John Wick

For starters, that's a pretty sweet poster if I do say so myself. 

John Wick is the action film that you may not have heard about, but the one you should most definitely pay attention to. Early trailers, while not heavily circulated  other than the last week on TV, were awesome and got a lot of people, myself included, immediately hyped. 

At times, I'm wary of these insta-hype trailers - ones that are so well done that they sway me towards a movie that I probably wouldn't have known about otherwise. Luckily, the excitement for John Wick was well deserved as it was a fluid (a word you will hear often throughout this review), cool, and well orchestrated little action film that could (and should) launch a new franchise for Keanu Reeves.

"Yeah...I'm thinkin I'm back!"

The premise for John Wick is simple: a man out for revenge. After Wick leaves a particular lifestyle and set of skills behind in pursuit of a more normal life with his wife, his wife becomes ill and ultimately passes away (don't worry this is all in like the first 10 seconds of the trailer). After a group of Russian thugs come to set John straight for a brief altercation they had, they end up killing his puppy, something I wasn't a fan of, which was his wife's dying gift to him. Clearly this sets John off. And by "sets him off" I mean that he becomes one of the more efficient killing machines in recent non-superhero movie history. His revenge plunges him back into a world full of assassins, with specific rules, that were pretty amusing and created an interesting backdrop for a past that we don't know too much about. The film loses a bit of steam here and there, with many of the non-action scenes being rather dull due to a script that lacks during the quieter moments. Luckily the film is anchored fabulously by Keanu Reeves, who has a somewhat hard time finding success since The Matrix trilogy ended. When the film calls for emotions, Reeves delivers adequately for this type of film, but when it demands action and anger, Reeves shines and propels the film forward with an unstoppable power. His character is just too damn cool and at times the film reminded me of Drive, which is never a bad thing (although the films are vastly different). The rest of the cast, Michael Nyqvist, Willem Dafoe, Adrianne Palicki, and Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy!) are all decent, especially Nyqvist, but live in Reeves' shadow for sure. 

Why does Theon always have a knife in his face?!

One of the best scenes of the year. Incredible

John Wick is an action film and for the genre that I love so much I require two main things, among others: the action must be filmed well, and the action must be unique. There is nothing more boring than watching a bad action film, especially when said film lacks any sort of innovation. This is where John Wick mostly excels. At points, the action is typical, but when it hits its stride it's essentially unrivaled. Wick spins, flips, shoots, reloads, and just moves with such a fluidity that it's borderline musical to watch. In the film's best action shots, Reeves doesn't stop moving for a second and literally leaves a trail of bodies behind him. It all works so well because the frames in which the action is captured are superb and completely void of shaky cam. Director Chad Stahelski and David Leitch allow their action, and the superb choreography, to create it's own intensity and speak for itself and it gives us a beautiful example of what more action movies should try to aspire to. The movie loses a bit of it's skill in this area near the end of the film, but the first two main action sequences of the film are some of the best scenes of the entire year. An attack in a bathhouse that leads to a club, with some of the most perfect music mapping I've ever heard, is a visceral, intense, and completely mesmerizing opera of guns, knives, blood, and Reeves. Simply amazing and dare I say, poetic. 

Now just imagine multiple scenes for much longer...that's John Wick.

John Wick is one of those films that you just can't help but love. Sure, it doesn't get everything perfect, but I'd argue that its best scenes are some of the most special put on screen so far this year. It's 101 minutes of Keanu Reeves brilliantly kicking ass as he storms furiously back onto the big screen in what is probably the straight-up coolest movie since Drive. 

And as someone who wants to see more of this character, this world, and this flow-motion (a new term that I am claiming!) action, I urge you to go and see it this weekend. 

CONS:

• It loses a bit of steam near the end as the action scenes here mostly don't live up to the rest of them and the plot seems to meander
• Boring script for most non-fight scenes
• The other characters, except for Nyqvist, live in Reeves' shadow a bit
• Not a fan of the puppy killing, although it was central to the plot

PROS:

• Keanu Reeves is a boss and makes sure that everyone knows it...via headshots. A strong anchor not only for this film, but hopefully a new franchise
• Superb and exquisitely filmed action that is the way action SHOULD be captured. It provides some of the best scenes of the year and is visceral, exciting, violent, and even funny at times
• The world that John Wick comes from is unique and has its own set of rules that the movie makes a point to explain. Definitely somewhere that deserves further exploration
• A fantastic original score and soundtrack selection make for some brilliant music-to-scene mapping
•  Fun, gorgeous, COOL, quick, and surprising. This was definitely a trip to the theaters that I enjoyed. 

Rath's Review Score: 8.5/10