John Wick: Chapter 4
Directed by:
Chad StahelskiCinematography:
Dan LaustsenCast:
Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Laurence Fishburne, Rina Sawayama, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, Scott Adkins (more)VOD (4)
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John Wick (Keanu Reeves) uncovers a path to defeating The High Table. But before he can earn his freedom, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe and forces that turn old friends into foes. (Nordisk Film Fin.)
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Reviews (12)
In the context of the action genre, John Wick: Chapter 4 is polished perfection. This carefully constructed gourmet treat manages to simultaneously evoke physically intense reactions and pure pleasure from the creativity and inventiveness of its choreography. The moment when Wick puts the nun-chucks around his neck brings you to the realisation that you have just witnessed perfection – it’s something like the first time you knowingly gaze at a van Gogh painting or let the music of Bach encompass you, or see The Rock raise an eyebrow. As foolish and faithless as I am, I momentarily doubted whether the filmmakers had anything else up their sleeve after that. But when the camera soars over the hero wielding a shotgun with incendiary rounds, my head exploded. This is where the wheat gets separated from the chaff. The fourth John Wick is a grandiose eruption of genius, talent and enlightenment. At the same time, its creators pay tribute to the entire previous tradition of cinematic martial arts and the greats of the genre – from Bruce Lee and Sammo Hung to Zatoichi. But by avoiding shallow imitation and fanboyish references, they set a benchmark based on their role models and predecessors that they want to surpass, though not arrogantly, but lovingly and with respect. Keanu Reeves remains a tremendous asset to the franchise, which is primarily thanks to his years of levelling up and his willingness to learn new things. Choreographers thus get an unprecedentedly malleable actor with whom they can vary the skills that he has already mastered while also setting new challenges for him. The same is true of the other renowned actors in the film. Other spectacular ensemble action movies of the past – e.g. The Expendables and The Fast and the Furious – got by with merely pitting stars against each other in the manner of wrestling exhibitions and letting them show off their iconic moves from other movies. In contrast to that, Stahelski’s team takes Hiroyuki Sanada, Donnie Yen, Scott Adkins, Marko Zaror and Shamier Anderson and transforms each of them into a delightfully distinctive character and gives them space to exploit their physical strengths, build on a classic tradition or icon and even go nuts with their acting. In addition to that, Chapter 4 makes absolutely magnificent use of the franchise’s own comic-bookishly overwrought world with its contrasting colour palette, weapons sommelier, style fetishes and surreally idealised clichés. This Downton Abbey with kung-fu and guns has roots embedded in the impassioned essences of genre flicks, ranging from the melancholic crime dramas of Jean-Pierre Melville through John Woo’s heroic bloodshed movies and the samurai dramas of Masaki Kobayashi to the postmodern cool of Cowboy Bebop. John Wick: Chapter 4 thus steers well clear of boastful, Tarantino-style eclectic exhibitionism. Like a true master of the martial arts, it humbly acknowledges its own masters, whose brilliance led it to establish a new pinnacle of the action genre.
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It's still mostly top-notch action, but the Wick theme is pretty much exhausted. The script, with dialogue written by Keanu Reeves, was probably about 2 A5 pages, I don’t think it was more than that, and when someone wasn't fighting someone, I was more likely to cover my ears. There is one brilliant action sequence (a bird's eye view of a shotgun rampage with fiery "Dragon Breath" ammunition), but that not enough to make the film memorable. The previous episode, which I thought was better, had a lot of jaw-dropping moments, like the knife fight, the action inferno with the dogs or the horse kicks, but the only thing that really stands out here is the short scene with the shotgun and then the kinetic sequence at the Arc de Triomphe. Otherwise, it's mostly about headshots, and there are so many of them and with such frequency that by the final lengthy scene on the "endless" stairs I was already numb and didn't care. Moreover, how am I supposed to worry about John Wick, when he survives with a mere shake stuff that would have killed even the T-1000 in Terminator 2? It wasn't joy, as in previous episodes, but rather fatigue towards the end. Please, no more episodes.
