Let me preface this by saying that I have as much respect and esteem for Keanu Reeves, as everyone else. By all accounts he is just a very loving man, and for various people he is Ted “Theodore” Logan, Neo is the one chosen, finally, he is John’s loving murderer Wick. He has made remarkable efforts in some real image productions.
It’s just that, with the best will in the world, his performance as Johnny Silverhand in Cyberpunk 2077 isn’t one of them, is it?
Keanu Reeves, he of the memes, was released (in terms of his connection to the game, not, as a man) coinciding with the release date of Cyberpunk, back at E3 2019. He appeared on stage , apparently with surprise. everyone was losing their minds to it and / or a rinky-dink game-a-majig, and someone in the crowd said “You’re awesome! ”He said. And Keanu moved right back, a time that is now known as immortalized in the most appropriate way: as a setting in Cyberpunk image mode.
Keanu’s involvement was just like another ratchet in the intriguing, intriguing build that several people already had for Cyberpunk. However, as Graham pointed out to one side in his review, Keanu ‘s performance in the game seems to be the weakest of the throw.
This is not Keanu’s fault. He plays Johnny Silverhand, a rock band frontman who planted a nuclear bomb plant in a corporate headquarters – but got caught, and turned it into a data ghost that now lives in the head of a major Cyberpunk 2077. Johnny Silverhand, from what I can gather from the context in the game, is an over-the-top, revolutionary asshole high, rocky rebel full of horrible prey. In other words: the other side of what Keanu Reeves is good at is represented. Keanu is okay in the times when Johnny is going to be quiet and overbearing, but those are not long. CD Projekt gave him a place that doesn’t play to his strengths.
Add to that the fact that acting in a game, even one with a mocap, is a very different thing from acting in a movie or TV show, and you end up performing very smooth. Keanu is right for many things, but for this it is as if my father is trying to speculate on why Brexit is still definitely going to be really good: automatically wrong.
This is a shame because there is already an actor who is perfect for the role of Johnny Silverhand. Screaming rockstar rebel? Howling rage? Who are you painting? No, not Keanu Reeves’ stock grace. It’s a flailing accident. Am fear OG meme.
Check it out and tell me right away that it doesn’t make many thousands of percentages more sense. Nicolas Cage would be literally perfect for this. There is no place where he was where he did not give him everything and fully embraced the diet of the sights. This wasn’t even the first time Nic Cage has played a ghost with revenge!
I’m pretty sure everything else would have played out the same thing. The internet would have gone wild. If there are any, even wilder. Nicolas is fucking Cage. Even the “You’re amazing!” this time would have been the same. As you would expect, you can imagine Cage building “You are awesome! ”By a crowd. Maybe it’s just doing sin. Maybe he’s blaming random people on the street and telling them that every day.
The only difference is that a) Cage would be slightly cheaper per hour than Keanu and b) Cage does not have a line of motorcycles that you would need to include in your game. So how, winning around for CD Projekt?
The only explanation I can think of is that they called Cage and he was already busy, fuckin, carving complex models of fast food out of bone or whatever Nic Cage making up for Nic Cage’s time. Because if they are it was not ask Cage then everyone involved in the decision-making process around Johnny Silverhand is a fool of the highest order. He was right there.
He was right there.