Directed by: David Leitch & Chad Stahelski.
Written by: Derek Kolstad.
Starring: Keanu Reeves (John Wick), Michael Nyqvist (Viggo Tarasov), Alfie Allen (Iosef Tarasov), Willem Dafoe (Marcus), Dean Winters (Avi), Adrianne Palicki (Ms. Perkins), Omer Barnea (Gregori), Toby Leonard Moore (Victor), Daniel Bernhardt (Kirill), Bridget Moynahan (Helen), John Leguizamo (Aureilo), Ian McShane (Winston), Bridget Regan (Addy), Lance Reddick (Hotel Manager / Charon).
American
action movies have, unfortunately, become all about rapid fire editing, and shaky
handheld camera work that emphasis visceral energy over coherence. If you are a
director like Paul Greengrass, or Michael Bay on his best day, than this can
actually be effective. But most directors don’t seem to know how to use this
style well – so what happens in the action sequences is that become so tightly
editing that everything becomes confusing to me – I have no idea what is really
going on. I have always preferred Hong Kong style action – the type of thing
practiced by John Woo in the 1980s and 1990s, or which Johnnie To does now.
Even if Woo and To have a lot of differences in their style, the one thing they
do share is that they let action sequences play out at length – they don’t
favor the rapid fire editing to create false suspense or energy. The best thing
about John Wick is that first time directors - David Leitch & Chad
Stahelski - allow the action sequences
to play out a little bit longer than most action movies made in America today.
The action in the movie is clean, crisp, bold and genuinely exciting.
The
plot of the movie is typical revenge movie stuff. The newly widowed title
character (Keanu Reeves) is grieving for his beloved wife, when the doorbell
rings – and a dog is delivered – a last gift from his wife. The dog isn’t
around very long though – the spoiled son of a Russian mobster wants Wick’s car
– but he will not sell, so he and his goons visit Wick, steal the car, and kill
the dog. What this spoiled brat doesn’t know is who Wick was in his former life
– the deadliest assassin who ever worked for his father (Michael Nyqvist). Now,
of course, Wick wants vengeance – and the Russian mob boss will stop at nothing
to protect his son.
In
broad strokes, there is not much difference between the story of John Wick and
that of a film like Taken (or its sequel). I wasn’t a fan of either of the
Taken movies – mainly because they were they were ridiculous, but took
themselves way too seriously. That is a mistake that John Wick doesn’t make –
the directors know they are making a goofy revenge action film from the start,
and they never pretend otherwise. Reeves also knows this, and he rips into his
role with a certain grim glee (if that makes any sense), relishing his violent
action sequences, which he is expert at. The two directors of the film have
mainly been stuntmen in the past – and they certainly want to show off what
they are best at – and the hand-to-hand combat and gunfight scenes are probably
the best I have seen in a movie this year. The rest of the cast get on the same
wavelength of Reeves, and have a blast with their roles.
There
is nothing original about John Wick – but there really doesn’t have to be. It
knows precisely what it is, and goes for broke from the first scene to the
last. It’s a hell of good time at the movies – a guilty pleasure to be sure,
but a great one at that.
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