Certificate: 15 (strong violence, language). Running Time: 169 mins. UK Distributor: Lionsgate
WHO’S IN IT?
Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Laurence Fishburne, Ian McShane, Scott Adkins, Hiroyuki Sanada, Lance Reddick, Clancy Brown, Shamier Anderson, George Georgiou, Rina Sawayama, Natalia Tena
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Chad Stahelski (director, producer), Michael Finch and Shay Hatten (writers), Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee (producers), Tyler Bates and Joel J. Richard (composers), Dan Laustsen (cinematographer), Nathan Orloff (editor)
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
John Wick (Reeves) seeks a new way to defeat the High Table of global assassins…
WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4?
You’ve seen what he can do when thugs kill his adorable puppy. We all know what he’s capable of when a weedy Italian guy blows up his house. Hell, even when he’s on the run and fighting for his life, it’s less about whether he survives and more about whether anyone stupid enough to go after him does. By this point, John Wick is a legend amongst the plethora of on-screen assassins, and now he’s set to join the annals of action movie history with John Wick: Chapter 4, a flat-out epic that puts nearly every other hit-person to have graced our screens to shame.
How epic is John Wick: Chapter 4? The very first shot of the film is a punch that’s as loud as one of his many gunshots (and, in the IMAX auditorium I saw this in, caused each and every seat to violently vibrate), which is followed mere moments later by a direct call-back to a famous transition in Lawrence of Arabia, appropriately enough to a desert where Keanu Reeves’ Wick is gunning down assailants on horseback. All of that is just in the first few minutes of this nearly three-hour movie, and it only gets bigger, wilder, bloodier, and – yes – even more epic from there.
But first, a bit of context, in case you don’t remember the other movies for some reason: ever since being excommunicated from the wide-reaching league of assassins (for killing someone on Continental grounds, which is a big no-no in this universe), Wick has constantly been targeted by hit-people keen on claiming the hefty bounty on his head, but now he’s done running and is hell-bent on finding a way out of his duties to the High Table – basically the leading council that has power over all assassins – once and for all, even if it means killing anyone who’s even remotely a threat to him. He soon learns that the Marquis Vincent de Gramont (Bill Skarsgård), who is a senior member of the High Table, has the power to absolve Wick of his past crimes, should he defeat him in an old-fashioned pistol duel, and so Wick sets out to qualify for such a venture, which of course brings him face-to-face with killers from around the world, including a mysterious tracker named Mr. Nobody (Shamier Anderson), and his old friend Caine (Donnie Yen), a blind assassin whose lack of eyesight does not make him any less lethal.
As ever, the plot doesn’t matter that much, whether it’s simple as day – such as wanting revenge in the first one for the murder of his dog – or pretty complicated, as it is here. Instead, it’s all about the wild and imaginative ways that John Wick can kill a person, from shooting them directly in the forehead (multiple times, in some cases) to slicing their guts open with katana swords, to throwing people off of high places, and so on – only here, everything is dialled up to well beyond eleven, resulting in some of the most unbelievable action sequences in a series that is already filled to the brim with them. The fight choreography is some of the best this series has ever produced, with each and every punch, kick, gunshot, swordplay etc being more meticulously planned out and executed than before, almost like you’re watching a production by a highly-esteemed national dance company if they all injected steroids right before going on stage. It’s also by far the best-looking movie in the series, with Dan Laustsen’s cinematography mining some popping neon colours out of nearly every corner of this universe, but the DP also finds new and inventive ways to shoot the action, such as one later sequence shot with the camera looking down from the ceiling and moving from room to room in mostly one continuous take. Watching people die so brutally at the hand of John Wick has never looked so beautiful, or as technically impressive.
This universe of assassins has long been one of the most interesting components of the John Wick saga, with each film unveiling new and compelling areas that show just how complex and deeply woven into society it all is, and in John Wick: Chapter 4 there’s plenty of new places to explore, further building the mythos and lore of this world without giving unnecessary answers to questions that don’t need elaboration. It’s cool seeing how the Continental rules apply to international branches such as in Osaka, or how certain sects operate such as one based in a Ruska Roma church in Berlin, and of course how particular characters make a name for themselves with their own USPs and skills, such as Donnie Yen’s awesome new character (who is basically a more fleshed-out and even more violent version of his character in Rogue One) who uses sensor doorbells to alert him towards assailants, or Shamier Anderson who has a fun arc trying to negotiate with Bill Skarsgård about the most valuable price on Wick’s head. It’s a cinematic universe that could stand perfectly well on its own without the presence of John Wick to support it, because so much of it is already so interesting and mapped out to the last detail that you just want to spend more time just seeing how everything is supposed to work, and how these characters function in what is essentially a universe made up almost entirely of hit-people.
It’s a movie that simply lets its action go on for as long as it needs to, even if it means such scenes last for five, ten, or even fifteen continuous minutes of carnage. To some, this may seem excessive or even risk becoming dull, and at nearly three hours long it’s bound to cause discomfort among the least patient of viewers, but director Chad Stahelski never lets things tilt in that direction by constantly upping the ante with each passing action sequence, from having Reeves go up against a fat-suited Scott Adkins (rocking it as a bizarre mix of Colin Farrell’s Penguin and Dennis Hopper’s character from Blue Velvet) in a nightclub, to him and dozens of assailants manoeuvring through the heavy traffic around the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. It’s mesmerising action, but also contains that keen sense of humour which, aside from being very funny at times, does ground this heightened and stylised universe in its own believable reality. When so much of this endlessly fascinating stunt work and world-building is happening in front of your eyes, it’s often easy to forget that it is such a long film, because it’s just too much fun to dismiss it purely for its length.
Of the four movies thus far in this series, John Wick: Chapter 4 is my new personal favourite. It has everything you’d want from one of these films – kinetic action, vast world-building, Keanu Reeves being intimidating as hell at all times, and more – but this is the first time in this series where I honestly felt like I was watching something epic, something that took itself to much grander heights but without losing sight of its humbler origins. This is the true culmination that I was expecting from the previous movie, and although it was still hugely enjoyable that film did end with less finality than I was honestly expecting; this, on the other hand, makes up for that slight misstep and more, by ending things on a pretty conclusive note that suggests a major new shake-up in this universe going forward. I really loved it, more than any of the previous movies, which I already considered to be modern action classics, but this one really does take it to the next level, in a fashion not seen within the genre since Mad Max: Fury Road.
Of course, with film and TV spin-offs currently in production, the John Wick universe is not going away any time soon – but if John Wick: Chapter 4 was indeed the final entry, then it would have gone out on top as perhaps the greatest pure action sagas of the millennium.
SO, TO SUM UP…
John Wick: Chapter 4 is a modern action epic with spectacle, violence, humour, characters and world-building that feels like both a culmination of this series so far, as well as a real contender for one of the greatest action experiences in modern history.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is now showing in cinemas nationwide –click here to find a screening near you!
