Mindless, enjoyable, violence...

Rating: 7/10 (25 January 2015)

I think part of the reason that I enjoyed this movie so much was that yesterday I watched Taken 3. That action movie was such a steaming pile of ineptitude that it makes John Wick look like Shakespeare in comparison.
John Wick has its faults. Believability being the obvious one. But it believes in itself just enough to carry it off and not descend into farce, though it skirts that point very closely at times.
One of the big draws for me here was the fight choreography. Plenty of thought went in to the extended action sequences and there was some imaginative use of the surroundings. Add to the fact that the shots are held long enough to let you see what is going on and the action is thoroughly enjoyable.
There is plenty of violence and plenty of blood. Though not overly graphic or gratuitous, it doesn't shy away from it either. There are bodies, and blood, galore after every shoot out.
It is difficult to describe the level of the action here, but the thing it most closely reminded me of was the "gun kata" motif from Equilibrium. If you liked that movie, then the general flow from one target to the next that Wick performs here will be immediately familiar.
Story-wise, it is a simple revenge tale and the reasons for the warpath mentality of Wick are spelled out in the first twenty minutes or so. After that it is all action, pretty much.
If the action had been done badly (a la the aforementioned Taken 3) or the fights hadn't been interesting, then this would have been a tedious bore-fest. But thankfully, all is well in that department and, as a result, the movie is enjoyable. Repeat viewing... maybe not so much. But I can think of many worse movies to sit through a second time.
SUMMARY: Imaginative fight scenes elevate this above many similar action movies. Simple plot and larger than life characters. Well worth a watch and can probably be considered as Hollywood's answer to movies like The Raid.