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There may be mild spoilers, but nothing major to the plot, more of a scene-by-scene tease. The best Wick and quite possibly the best action flick that already fully competes with The Raid 2, and in some ways even surpasses it. Stahelski is an incredible dude who made a 3 hour action orgasm; I died in the cinema, saw my funeral, was reincarnated and rose from the ashes as a brand new Phoenix whipped up with fire and pumped full of adrenaline. The whole movie is so sexy and exciting it makes me horny as fuck. (Never happened to me in any movie before!!). The film has four action sequences that are around 20-30 minutes long each and could serve as a finale for another film. (Seeing 4 finales at once makes is awesome!!). The samurai massacre in Osaka Continental had a strong Asian feel to it and I definitely purred with bliss. The likable Rina Sawayama and Hiroyuki Sanada are a great addition and the whole thing has a very dense atmosphere, you slowly hold your breath. The next chapter belongs to Scott Adkins in Berlin, who plays a kingpin and his character is a nice caricature. The table scene definitely has its charm, and is topped off with a gnarly fight at a swanky rave party that I would love to attend as well. The sequence on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris impresses with its unconventional setting. Incorporating fights and gunfire during rush hour traffic is a brilliant idea, and the whole scene is breathtaking in its adrenaline rush. Wick here makes nice use of oncoming cars to take out his opponents – delicious! Then the highlight is the shootout in a building with the use of a 2D camera, where Wick uses fiery shotgun blasts (heart attacks!!!) – one of the best ideas in the history of action movies ever, those camera raids were simply breathtaking. The final set-piece on the stairs to the Sacré-Cœur Basilica are again impressive with the setting and the barrage of adversaries. It simply has the feel of a computer game, with one enemy after another coming at you, and I dig that. The new characters on the stage were a great pleasure. Apart from the aforementioned Adkins and Sanada, the character of Hitchhiker Nobody was very good, as he and his dog were in great sync and it was again a solid insert in the action passages. Bill Skarsgård is not a fighter, so less kudos to him, but he was definitely very confident in the dialogue passages. Marko Zaror is also a decent surprise, he has perhaps the best role of his career and entertained me. The biggest draw, though, is without a doubt the blind Donnie Yen (I understand the filmmakers decision to make him a blind man, otherwise no one would have had a chance) who does some nice stunts with a katana. (A bit of a minor criticism here that he didn't use his famous Wing-chun, but I'll get over it). He's got great character and charisma, and an incredible assassin code. So much for the characters and action, what about the rest. Visually this is a masterpiece, all the locations, interiors and exteriors look sumptuous and lavish, the colours, the staging, the use of the environments to the max (rain, neons, lighting, monuments a great feast for the eyes in that respect), the music is great too (it's great throughout the franchise, but I found it the most intense here). For my part I have to praise the lore around the high table and the assassins, some complain that it could have been more in depth, but I don't know of any action movie that has a more interesting mythology than Wick. I was also excited by the detailed introduction of the Pit Viper gun! My only criticism is the bit of overkill (falling out a window and down some stairs), but a proper fan will just smile nicely at this and move on. This is what it's all about. Stahelski and the entire team should be applauded for their incredible creativity, attention to detail, and all sorts of different ways to disarm a person. It takes more work to come up with all this than any script for an Oscar-winning drama. I once again enjoyed this sublime and luxurious ride and look forward to visiting the cinema again. An amazing 3 hours spent and I would take another hour. I don't understand why someone who doesn't like or understand action movies goes to a preview. Instant bullet to the head. 10/10.
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The best action franchise ever, now it is clear. But the fourth entry is three hours long? Of course, every action scene lasts like thirty minutes, and there are plenty of them. I've never really seen anything like it, let alone in the cinema, and I don't think I ever will again, unless they make Chapter 5. Chad Stahelski uses everything he has taught himself and John Wick in previous episodes, putting new obstacles in his path and forcing him to find new solutions. But most important of all, the story that connects the horribly grotesque slaughter is not stupid. The opening reference to Lawrence of Arabia is more of a joke, but after a while we get to the "Leone-like" clockwork and a sense that although the bad guys will die by the hundreds again, it will end up in a one-on-one duel like in a western. John Wick works his way up to it in a Bond-like globetrotting way, and in the interesting company of assassins who, though at his throat, are so well written and motivated that you actually root for them too. The story also puts a lot of emphasis on different forms of friendship, and I like that. If this film is the end of Wick's journey, he couldn't have asked for a better ending.
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Despite a bit of recycling, Chapter 4 is still an entertaining action blockbuster without a single dull moment in its nearly three-hour runtime. And it has the best ending of all the films in the franchise. Bill Skarsgård is an exemplary bourgeois bad guy and Donnie Yen plays the franchise’s first supporting character who is a match for Wick and is more than just a one-dimensional villain. The overhead shots in the rooms are fantastic, but I wouldn’t have borrowed the wrong-way ride on the traffic circle around the Arc de Triomphe in Paris from Mission: Impossible – Fallout, because this equally highly rated franchise has no need for that. The higher degree of detached humor (radio hits from the Eiffel Tower, the long fall down the stairs) together with the outsized nature of everything was more than pleasing. Of course, the production design is again outstanding. I hope we will see the young Japanese actress Rina Sawayama in the fifth John Wick.
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