Keanu is back.

Rating: 8/10 (6 August 2019)

Keanu Reeves has been called a lot of things but a good actor with range is not necessarily one of them. Don't get me wrong, I like him as an actor but he has a very narrow range in the roles he can accept. Either he plays the big, dumb doofus or he plays the loner of few words in those movies he can truly shine. And this has been shown time and time again. His dramatic roles? They tend to come off flat and stale. His attempts at accents? They tend to be terrible in every sense. But movies like "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure", the first Matrix movie or this one and you can see what he's really capable of.
John Wick is the story of a hit man who's left that life behind. He wanted out but things force him back into it and he does not go happily. He's described as a man of focus, commitment and singular will. He never fails a job. He never gives up. And he once killed three men in a bar with a pencil. He's that much of a badass. We catch glimpses of another world where assassins get contracts, where there's hotels and services that cater to these people and where everything is paid for using gold coins. It truly gives the feeling that this is a fully fleshed out universe with history, a code of conduct and it's something happening just under our noses without us knowing.
The movie itself is a work of art. Whereas in a lot of action movies there's a lot of shaky cam work and quick cuts to hide the lack of skill of the actor, this one goes the opposite way and shows everything. There are long shots of John Wick doing his thing. There's fight choreography that is just beautiful to behold in it's brutality and execution. Keanu trained for this and it shows.
When you get down to it, it's a revenge flick but one the likes of which you probably have never seen before. It's Keanu at his best and with luck he will continue to make movies like this in the future.