Film Review: John Wick - Chapter 4

 

Sexuality/Nudity Acceptable

Violence Mature
Vulgarity Mature

Anti-Catholic Philosophy Mature

There is a reason that the John Wick  continues to be wildly successful: these movies promise to offer us bloody, satisfying action and they always deliver.

Chapter 4 begins after the events of the previous film  John Wick (Keanu Reeves) has been nursed back to health by the Bowery King (Lawrence Fishburne) after being shot by the manager of the New York Continental, Winston (Ian McShane).  John kills the head of "The High Table," the assassin organization that runs that underground world.  As a result, the Table designates a Marquis (Bill Skarsgard) and empowers him to stop John no matter the cost.  This includes destroying Winston's Continental and higher the blind assassins' and friend of John's named Caine (Donnie Yen) to kill John or the Marquis will kill Caine's daughter.  John turns to friend named Shimazu (Hiroyuki Sanada), who runs the Japanese Continental.  But this brings down the wrath of the Marquis, to this dismay of Shimazu's daughter Akira (Rina Sawayana).  It is here that we are introduced to another free-agent assassin Mr. Nobody (Shamier Anderson) and his dog who is interested in keeping John alive long enough for his bounty to go up.

If that plot seems complicated, it really isn't.  One of the things that the John Wick movies do very well is streamline their stories.  John is a man on the run who is looking for a way out.  As the movies have gone on, the mythology of the assassins' underworld has become more complex and labyrinth, but it doesn't not detract from the story.  In fact, it tends to pull you in with its strange ways and customs.

As always, the action is superb.  You can tell the care that goes into each sequence so that the audience gets the maximum thrill.  Like Tom Cruise, Reeves and the John Wick filmmakers want to give the audience the best, most tangible action experience that is possible.  They are also looking for new and better ways to portray the action visually.  There is one sequence in particular that will stand out for audiences.  John enters the floor of a dilapidated building to fight the bad guys and the camera slowly transitions into a long bird's eye angle of the entire sequence.  

There is another sequence where John uses a pair of nunchucks, which have been my favorite weapon ever since my childhood Bruce Lee obsession.  Not only does he use them expertly, but he uses them in a way I have never seen, which gives the fights added flair.  I also like how the world stays consistent with the logic.  They have bulletproof suits, so the fighters will constantly pull their coats up to cover their faces.  

If there is a complaint here it would be that the filmmakers are so enamored of their fight scenes that they let them go on a bit too long.  Chapter 4 is close to 3 hours long.  You could easily cut out about 30 minutes of the action and the movie would sail along much faster.  Yes, you would lose some cool moments, but even the most exciting action can be fatiguing if it goes on too long.

Reeves once again delivers.  It is amazing how much he does with so little.  If I'm not mistake, he has the fewest lines of any John Wick movie to date.  And this is perfectly appropriate.  We now know the character to his core and he is a man of few words.  And the few times he does speak, they are very effective.  At one point he is having a conversation about what should be on his tombstone.  His answer is at the heart of the entire character.

There is another sequence that I love where Caine talks to John after he lights a candle and prays to his dead wife.  Caine asks if he believes that she hears him in the afterlife, but John says no.  When pressed as to why he does it, John simply says, "What if I'm wrong?"  There is something wonderfully humble about his answer that I cannot help to find admirable and endearing.

Director Chad Stahelski moves the camera with elegant grace and gives real beauty to these scenes of carnage.  He also knows how to use the camera and the space for effect.  Some of the shots are absolutely gorgeous because he knows how to use the beauty of the environment, like churches and cityscapes, to great effect.  There is one shot in particular that goes on too long so that the effect is intentionally very comical.

The rest of the cast is very good too.  You can feel the history between John, Caine, and Shimazu.  All of these men carry both intense power and sadness.  They are powerful warriors who seem powerless puppets of fate, and all of these actors play those parts perfectly.  Yen is particularly wonderful in his disdain for the work he is forced to do.  Mr. Nobody brings a nice, unpredictable element to the chemistry.  McShane is wonderful in the ease of his elegance.  Skarsgard does a good job of being unlikeable, but he could have been infused with a bit more menace.

Each of the John Wick movies has a specific focus.  The first is about grief.  The second is about obligations.  The third is about freedom vs. servitude.  This film is primarily focused on the idea of friendship.  The movie does an excellent job of showing the horrible obligation of friendship and what it can cost.  It is particularly tragic that Caine and John are locked in this death spiral because it is very clear that they are still very good friends.   This is the heart of the movie's dramatic conflict.

If this is the last John Wick movie, then it does a satisfying job of wrapping up the franchise.  However, I have a sneaking feeling that the future holds more bloody good times ahead.