You have to hand it to Keanu Reeves. He may have been a huge star ever since breaking through as one half of the affable, dim-witted metalhead duo in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure a full three decades ago, yet for the longest time he was widely deemed impossible to take seriously as a dramatic actor thanks to notoriously wooden, awkward turns in the likes of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and The Devil’s Advocate. Yet against all odds, the man whose most iconic utterance is “woah” was able to carve a niche for himself as an action hero via Point Break, Speed and most notably The Matrix; and even more unexpectedly, he was able to return to that territory in recent years with the John Wick movies, having not only proven himself as a physical action performer, but also having genuinely gained some gravitas as a serious leading man. It obviously doesn’t hurt that he looks nothing like his 54 years, still boasting as lithe a physique and as lustrous a head of hair as he did in the 1990s. (The bastard.)
On paper, the John Wick persona doesn’t seem too difficult to shift over to other material. Just put Keanu in a sharp suit, with tidy mid-length hair and a closely trimmed beard, keep his dialogue minimal and to the point, and don’t ask him to emote too much, whilst hinting at a hotbed of repressed anxiety bubbling just below the surface. Lucas Hill, the lead protagonist in Siberia, fits this bill pretty well, so it’s not too big a surprise that the film’s PR material goes to some length to promote a link between the properties, suggesting that director Matthew Ross’s film is a suitable stop-gap for any Reeves fans impatient for John Wick 3. However, if you go in to Siberia expecting two hours of adrenaline-charged, guns-blazing, all-kicking all-punching entertainment, you’re liable to be disappointed. Indeed, there’s a strong likelihood you’ll be underwhelmed either way, as this is a slow, quiet, ponderous affair which may aspire to an old school crime thriller ambience, but winds up a little too understated to make much of an impression.
Lucas Hill (Reeves) is an American businessman of dubious legality. He’s in St. Petersburg to sell some ultra-rare, ultra-valuable blue diamonds to Russian mobsters, headed up by the somewhat intense Boris Volkov (Pasha D Lynchnikoff). However, what should be a relatively simple transaction proves more complex than anticipated when Hill’s contact for the diamonds isn’t where he was expected to be, forcing Hill to trek out of the big city and into a remote Siberian province where he’s told his contact is hiding out. In the bitter cold with nothing to do but wait and drink vodka, Hill finds himself drawn to local bar owner Katya (Ana Ularu), and – against the older man’s better judgement, as back home in the States he has a wife (an almost blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo from Molly Ringwald) – the two embark on what promises to be a brief affair. However, as further complications impede the diamond deal, the growing bond between Hill and Katya only adds to the steadily mounting problems, threatening to put them both in grave danger.
Written by Scott B Smith (novelist and screenwriter behind A Simple Plan and The Ruins), Siberia seems intent on harking back to the tone and aesthetic of the late 60s/70s Hollywood thriller (think Point Blank or The Driver). There’s a sparse, vaguely abstract atmosphere, and as much interest in the state of mind of the protagonists as the intricacies of the criminal underworld they in which they live; a world, and a way of life, which the film indicates they have grown tired of, and are questioning their place in. Reeves exudes world-weariness throughout, presenting Hill as a man of clear intelligence and morality who nonetheless chooses to do what he knows to be wrong, not only in his line of work but also in his extra-marital relations. Sex is actually a much bigger part of the equation in Siberia than you might initially expect, with Reeves and Ularu having a number of fairly intense love scenes which, had they been shot and edited a little less tastefully, might have made it is easy to sell the film as an erotic thriller. Honestly, I wonder if it mightn’t have been a bad idea to push things further in that direction, for as it is there’s a somewhat detached, clinical feel to it all that rather leaves the viewer cold. Then again, given the setting of the title, perhaps that’s the idea.
The scenery is attractive (although curiously most of it was shot in Canada), Lynchnikoff makes for an agreeably excessive villain, and Reeves and Ularu are a handsome couple even if the chemistry between them is a little lacking. Alas, there’s really nothing here that hasn’t been done many times before and many times better, with a plot that veers between meandering and incomprehensible, and characters whose fate its hard to get particularly invested in. Again, much respect to Reeves for his recent career revival, which I certainly hope continues; but if it means more films like this, he might not want to hang up John Wick’s black suit too soon.
Siberia is available now in the UK on digital download and limited cinemas, from Signature Entertainment.