Movie Review: 'John Wick 4' Throws Gauntlet For Action Movie Competition
LOS ANGELES, Mar 13 (UPI) -- John Wick: Chapter 4 , hitting theaters March 24, delivers truly groundbreaking action not only by the standards of the John Wick series, but for all cinema, thanks to the innovations of director Chad Stahelski and team 87eleven action.
Unfortunately for John (Keanu Reeves), but fortunately for fans, leaving his international hitman career behind is not easy. After three movies, John is left for dead by the High Table of Assassins, and his allies at The Continental Hotel are also fighting him.
As Chapter 4 begins, John recovers and trains while hiding in the Bowery King's (Laurence Fishburne) underground lair. Meanwhile, Winston (Ian McShane), the manager of the New York Continental, faces another punishment from his superiors.Marquess (Bill Skarsgard) removes Winston from his command post and hires a new assassin to hunt down John. Because of this, John was forced to overthrow the marquess and force the High Table to leave the Assassin Society once and for all.
John Wick: Chapter 4 takes a major step in shaking up the continent's mythology. The film also embraces the epic nature of the evolving mythology.
New characters are given dramatic introductions and John sets up the navigational part all along. The fourth part manages to involve the audience in the characters who have just entered the story.
Japanese ally John Shimazu (Hiroyuki Sanada) and his daughter Akira (Rina Sawayama) have a strong enough dynamic that he fears they may be in danger in battle. Caine (Donnie Yen) also finds himself in an impossible position and is forced to go after John to save his family.
Once the action begins, the buildup is just as epic and non-stop. Every action scene in John Wick: Chapter 4 can be the climax of any other film. There are no skirmishes in this film.
Fights integrate martial arts and shooting games with car traffic. There's no doubt that there were some special effects to put all the elements together and get the sequences flowing, but the cars and people seem to interact, a quality that has been lacking in many recent films.
The hand-to-hand combat in the building takes place in continuous shooting from the top view. John coordinates the disassembly of the various pieces in different spaces, allowing viewers to capture this complexity from a bird's eye view.
Mythology also informs the choreography. John Wick: Chapter 2 establishes that the assassins at the High Table wear bulletproof suits, which changes how the characters fight.
John Wick and his enemies cover their faces with their sleeves because the sleeves deflect bullets. In the real world, no one bothered with such moves, as simple weapons wrapped in cloth would be useless against artillery.
These characters also understand the weak points of their suits to operationally exploit in their fights. John Wick may be the most brutal, but John is as brutal as any of his enemies.
The Osaka Continental employees arm themselves in a similar setting to previous John Wick films, except they only use Japanese weapons. Reeves displayed both grace and brutality when he borrowed some of these weapons. There is also an archer in the middle of the John Wick shootout.
With all the pitfalls that the John Wick universe has added to his reality, Chapter 4 still presents some stakes for John: he's limited in time, and while he can take on all comers, he needs time to fight back. He has not reached his goal.
Characters in positions of authority speak so cryptically that John's simple affirmative answer is refreshing. John will not try to convince you. He will tell you in person whether he will kill you or not.
John Wick film is the best of its kind, the filmmakers seem to pay attention to every detail in every frame. After four films, reboots may have become the norm, but John Wick: Chapter 4 has once again taken cinema to the next level.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a Los Angeles-based entertainment writer for UPI. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes reviewer since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012. Learn more about his work in entertainment.
