the Hedgehog 4, and he’s adapting Oliver Lowe’s forthcoming novel Kill Current: A Jon Hendricks Thriller as another starring vehicle, which will be the first project out of his new production banner, Two Dragonflies, alongside partners The Arena and Zando.
Other projects on his plate include the Warner Bros. sci-fi film Shiver and The Entertainment System Is Down, from multiple Palme d’Or winner Ruben Östlund. The man is building a slate that would make most actors half his age jealous. Meanwhile Hollywood’s been so busy trying to figure out what woke message to shoehorn into every franchise that it forgot people just want to watch Keanu Reeves fight bad guys in a hurricane. Good to see Netflix remembered.
No release date for Maelstrom has been announced yet. Once production gets rolling and a trailer drops, expect the internet to lose its mind in the best possible way, because nobody has ever watched a Keanu Reeves action movie and asked for their money back.
