Great action

Rating: 9/10 (16 February 2015)

A car crashes against a wall. A seriously injured guy tumbles out. He starts watching a video of him with a woman.
That takes us to the beginning in cut scenes. The guy was celebrating his anniversary with the woman who is ill. That night she collapses and dies in the hospital. The guy is devastated. Later he gets a delivery. It's a puppy. The woman arranged it to be sent to him once she dies, so he doesn't have to mourn alone.
Next morning he goes for a drive in his classic Mustang with the puppy. At a gas station some Russian offers to buy the car. The guy refuses. The Russian doesn't take it too well. At night a bunch of masked guys break into the guy's house, kill the puppy, beat him up and steal the car. They take the car to a shop where the owner is outraged at the stupidity of the Russian. He known who the car belongs to. Then he gets a call from the Russian's father who's the big mobster. The shop owner tells him the son just stole John Wick's car.
Now we learn from the mobster about John. He was the baddest unstoppable killing machine around till he retired when he met his wife. So he knows what's coming. His son doesn't get it and thinks he can do something about it. He sends an army to visit John at night. John dispatches them all and calls a specialized cleaning crew afterward. Now John unearths his gear, puts on a nice suit and checks into the Continental hotel--a safe house for hit men. There everyone thinks that John is back in business. He clarifies that it's just personal. The mobster puts a bounty on his head and that means that all the bad guys in town will go after him, including some at the safe house--which goes against the rules.
John now goes after the son and eventually after the mobster father and later we return to the beginning.
The trailer promised exhilarating action and the movie delivers. It's old-fashioned pistol action and athletic fisticuffs. If the title Bullet for the Head weren't taken it could have made an apt title for this movie as well, as John isn't just happy to empty a clip into some bad guy but has to finish things off by blowing their skulls open. It's R-rated action as it should be. When bloody action if filmed for PG-13 standards you end up with duds like the Taken sequels. It also has some original car action, not so much chases but cars used for shootouts. Cool stuff. Perhaps it goes a bit overboard in manipulating your emotions. It's not enough that the wife dies and that he's heart-broken, but they've got to kill the puppy and steal the cool car. But it was expected as dogs always end up dead in Hollywood movies. But while he's alive, the dog character and actor really do a solid job. The whole Russians as bad guys is getting a bit tired. Is it that hard to do something original in Hollywood?
What is particularly interesting is the whole underground hit men culture. The safehouse/hotel, the rules, the cleaning crew and so on. Reeves is always likable even when all he does is shoot at people. But this movie has another thing going for it and that is Michael Nyqvist who is incapable of not giving a spectacular performance. You can just tell he gets a kick out of every role he plays. Looking forward to part 2.