Ever since the original John Wick, the franchise has set a standard of what action in Hollywood should be. Thanks to Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeve's knowledge of the technical aspects of shooting action, they've been able to deliver expertly choreographed, shot, and edited action films that are now the go to as examples of great action filmmaking. And so, the expectations for the fourth film were fairly high, especially as it became more apparent this was not only the culmination of everything before it, but a whopping 169 minutes long. Rest assured, however, that it delivers in spades. Everything we have come to know and love is here, but with an infusion of creativity like we haven't seen from the franchise yet.
John Wick is in a bad way as we open up. He's a man on a mission to get out from under the High Table with seemingly no end in sight. As he blazes a trail of bullets and corpses, those who have helped him or crossed his path find their own lives disrupted. With all hope lost, he soon finds the opportunity he's looking for when he discovers that he can put his life on the line for a chance to finally get out. The film brings with it a whole host of new characters, including Donnie Yen's Caine, Shamier Anderson's Tracker, Hiroyuki Senada's Shimazu, Rina Sawayama's (in a fantastic big screen debut) Akira, Scott Adkins' Killa, and of course Bill Skarsgard as new villain Marquis. It's a full cast, but everyone gets a chance to shine and could easily have their own films. Donnie Yen in particular demonstrates, once again, that he is a legend in this industry with several great fights of his own. But, of course, this is Keanu's film all the way and he gets to bring everything with him in the biggest film yet.
Covering four continents, we get fights on a massive set of stairs, fights in the middle of traffic, at one of the coolest looking hotels ever shown on screen, and so on. The fighting, of course, is exceptional, and it brings nunchakus, dogs, throwing stars, swords, guns, and so much more. It's everything a John Wick fan could want and, because these films are so technically proficient, you never feel like you're missing any of the action. Possibly the most creative choice is my favorite scene, one that combines a visually fantastic weapon with a shot choice that is unusual for action films of this nature, but the combination of these two pushes the scene into maybe one of action film's greatest scenes.
Admittedly, the story does leave a bit to be desired, but the minor complaints about these kinds of things pale in comparison to what we get. Hollywood has a new film to hold itself to and I have a feeling that (at least for me) action filmmaking will be judged by the standard this movie sets. It's such a blast, I already want to see it again.
John Wick is in a bad way as we open up. He's a man on a mission to get out from under the High Table with seemingly no end in sight. As he blazes a trail of bullets and corpses, those who have helped him or crossed his path find their own lives disrupted. With all hope lost, he soon finds the opportunity he's looking for when he discovers that he can put his life on the line for a chance to finally get out. The film brings with it a whole host of new characters, including Donnie Yen's Caine, Shamier Anderson's Tracker, Hiroyuki Senada's Shimazu, Rina Sawayama's (in a fantastic big screen debut) Akira, Scott Adkins' Killa, and of course Bill Skarsgard as new villain Marquis. It's a full cast, but everyone gets a chance to shine and could easily have their own films. Donnie Yen in particular demonstrates, once again, that he is a legend in this industry with several great fights of his own. But, of course, this is Keanu's film all the way and he gets to bring everything with him in the biggest film yet.
Covering four continents, we get fights on a massive set of stairs, fights in the middle of traffic, at one of the coolest looking hotels ever shown on screen, and so on. The fighting, of course, is exceptional, and it brings nunchakus, dogs, throwing stars, swords, guns, and so much more. It's everything a John Wick fan could want and, because these films are so technically proficient, you never feel like you're missing any of the action. Possibly the most creative choice is my favorite scene, one that combines a visually fantastic weapon with a shot choice that is unusual for action films of this nature, but the combination of these two pushes the scene into maybe one of action film's greatest scenes.
Admittedly, the story does leave a bit to be desired, but the minor complaints about these kinds of things pale in comparison to what we get. Hollywood has a new film to hold itself to and I have a feeling that (at least for me) action filmmaking will be judged by the standard this movie sets. It's such a blast, I already want to see it again.