Better Than Expected...

Rating: 6/10 (30 June 2015)

I saw this latest Keanu Reeves actioner off HBO over the weekend, and to my pleasant surprise- it was actually pretty decent. Reeves plays a hit- man (one of the most deadliest around) who retires after making a deal with the his crime boss (Michael Nyqvist) so he can settle down and be with his new bride (Bridget Moynahan). Only problem is she dies shortly thereafter, but leaves him a parting gift- something to remember her by; which happens to be a cute little puppy. He bonds with the pup, but then gets into a scuffle with some local gangsters, who kill the poor thing ( frown emoticon ), and John Wick steps back into his hit-man shoes in ultra-vengeance mode!
This is one of the best roles I've seen Keanu in for some time now, and hear this may be the beginning of a franchise-?? I hope so; would like to see more of this bad-ass character! I see this film was actually inspired by a few different action classics (John Woo's "The Killer", Jean-Pierre Melville's "Le Cercle Rouge" and "Le Samouraï", John Boorman's "Point Blank", and the spaghetti western subgenre of Western films); and you can definitely see that influence when watching this. Ian McShane, John Leguizama and Willem Dafoe co-star.