John Wicked.

Rating: 8/10 (3 June 2019)

Bit of prep work ahead of seeing John Wick 3 here.
John Wick (Keanu Reeves) a retired hitman is forced back into that life when he's beaten, his car is stolen and his dog is killed by Iosef (Alfie Allen) the son of a Russia Crime boss (Michael Nyqvist). So begins Wick's act of supreme revenge as he uses his very specific skill set to track down and kill all of the crime syndicate.
Seeing it again, I was surprised at how much time "John Wick" gave to establishing the character and world before unleashing him. It's probably 25 minutes or so before the action really starts, which is helpful as those 25 minutes are really the building blocks that the three films have been based on. It does go some way to establishing the world of "John Wick" too, with glimpses of The Continental and establishing the rules of the universe that will become more important in the sequels.
Acting is not good, as you might imagine, though Reeves has somehow found a way to legitimise his one note deadpan style for Wick. The story is a basic revenge thriller but that's not really why we're here. We are here for glorious visceral expertly choreographed violence that has proved a stark contrast to the CGI heavy or edited within an inch of their lives action films that have been prevalent in the last few years. Though it's only a return really, to how films used to be made, particularly in the "Hong Kong" style, the fact it's been away for a while does make it feel like "John Wick" is special and unique.