Going into John Wick Chapter 4 I expected a solid action movie, but one that to be honest,
would struggle to raise the bar after the insanity that had come before.
But leaving the theatre, boy was I completely wrong.
This was a high adrenaline instalment, that in my opinion, set a new standard for the
lengths that filmmakers and stunt performers could go to
capture the best action filmmaking possible.
For me, it's the best action movie since 2015's Mad Max Fury Road, telling it's story and
high octane sequences through perfected visual cinematography, building up to an ending subtext
that John Wick fans have wanted to know the answer to for years since the series began.
In this video essay, I'm going to be giving you
my thoughts on why I believe John Wick Chapter 4 is an action masterpiece, discussing how
particular scenes drive the storytelling through visual filmmaking.
There will be brief spoilers in this video, so if haven't seen the film
yet, then I'd recommend watching it before checking out my review.
Before I get into it though, if you want to see more videos on upcoming
theatrical releases like the latest John Wick film, then don't forget to support this video
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But without further a do, lets dive into my review
for John Wick Chapter 4.
There are moments, sequences or even entire films in action cinema that you remember forever.
Whether it be john Mclaine surviving the events of that very first Die Hard feature.
Imax sequences in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight
trilogy.
The re-defining action of that very first Matrix film.
The practical and visually spectacular takes in Mad Max Fury Road.
Or the brutal insanity of the fights in both The
Raid films.
There's so many examples that could join this list when it comes to action film history,
but I think the recently released 4th chapter in the John Wick franchise does it
all.
Chad Stahelski's latest film starring Keanu Reeves is full of furious action and almost
unstopable feats in choreographed stunt work that it again brings up the argument surrounding
a best stunt category at the Oscars.
While John Wick 4 can feel like it's giving us a greatest hits of it's very best action,
in each sequence it finds a way to continuously up
the intensity and stakes at play, with extended scenes that top everything that's come before.
If this is the last time that we see our favourite gun-fu specialist in his kevlar
suit on the big screen, then he's gone out with one of the best entries in the franchise
and one of the best films tied to action filmmaking.
With the High Table looking to sort their wick problem out once and for all, their leader,
Bill Skarsgard's Marquis, thinks it's guarranteed that he will be able to take out John before
the 3 hour runtime is up, as our favourite assassin is pushed to his physical limits
and remains virtually friendless in his quest for both vengeance and freedom.
Anyone he gets close to becomes marked for death, and with the
increasing price put on his head, it seems like it's only a matter of time, before John's
rampage is ended, unlike the previous instalments.
But as the plot cleverly introduces, there's a way out of his troubles and that involves
some old tradition in the laws of the high table.
The old ways as they are called in the film is
something that could either set him free or see him die trying, providing that he does
make it through the hundreds of enemies that are placed in his way before the credits.
Of course, this very plot connects to how the franchise
and character began.
John Wick was a somewhat relatable revenge thriller where a past assassin got out of
the game because of love, and ends up getting back involved when his puppy,
a gift from his dead wife, is eventually killed.
Now, by the time we've reached chapter 4 the very thematics that this whole story have
been built around, whether it be freedom, vengeance or death, are answered in a globetrotting
blockbuster that has to outdo everything that came before it.
And while Chapter 4 delivers on the high expectations set by the previous
films, it also uses its runtime effectively to expand the series unique universe of underground
assasins, fascinating side stories and well-designed locales.
When it comes to what is most striking about John Wick 4, it's how emotionally engaging
it is, and how the excellently choreographed action sequences drive this story to it's
glorious end.
In much blockbuster films today we don't get the earned motivation for a protagonist or
why even the action itself has a central purpose.
In the previous John Wicks we were shown how deadly and even how rage-filled
John had become, visualised as a destructive legend risen from the ground.
We already knew that John Wick, or Baba Yaga, was a somewhat
unstoppable force that seemed almost unkillable, even right from the more comedic myths like
how he once killed 3 men in a bar with a pencil.
And if we didn't believe that already, the series would constantly remind us, like in
the many occasions that he survives almost fatal wounds, falls or collisions.
And that made us question, when will this ever end.
Is this going to become as silly as an action franchise
like say Fast and Furious, where they simply top the biggest action scenes and use even
more CGI work to show that they are just going bigger for the sake of it.
Or is it going to lead to something more meaningful in relation to John Wick's past and psyche.
In my opinion, it absolutely did the later, and the incredible
action scenes and cinematography in Chapter 4 deliver on such a monumental scale.
Dan Laustsen's impecable photgraphy and Kevin Kavanaugh’s state of the art production
design is what really takes this entry to another level,
giving us the prominent usage of neons and reflective visual mirrors to make us even
more aware of the fact that John Wick as a characters needs
an answer soonner rather than later, whether that be freedom or death.
The many action sequences like the early horseback chase through the desert, the now rain soaked
nightclubs, or the absolutely astonishing final hour in Paris,
show that the visual aesthetics of this franchise have been pushed to their absolute limits.
Alongside that, Chapter 4 adopts more dance like camerawork and less frenetic editing
cuts than was seen in the previous films too.
During many of these moments whether it be John's intital fight with Donnie Yen's Caine
or his physically exhausting battle in the rain with
Scott Adkins Killa, we feel an exhaustion to the killing that we've become so used to
seeing from Keanu Reeves deadly assassin.
Just when we think he's running out of steam, he again
fully inhabits the Baba Yaga persona and kills or defeats yet another enemy put in front
of him.
But after all the relentless action that's thrown our way, it's in the final act, where
Stahelski and Reeves deliver their masterpiece of the action genre.
Their final opera answers that previously mentioned question surrounding
whether John will get freedom or die trying.
And their statement is, why not both.
