WILL own on Blu-ray!

Rating: 9/10 (25 October 2014)

OK, I'm biased. I'm big on Keanu. No homo. But j/king aside, John Wick is the movie that proves Reeves is still in the game. Ironically, the titular character is doing just what it's titular leading actor is supposedly doing; coming back and staying current. You only have to watch the movie 15 minutes to catch the tongue in cheek remarks thrown out ad nauseam to this.
Keanu is all over this movie. I don't know how he manages to stay in-shape after 50; it's clearly himself doing most of the stunt work. He might just have the fountain of youth shoved somewhere in his body. (He is The One after all...) It's still good ol' stone face Keanu. Not as hammy as Keanu from Constantine, or as cold as Keanu from DtESS, but somewhere in between. The guy is all about subtlety and jest. He is forward, without being forward. I like it.
Willem *ucking Dafoe!!! Is there any role this cat cannot play?! Seriously, you had me at Dafoe. I think Dafoe is competing with Freeman and Jackson for most utilized supporting actor in Hollywood. He's NEVER a main, always some BAMF supporting cast member. And as always, he's just too good not to love. Even in Fault in Our Stars, he was a lovable crass cynic, but in this movie, he's one of the characters who you just know is a true badass. Keanu ALWAYS picks characters who are loners, yet somehow attracts the guardian angel types, or people who just want him to win. This time around, Dafoe is Wick's guardian angel.
Alfie Allen and Michael Nyqvist are the true breakout actors in this film. Allen, as we all know from Game of Thrones, is easy to hate, but hard to love. He plays this role much as he does in GoT by being the prick mob boss's spoiled brat son who has a penchant for not thinking two seconds ahead. And the mob boss, Nyqvist, is probably the best representation of a smarmy yet sophisticated Russian Don since... well he's probably the first really well adapted Russian mob boss we've ever seen! Jack Reacher went up against the Russian's, and I know there's some in Person of Interest, but Nyqvist's Viggo Tarasov has the swagger, brains, and even compassion to stay fresh and noteworthy, well after the film's ended. He's even got this breadth about him, a foreboding barrel chested strength that you don't see a lot of these days, good casting choice! Both actors played their respective wells true to form.
I'd like to say more about other actors/characters in the movie, but it would honestly contain spoilers. You don't have to even watch the trailer to find out that this is a straight shoot 'em up, true to the core. The freaking dog dies, how much you wanna bet others will too...
Read other reviews if you want to find out about plots, subplots and pacing. John Wick stays fresh and thrilling the entire way through! The stunt work's amazing, the acting is slightly campy yet engaging, the premise is simple, and the movie's a blast!