Back to Keanu, I thought it was one of his best performances, and one of the strongest characters he's played to date. I can get the main gist of Connie's personality just about instantly (such as how he's someone who would probably hate being called Connie), and then it develops further into more awesomeness.

I should probably write more, but it's past 1 am and I need to get up early tomorrow. So yeah... what about the rest of you?

I envy Aitana in the scene where he's chasing her.

can't actually pick one performance...

Connie because he so totally got the essence of Constantine, blond hair and tan trenchcoat aside. And sod those whining Hellblazer fans ( to use their beloved comics language style) they can't see past the immediate appearances. K would have been miscast if the film's story would have been located in London. Which it isn't. The whole story got an American makeover so the studios will bother to look at it. That's what Lawrence and K had to work with. And they did a damn good job at it.
When I first watched the film, I had no idea whatsoever who the characters were, and what a comics magazine looked like, let alone what Hellblazer was. but it was a "wtf"? moment which led this persistent little bugger to search the net and become a Hellblazer completist. The rest is history ;) :D
( and just between us, the film made a huge service to the comics series... so there ;) )

Bob Arctor... because I could feel the character's doubts, fears, anguish,confusion... because he was so real it hurt watching.

Donnie, because it was an unexpected character, and so well played.

and last but not least, Tom Ludlow, for all the reasons Seer already mentioned and then some. It was the performance that made me fall in love again with Keanu Reeves the actor. What K could do with that character, the sheer force-of-nature intensity of it, is ... simply beautiful. at least to me.

I also like paradoxes of time, like the time shift in The Lake House. As much as I'm not a fan of romantic movies, I just *love* that one. Another one of those is the movie Frequency (2000) with Dennis Quaid and James Caviezel, and yet another is Deja Vu (2006) with Denzel Washington. I just love the whole premise of time warping and not being able to reach someone through the rift of time.

Edit: I guess I should add that I don't hold any of Keanu's characters as his "best". I find that they are so different that I can't prefer one to another. But that's just fine. :-)

---

Another one of those is the movie Frequency (2000) with Dennis Quaid and James Caviezel

---

YES. I LOVE FREQUENCY. <3

Plus it uses the exact same time travel model as The Lake House, and the two films together helped me work out the system.

---

and yet another is Deja Vu (2006) with Denzel Washington.

---

...then again I've been a time travel movie junkie since Back to the Future, so... :D

I feel like Keanu's work in The Matrix gets overlooked a lot. But for me, he WAS Neo, pure and simple. Even now, after I've gotten into Keanu fandom and watched a lot of his other movies, when I watch The Matrix, I don't see Keanu. I see Neo. He just embodies that character so completely in my mind, and I honestly believe that if anyone else had played that role, the movie would not have been as effective. And coming from me, that's saying a lot, because that is, without question, my absolute favorite film of all time and always will be.

Now, Constantine. Say what you want about the film (personally, I enjoy it a lot), but I think Keanu gives a wonderful performance in it. I just love that first sequence we see him, where he gets out of the cab and walks into the building. Right away, you know exactly what kind of character this is... and he hasn't even said a word. I think you can also tell that Keanu had a lot of fun with this character, because it definitely shows up in his performance.

... I think my two cents are more than up now ;)

---

Now, Constantine. Say what you want about the film (personally, I enjoy it a lot), but I think Keanu gives a wonderful performance in it. I just love that first sequence we see him, where he gets out of the cab and walks into the building. Right away, you know exactly what kind of character this is... and he hasn't even said a word.

---

and I second your post about Neo.
he's the reason I noticed Keanu in the first place. and I cannot possibly imagine the trilogy without K. it simply wouldn't make sense.
I didn't include K's performance as Neo in my list for two reasons. One is that for me, the Matrix trilogy is a separate universe, to which I will always relate, which stands aside and cannot really be compared to anything. it's just something else. and the way he took the character through a full arc in each movie and in the same time through another fuller arc through the whole trilogy... which other actor would have had the patience to do this?

The other reason is that yet, performance-wise... I still prefer his Constantine to his Neo. Can't really explain why. Maybe it's because of the more 'in your face' way he played Connie. Maybe it's because of that slippery quality of Constantine that won't let you fully read him no matter what. Or maybe it's just because Reeves' acting really got better after the first Matrix.
*shrugs*
or maybe I just fell for the 'bad boy' thing ;) :D

And Ted!