Review: 'John Wick 4' A Poetic, Imperfect Final Chapter That Goes Down Swinging For The Fences
Tom Santilli is a professional film critic, television personality, host and executive producer of Movie Show Plus. Twitter: @tomsantilli [twitter.com] |: Movieshow Plus [movieshowplus.com]
TOM RATING SHEET.
B and up
C+ or lower, thumbs down
John Wick was the biggest hit at the box office when it hit the screens almost a decade ago (2014). Since then, the franchise has become Lionsgate's IP of choice, grossing nearly $600 million at the box office. "John Wick. Chapter 2" (2017) expands the world of John Wick with a secret society of assassins and the mythology that accompanies his never-ending story. "John Wick. Chapter 3 – Parrabellum" (2019) is less exciting, but it goes deeper into this universe.
Each chapter has nearly doubled the gross of the previous chapter, which brings us to the much-anticipated John Wick: "John Wick. Chapter 5" is being planned, as well as the spinoff Ballerina and The Continental, a live-action series. based on the hotel and the killer's hideout.
What is surprising is that “John Wick. It has many, many problems, but the good outweighs the bad, maybe slightly, and if you've followed John Wick so far, you certainly won't be disappointed by his latest adventure.
Grade: B- Undefeated assassin John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is still on the run from the mysterious hierarchy known as The Table. His boss is a ruthless and menacing businessman named Marquis (Bill Skarsgård), and with unlimited resources at his disposal, it's only a matter of time before Wick's time comes.
The Marquis shuts down the Continental, forcing him to take his former boss Winston (Ian McShane) and trusted bodyguard Sharon (the great Lance Reddick, who died March 17 at age 60) into custody. - Mode of maintenance. A reticent, evil, evil assassin named Kane (also blind) joins the hunt for Wick (the ever-present Donnie Yeh), and another new assassin, calling himself Nobody (Shamer Anderson), joins the fray. ... He wants the value of Wick's head to reach a reasonable range before actively entering the hunt. No one has a loyal companion, a killer dog that defends and attacks at will, and anyone familiar with the John Wick movies knows how important a canine companion is.
Wick's ally Shimazu (Hiroyuki Sanada) and his daughter Akira (Rina Sawayama) also appear in the events of the final film. The Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne), Wick's wise mentor, is also woven through the film, but for no other reason than to show Fishburne's enthusiasm for a presence in another Reeves-led fantasy franchise.
For two hours and 49 minutes, “John Wick. "Chapter 4" sounds epic, but the opening hour has some pacing issues. This second hour is a complete waste and could have been cut entirely to make for a tighter, bigger and more impactful film. The middle section features a surprise villain named "Kila" (Scott Adkins, dressed in an oversized suit and prosthetics and the wrong costume) who feels like he belongs in another movie universe where heroes wear capes. Kila is actually very cute, I think she could have stepped out of Dick Tracy's gallery of villains with her purple suit and gold teeth.
The characters and scenery are so beautiful that the entire John Wick universe seems to exist in a kind of modern day hyper-reality. Of course, there is an element of fantasy, a surrealism that we take to witness one amazing act after another. And while most of the kill scenes look gruesome; The fight takes place in a nightclub with lots of gimmicks and flashing lights, it has no place in this scene, story or movie universe. It could have been legally cut and perhaps the set could have been used elsewhere without anyone noticing.
Have I mentioned how great this movie is? No kidding, I can't think of any other movie I've seen that has better production design. The film feels more poetic this time around, with haunting music to balance the awesome fight sequences and a more ambitious plot than any emotional payoff or depth.
"John Wick. While Chapter 4 doesn't take away from its great achievements in this technical area, it has the same problems as the previous chapter, namely the repetitive rapid fire and fight sequences... It seems. Only having 100 different ways to approach a man, and this movie shows them all 100,000 times over.” Just a hot shot. Part Two probably has a higher body count than John Wick. Chapter 4.” In that sense, it's like a video game flooding our screens with hordes of nameless, faceless bad guys, and we know the game is designed for our good guys to survive one way or another.
I liked the addition of Donnie Yen and Shamier Anderson, and I also liked that Ian McShane was given more to do than in previous chapters. "John Wick: Chapter 4 throws so much at the wall that some don't need to stick it together, but what makes it so compelling is the incredible mosaic of gore, bullets and mayhem that action movies have never matched.
This may be a new lease of life for action and action photography, but it's also a warning about the pitfalls of overuse.
Category B-
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller.
Duration: 2 hours 49 minutes.
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Cast: Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgard, Laurence Fishburne, Ian McShane, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Lance Reddick, Ian McShane.
Directed by Chad Stahelski ("John Wick", "John Wick: Chapter 2", "John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum").
