Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Rating: 7/10 (6 February 2015)

Every so often two movies are released the same calendar year with a similar story—ala Dante's Peak and Volcano, both released in 1997, Deep Impact and Armageddon in 1998, The Illusionist and The Prestige in 2006, Olympus has Fallen and White House Down in 2013 or we can go all the way back to 1984 with Breakin' and Beat Street. I mention this because part way through this movie I couldn't help but realize how eerily similar it is to The Equalizer.
The Equalizer, starring Denzel Washington, was about a retired, highly skilled agent that was living alone because he had lost his wife. He was drawn out of retirement by the Russian Mafia because of their iniquities.
John Wick, starring Keanu Reeves, is about a retired, highly skilled assassin that lives alone because he lost his wife. He has also been drawn out of retirement by Russians because of their iniquities. That's where the similarities end. Even though John Wick is a good movie I give the nod to The Equalizer over it for a few reasons:
1.) Denzel over Keanu. Reeves still has all of the range of a cardboard cutout.
2.) The story. Every vengeance/vigilante film requires an impetus for the revenge/vigilantism. Sometimes we, the viewer, don't really care what that reason is, we just want to see some professional butt whipping. Even if that is the case, that's not to say that some causes are not better than others. The cause in John Wick was good just how it came about was very elementary.
3.) The head scratching moments. John Wick has three moments that leave you scratching your head with a puzzled look on your face. They are fairly obvious as they are right out of the movie cliché manual. It doesn't cripple the movie but it makes you wonder: in this day and age with a hundred years of movies to refer to, why drum up the same old good guy and bad guy clichés?
Those are my only beefs. They aren't enough to ruin the movie well, they might ruin it for some. Once the action kicks into gear it's a real treat. John Wick is masterful with a gun. It's like he took martial arts classes with guns. Instead of giving you a well-placed punch or kick, he uses bullets. And there was something they did well in this movie which I'd never seen in a movie before this one. John Wick had to often, and quite obviously, change magazines in his weapons. John Wick made it very apparent that his guns do not have magazines with unlimited rounds, and that you very well may have to replace a magazine at a very inconvenient time. That was refreshing.