Very Solid Action Film With A Great Turn By An Awesome Cast

Rating: 8/10 (23 October 2014)

John Wick was a pleasant surprise when it showed up in trailer form a little over a month ago. Coming out of nowhere, this indie action pic with a fresh director and great cast wowed a lot of people, and for good reason. It boasted the promise of excellent action, with Keanu Reeves returning to form as the badass lead. And a badass he is. John Wick is the kind of action film we don't get these days, and the director clearly knows what he is doing in delivering a truly excellent action film.
First things first, John Wick isn't going to win any big awards. It doesn't really do anything new, even in terms of innovative action. None of the characters are fresh and the story isn't really that original. But none of that matters because it's so stylishly crafted, the acting, direction, and writing so smooth, and the world so well designed, that any action junkie can get behind this slick, heavily stylized, action packed romp. After a flashforward, the film details the current state of John Wick's life. His wife has passed away and he is obviously taking it very hard. After her death, he receives one last gift from his wife, a puppy to help him keep from being alone. But it isn't long before he loses both his prized car and his last precious gift from his wife. With this taken from him, we find Wick falling back into his old life of assassination and violence. See, John Wick was once part of a world of criminals, assassins, and killers. And, according to the primary antagonist, he was the one who was hired to kill the boogey man.
And it is here where the film picks up. Where those first quiet moments in the film were somewhat slow and dreary, from the moment John Wick becomes the victim of crime to the very end of the film, it's almost non-stop action. The biggest challenge the film had was setting up Keanu to meet the legend he is described in as the film. But I can completely reassure you that Keanu is a complete badass here. While he still is not the fine, domineering actor you might find in other recently christened killers like Liam Neeson, he has the skills necessary to prove that you don't mess with John Wick. Whether it's playing up the role of a superman, capable of tackling a younger, equally talented killer while suffering a severe injury, or taking on a dozen men, all armed, in a matter of a few minutes, Keanu doesn't need to rage, pull out a booming voice, or make speeches filled with slightly ambiguous threats. All he has to do is flip you over his back and put two in your head with ease. If you don't believe Keanu is the feared killer he's trumped up to be at first, you will by the end of the film.
What helps pull this off are the thankful decisions of first time directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelski. As stuntmen, they clearly know their action. They eschew the typical, modern style of action of close ups and quick cuts in favor of nice, long medium and wide shots minus the quick cutting. This offers us practical action scenes and puts trust in the actors skills. Keanu has certainly proved himself capable physically, with his time spent in the Matrix and more recently Man of Tai Chi and Ronin 47. The directors allow him to use his skills to deliver action that never feels fake or trumped up. It's authentic and completely badass. Supporting him are an array of actors, including Wilem Defoe as an old friend in the business, Adrienne Palicki as a fellow assassin given an assignment to take John out, and Michael Nyquist and Alfie Allen as father and son gangsters, the latter of which who is the perpetrator of the crimes against Wick. Nyquist is especially good, a villain that isn't completely evil, and even a bit likable, who we're immediately introduced to as someone who doesn't necessarily want to do what he knows he has to do. He's entertaining in the role and makes for a criminal that, under different circumstances, might have actually been an ally to Wick.
Action films of the guns and martial arts variety have kind of gone by the wayside in the past few years, with few theatrical releases and most being VOD. But John Wick is a welcome addition to a legacy of great cinema action. For any action junkie, John Wick is an absolute must and I can only hope that this isn't the last time we'll see this Wick.