Bland story with outstanding visual aesthetics

Rating: 5/10 (28 October 2018)

Looking through other reviews it's apparent that people either love or hate this movie.
I can see both sides and personally thought the movie was rather poor, but it did have some things to appreciate about it.
Let's break it down:
(On a scale of one-ten stars)
Story/script/plot: one star. Really the story was just a conduit to carry all the action sequences. If you came to watch a film that has any plot or something to stimulate the mind or emotions...look elsewhere.
Casting/ acting: Four stars. Nothing absolutely awful but no remarkable performances. Just overall a flat, lifeless story and script that left little room for acting to have any impact or power. Actors, again, function as huminod forms for the action sequences to operate in.
Cinematography/ set/ lighting: Ten stars.
Here's were the film really avoids being a total flop in my opinion. The cinematography was excellent in every way. Much creative use of color motifs and dramatic lighting.
Very interesting use of specific color hues in key scenes that coincide with the tone of the story. Fantastic luxurious sets. Great chic wardrobe selections- almost like The Matrix meets Wall Street. The climactic fight sequence in the rain was a visual masterpiece.
Soundtrack: One star. Here's one part of the movie that really cheapend any artistic value it had going for it. The music was just so hokey. It felt like it was obnoxiously loud and overbearing intentionally in attempt to leverage the excitement the movie was lacking.
Just banal and tasteless.
Action/ coreography: Six stars. Okay. So this movie calls it's action "gun Fu." The coreography and action was just ok. Yes, it used longer sequences without changing shots and had some very intricate coreography.
But there was never any suspense built up or context to support all the action- which makes it feel less intense.
It all came off as an extended dance routine with lots of headshots.
The fancy gunwork and martial arts would carry greater weight if undergirded by some moticum of a story line or performed by a character that you actually cared about.
Without the subcontext the movie ends up subjecting the audience to watching an extended sparring match. Hollow visuals.
Conclusions:
Imagine the final fight sequence from the first Matrix where Trinity and Neo shoot up the security gate in the lobby while rescuing Morpheus...now take that scene and try to make that one scene stretch for a feature length movie.
What you get is John Wick.
It did have the sense of a comic book in film format: the framing choices, the lighting selections and the (goofy) colored/stylized subtitles all we're direct stylistic transplant from comic book style.
I'm sure 15 year old boys would love this movie. It almost feels like it was made by some 15 year old boys with their daddy's budget.
In short, John Wick is a beatifully filmed extended fight coreography performed by humanoid forms with some obnoxious music pumping too loudly.
John Wick is all about the visual aesthetics. To that extent, it excells.
You may love it. You may hate it.
I don't regret watching it but wouldn't recommend it as a great film to watch.