It's a night of a million bullets, and thousands of deaths sprawling from one landmark to another.
We go from an unbelievable and breathy sounding
sequence in front of the Arc de Triomphe, which is full of enemies being hit by cars
and a dog jumping through the chaos to assist our
famous bogeyman.
We then move to an abondoned building sequence where John has to fight off hundreds of goons
using a dragon breath shotgun, captured superbly in camerwork around and
from above.
It even makes room for a moment here where John makes the choice to save Mr Nobody's
dog, bringing the series events and main character full circle.
And we cap all of this off with an almost impossible final action
scene up a famous staircase, where John battles his physical and even mental capabilities,
rising the many stairs, only to be thrown all the
way back down.
It turns out that while he goes for a lot of the runtime with no friends or those to
help him, that the person he's meant to duel in the events that follow and the
character that's been hunting him down for a bounty, end up coming to his aid.
Mixed with music and sound from the other John Wick films, this cultivating sequence
shows that the more Wick blasts his way through, the more he and
the audience seem to feel that the answer to his fateful question is coming.
And we get that very answer in the film's final duel, where
the future of John Wick is decided once and for all.
He doesn't get either freedom or just death, he get's both.
He allows himself to be shot and killed by Donnie Yen's Caine, but then
he also uses his reserved bullet to kill the Marque, essentially finishing what he started.
In the end, he got freedom through death and ended up somewhere between heaven and hell.
As Winston and the Bowery King debate that very
question once Wick has been buried, it's almost fitting that the final shot of Wick before
his death is one where he sits, bleeding out on
the steps halfway between a church, sybolised as heaven, and the many goons he'd killed
below, sybolised as hell.
It's almost a visual reference to the two parts of John Wick's life.
One being the death and destruction as a hitman and the other being the religious love that
he had for his wife.
John Wick essentially could only get freedom by allowing himself to die,
and none of the enemies that were put in front of him could kill him themselves.
That's the point to all of these never-ending action sequences, and it's through both the
visual imagery and aestetics on display that we get an action
story payed off in all the right ways.
Fighting against all of these odds, also makes Wick that much more endearing.
The no-nonsense part of Keanu's performance is used to show us just how much he internally
struggles.
Each killing, each big decision throughout this
series has come at a big cost to his integrity.
The higher he rises through the temple that is the high table, the more the villains he
encounters represent the High Table’s next layer of capitalism.
Bill Skarsgård’s Marquis is the epitomy of great wealth, fashion, and arrogance, and
while we always question how far John has gone, the table's system is so unforgiving
in the realisation that no matter who Wick kills, someone will always continue the never-ending
cycle.
So it has to be said that with Chapter 4 bringing a sense of intimacy
to John's bloodshed, it adds an essential layer to storytelling, and the encompanied
action sequences do a fantastic job of showing us that.
There are consequences to the very nature of these assasins, and it's everyone in his
world that’s affected.
Whether it's John and his story, the high table, Winston and the potential
loss of the Continental and his friend, Akira with her father, Caine with his daughter or
even the Ruska Roma with their killed leader.
The film's sequences have consequences and the
performances bring this to life in a such a detailed way that I truly wasn't expecting.
And alongside the individual effect of this film's journey, it also gives us the hope
that the franchise as a whole is also very bright too.
One potential spin-off, following John Wick 4's post credit scene, is the idea that Donnie
Yen’s Caine will try to survive an assassination attempt from Akira, whos father was killed
by him earlier on in the film.
Another is Chapter 4's Mr. Nobody, who clearly is on a quest to clear his financial problems.
And then there’s Wick's Belarusian family, who definitely seem
to have more story potential in there too.
While we don't know if any of these characters will have there own spin-offs yet, the post
credit scene and their great introductions in chapter 4 tease that there's much more
to come in John Wick's world, regardless of the main character being killed off.
And we already know that the John Wick franchise has a bright
near-future ahead of it, with already announced projects coming this year as well.
Peacock will release the prequel series The Continental, which will follow a young Winston,
during his rise in a 1970s New York.
And there's also the upcoming spinoff film Ballerina, which follows female assassin Rooney,
played by Ana de Armas, as she seeks vengeance on
behalf of her family.
As a whole, it's a rich world full of rich continentals and different characters, and
this film really nails the idea you can create ambitious stories and figures
around your intial creation.
And while this is all great in a theatrical medium full of spin offs, sequels and universes,
John Wick Chapter 4 fully understands that you have to deliver
on the story and spectacle of one, before expanding beyond that.
But they were my thoughts on John Wick Chapter 4.
At nearly three hours in length, the fourth film in the John Wick saga does at times,
have scenes that could have been shortened, mainly in some of the dialogue scenes where
characters explain things that the audience already knew.
But that’s a minor problem, when everything else is handled so appropriately.
With Chapter 4 returning to the more emotional
beats that the foundation of the first film laid, everything has now come full circle.
Action cinema has never looked as good as it does under
the helm of Director Chad Stahelski, and every frame creatively innovates and goes the extra
mile in capturing this tale.
Whether it's the bird’s eye view or other camera angles to
follow the action, choregraphed and immersive scenes that puts us in the often weary boats
of John Wick or sublime aestetics that sink us into new parts of this world, like with
the Osaka continental.
For me, the efforts undertaken put this film in the same league as Fury Road or even the
Mission Impossible films, and overall, it's a fantastic tribute to action
cinema, raising the bar for how a film like this can both look and sound on the big screen.
I'm giving John Wick Chapter 4 a rating of 9 out of 10.
But to those who have seen the latest movie in the John Wick franchise, do
you agree that it's a masterpiece of action cinema, and when it comes to looking forward,
what projects or spin-offs would you like to see
come to life?
Let me know down below in the comments section.
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