John Wick (***½)
Directed by: Chad Stahelski &
David Leitch (uncredited)
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Michael
Nyqvist, Willem Dafoe, Alfie Allen, Adrianne Palicki, Bridget Moynahan, Dean
Winters, Ian McShane, John Leguizamo, Lance Reddick
Seen: December 26th 2014
***½ Out of ****
John Wick is one of the most
surprisingly entertaining action movies I have ever seen. Directed by debutants
Stahelski and Leitch, the movie oozes action confidence, which should come as
no surprise, since the two directors have over 40 years of combined stunt
coordination experience. They have both been Keanu Reeves’ stunt double previously,
in Point Break and The Matrix among others. John Wick features extremely cool raw
action, and coupled with an effective story it makes for a very enjoyable 101
minutes of relaxation.
John Wick (Reeves) has just lost his
wife to illness, and as part of her last will he receives a gift from her.
Knowing he will have a hard time, she bought him a puppy, challenging him to
start there with rebuilding his life, to have something to love other than his
car, a ’69 Mustang. At a local gas station Wick is confronted by a low-life who
obnoxiously offers to buy his car, but Wick simply tells him it’s not for sale.
The low-life is Iosef (Allen), the out-of-control son of the mafia boss Viggo Tarasov
(Nyqvist), and Iosef and two colleagues follow John Wick home. They assault him
and kill his puppy before taking the car. They take it to local chop-shop owner
Aurelio (Leguizamo) for modifications, but Aurelio refuses and punches Iosef.
The low-life runs to his dad, who calls Aurelio to enquire as to why Aurelio
hit his son. When Aurelio tells him that Iosef stole John Wick’s car, Viggo’s
response is a short “Oh”, before he ends the call, and starts to batten down
the hatches; Viggo knows what John Wick used to be before his marriage, and he
will need all the help he can get if he is going to survive the coming onslaught.
John Wick is shown with a sledge hammer, digging up a box of weapons and other
items, and the scene is set for a violent and engaging action movie.
John Wick features some of the most level-headed
and brutal action I’ve seen in quite a while. The gun-fu sequences reminded of
Christian Bale’s Equilibrium (2002), but here the violence is not sanitised or visually
glorified as much as in Equilibrium; it is curt, bloody, and ruthless. Keanu
Reeves has more good acting in him than many would think (see The Gift if you’re
not convinced), and in-between the mass of violence and mayhem he inflicts he
also delivers a believable and broken man after losing the love of his life.
Even though the movie is relatively
dark (a large portion of the movie takes place at night) the movie is visually
striking and fantastically choreographed and filmed. The action is solidly
presented by artists who do not need shaky camera techniques and other cheap
tricks to imbue their movie with urgency and thrills. John Wick is no
super-hero (or super-vigilante), but he is very good at what he does. He is not
infallible, and the bad guys don’t miss because he is the lead character, which
raises the stakes as John Wick works his way through security guards, personal
guards, and mob hard-men.
I thoroughly enjoyed John Wick, as it
is a great throw-back to the kind of action movies I grew up with that has
become very rare in the last 15 or so years. This is definitely one for the
ages, one that will become a cult favourite, and one that I will own soon.
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