Reeves is a lethal weapon hellbent on revenge in this brutally lively actioner.

Rating: 8/10 (25 October 2014)

JOHN WICK (2014) *** Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Willem Dafoe, Dean Winters, Adrianne Palicki, Bridget Moynahan, John Leguizamo, Ian McShane, Bridget Regan, Lance Reddick, David Patrick Kelly, Clarke Peters. Over-the-top yet a guilty pleasure revenge action flick with Reeves (in arguably his finest role since THE MATRIX) as the titular lethal assassin in retirement who finds himself shoved back into his old ways when the punk son of a former associate Russian mobster (Nyqvist in oily mode) who steals his prized '69 Mustang and kills his puppy - a gift from his recently deceased, beloved wife (Moynahan). Hell bent on getting revenge Wick is laser focused on his prime initiative with a wake of destruction and a huge body count while being contracted for his own hit in the process. Newbie director Chad Stahelski (a veteran stuntman who collaborated with Reeves on THE MATRIX films among others) shows his chops in the carefully executed non-stop fight/shoot sequences with aplomb and enabled with a rogues gallery of veteran character actors peppered out makes up for the somewhat graphic novel trappings of the film border lining pulp cartoon ridiculousness from the anything goes script by novice Derek Kolstad but keeps things brutally lively.