A fresh kind of action

Rating: 8/10 (27 February 2018)

The new franchise to boost Keanu Reeves acting career, is certainly gonna go down as the best action movie of 2014! It has a great cast with very serious and grim performances, while still being charming and intimidating.
The film starts off with a very generic plot - "mans wife dies, leaves a dog - home-invaders kills dog and steals car, man sets out to avenge the crimes.".
Even though it had me bored for the first 10 minutes of plot-building, I got so immersed as soon as the action and dialogue started popping. The cinematography and style is so beautiful and different from other action films, which makes it a unique and fresh breath into the genre. The film is also filled with stunning performances from Reeves and the compelling antagonist - even a surprise performance from Willem Dafoe.
One thing I noticed during the action, is the fact that the kamera-work has shy completely away from "shaky-cam", which is much harder to achieve and so pleasant to look at. It makes the action more tangible and easy to follow.
Even though the plot is not really a new thing, it's unveiled and structured with such grace, that the only critique - is the simplicity of it all. But overall a really satisfying action-flick, that clearly blew me away.