Viscerally enjoyable tosh

Rating: Null/10 (19 July 2015)

When disease takes the wife of former contract killer John Wick, he can find no respite apart from a dog, gifted to him by his wife so that he will have something to focus his love on, to prevent him from slipping back into his former dark ways. A chance encounter with a Russian thug sees Wick's connection to this life severed, and he sets out for vengeance – a path that will take him up against the most powerful criminal gang in the city.
Although it does start with a satisfyingly meaty emotional base, this film is one long action sequence of impossible acts and violence (with Wick seemingly looking to get extra XP from headshots). There is of course a limit to the appeal of this, but it is hard not to enjoy the mindless dark heart of this whole film, as it relentlessly drives forward with little thought of external logic, instead selling itself hard and fast throughout. Mostly this approach works; with minimal set-up it is not long before the violence begins in earnest, and it is solidly and stylishly done throughout, with slick design and satisfying set-pieces. The style does help because, with Wick being pretty much the Terminator, it is not always easy to feel any tension from peril, so instead we get the tension from the relentlessness and the speed of movement.
Reeves is a good lead for this, since it does essentially require him to be emotionless and enigmatic – both of which he can pull off. He is surrounded by familiar faces, all of whom feel like maybe they were wasted by being in the film for only short times each, but all of which give the film a sense of quality – and everyone does produce something even if they only have one or two scenes (also fun for fans of The Wire to see the couple of faces showing up). All told, this is not the reinvention of action movies (as some have said) but it just a reminder of how they should be done well – enough emotional grit for us to care, and then good solid relentless action the rest of the way. It is nonsense, as so much of this genre is, but it is visceral, tough, dark, and really quite fun.