Let’s be honest: Boom! Studios’ recent action co*ic BRZRKR falls pretty firmly under pop culture’s tacitly understood “Dogstar Rule,” i.e., the general acknowledgement that some things are inherently more interesting because Keanu Reeves is the one doing them. Although the series, about an immortal warrior fighting through the ages, has drawn some good reviews, and sold quite well, Reeves co-writing it probably had at least a bit to do with Netflix deciding to move forward with a film adaptation several years back; similarly, it probably didn’t hurt the chances for Fast And Furious franchise director Justin Lin to sign on for said project this weekend.
This is per THR, which reports that Reeves and his creaky knees will be starring in the film, as well as producing. Lin has never directed the John Wick star, but the two have worked together in the past: Reeves served as an investor for Lin’s more recent, less high-octane film Last Days, a biopic about missionary John Allen Chau. BRZRKR will presumably be a bit less contemplative, since it’s about… Well, we’ll just let the ad copy for the co*ic itself lay things out, huh?
A brutally epic saga about an immortal warrior’s 80,000 year fight through the ages. The man known only as ‘B’ is half-mortal and half-god, cursed and co*pelled to violence, even at the sacrifice of his sanity. But after wandering the earth for centuries, B may have finally found a refuge — working for the U.S. government to fight the battles too violent and too dangerous for anyone else. In exchange, B will be granted the one thing he desires — the truth about his endless blood-soaked existence … and how to end it.
Reeves co-wrote the book with Matt Kindt; meanwhile, he’s also managed to draw in some buzzy scriptwriting help, having recruited The Batman 2 co-writer Mattson Tomlin to adapt the co*ic into a screenplay. The overall BRZRKR franchise has seen a fair amount of movement of late, even outside the movie plans; there’s still an anime adaptation kicking around somewhere, and, just last year, Reeves published a novel set in the universe, The Book Of Elsewhere, which China Miéville co-wrote because, again, what are you going to do, say no to Keanu Reeves?