A One Mann’s Movies review of “John Wick: Chapter 4” (2023).
There are some movie franchises that, for whatever reason, I’ve never ever dipped my toe into. “Police Academy”? Nope, not seen a single one. “Transformers”? Nope – – monster robots fighting each other… no interest whatsover. And over on the action-hero side of the equation, there was John Wick, a Keanu Reeves vehicle set up by former stuntman Chad Stahelski in 2014. Now with its third sequel – “John Wick: Chapter 4” – I’ve jumped in. And I’m afraid, despite its glossy trappings, I found it to be a ludicrously overblown video game shoot-em-up, without emotion, threat or soul.
And I read that people are saying this was one of the best ones!?
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Plot Summary:
John Wick has declared war on the secret assassination bureau known as “The Table”. That puts his name top of the list that ‘The Marquis’ (Bill Skarsgård) – wants dead. It also puts anyone who assists Wick in mortal danger. But there is a way that, by using old Table rules of nobility, that Wick could find a way to regain his long-wanted freedom.
Certification:
UK: 15; US: R. (From the BBFC: “Strong violence, language”).
Talent:
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Lance Reddick, Ian McShane, Bill Skarsgård, Donnie Yen, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rina Sawayama, Scott Adkins.
Directed by: Chad Stahelski.
Written by: Shay Hatten, Michael Finch & Derek Kolstad.
Twitter Handle: #JohnWickMovie.
German rogue Killa played by Scott Adkins in a fat suit. I thought he was Alfred Molina for a while! (Source: Lionsgate).
“John Wick: Chapter 4″ Review:
Positives:
- It has all the spectacle and ‘WOW’ factor of the best Bond movies. There’s the spectacular opening horse-chase across the desert; the opulence of an Osaka hotel; the spectacular energy of a Berlin night-club (where the dancing stops for nothing!); and the glory of sunrise at the Sacre Coeur in Paris. For all of this, the lighting, set-design and cinematography (by Dan Laustsen (who did John Wick 2/3, “The Shape of Water” and “Nightmare Alley“) are spectacular.
- I enjoyed the showdown in the finale very much. It has strong nods to Sergio Leone’s “A Fistful of Dollars”, with a Morricone-esque score to match.
- You have to hand it to Keanu Reeves and the stunt team for their balletic efforts in executing the fight scenes. They are spectacularly well-choreographed and the team must have needed industrial quantities of Deep Heat in their trailers each night!
- The film works best when it leans into its absurdity (something it doesn’t do nearly enough). A late scene on the steps to the Sacre Coeur generates a ridiculous tumbling gag that DID make me laugh out loud. No spoilers if you haven’t seen the film yet, but it reminded me strongly of this classic scene from Laurel and Hardy!
- There’s a cracking choice of music scattered across the soundtrack.
Negatives:
- Look. I really apologise to the group of folks that really love these movies. (And reading the online runes, I’m sure I’m in the significant minority here). But I just don’t get it. The film is just a loosely bolted together set of the most ridiculous fight sequences. My issues with these ludicrously extended fights are numerous:
- Wick (and or some of his Japanese friends and associates) win every time even though they are beseiged by a veritable army of heavily-armed thugs, all of who lie dead in a big pile at the end of the scene (as per Austin Powers, will noone think of the henchmens’ families?). The attackers, although there in their dozens, only ever attack Wick one or two at a time!
- The thugs are the worst shots since the Empire cut down on the required time for Stormtroopers in the Death Star shooting range.
- The bad ‘uns are at least wearing kevlar-suits and helmets but unfortunately the armourer forgot to design them matching kevlar scarves, since a bullet through the neck-line means certain death. And guess where Wick shoots them every time!
- You’d think that its not an even remotely fair fight, since Wick et al don’t have the benefit of the thick jackets and helmets. But Wick DOES have a well-tailored ‘Kevlar two-piece suit’ (LOL), so that’s OK! (“JUST SHOOT HIM IN THE F***ING HEAD THEN!” I yelled. But no. The Coruscant class of 2010 can’t hit the blind-side of a barn. And when they are on target, Wick is drawing his ‘bullet proof Van Heusen’ over his head, like a schoolkid trying to smell his own farts under the bedsheets!)
- Not content with Wick deflecting the bullets, he is thrown headlong into cars at the Arc de Triomphe (totalling them beyond repair, I note) and at one point is launched from a second story window into a van. No problem! He’s perfectly fine! Did I MISS some important plot point by not seeing John Wick 1/2/3? Is he actually an indestructible cyborg from the planet Zarg?
- Caine (Donnie Yen), the blind assassin, is accurate to within a centimetre when fighting numerous henchmen. But come to fighting John Wick one-on-one in a room full of noisy bits of broken glass on the floor and he becomes all Stormtrooperish again.
- The film’s Paris section steals shamelessly from “Mission Impossible: Fallout” – with the speedboat in the sewers and the wrong-way trip round the Arc de Triomphe (albeit here in a car rather than a bike).
Monkeys?
Yes, there is a short monkey after the end of the interminable end-credits. (It actually wasn’t the one I was expecting it to be, in setting up for a John Wick Chapter 5).
Summary Thoughts on “John Wick: Chapter 4”
I’m sure I’m in the minority here. But this seemed like an action film stuffed with absurdity. At 10 minutes short of 3 hours, it’s also excessively long. Much of my issue is with the fight scenes which are both insanely long (300% too long imho) and (for me) repetitively tedious. Bang, dead, Bang, dead, Bang, nearly dead, another Bang, deffo dead, Slash (ooh, novelty, something different), dead, Bang, dead, Bang Bang, dead. Sigh.
The problem for me with the lack of realism is the fight scenes is that there is a complete absence of tension involved. You are watching an interpretative dance and nothing more. Good interpretative dance, I grant you. But contrast the fights in John Wick with, for example, the train fight scene in “Spectre” or the bathroom fight scene in “Mission Impossible: Fallout“: action that left you gripping your arm-rests.
Which I found frustrating. With a simple but effective backstory, there is the essence of a great samurai-style film in here. But this, for me, wasn’t it.
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Trailer for “John Wick: Chapter 4”
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3eUC6GCjOU .
I actually find the first film very good. It has a lot of soul to it. Unfortunately, as the series progressed they edged out the original screenwriter, and creator of John Wick, Derek Kolstad, until he no longer had anything to do with Chapter 4.
It shows.
The heart and soul was exchanged for too many nonsensical action sequences.
I find it terribly sad for Kolstad since John Wick brought Keanu Reeves career back from the dead and gave Chad Stahelski his start as a director.
I guess, that’s Hollywood gratitude for you.
Thanks for commenting. As I said, I was a John Wick virgin so can’t compare. The sad thing is that 4 did not make me keen to catch up on 1-3, but maybe I should at some point.