John Wick
DIRECTED BY: Chad Stahelski, David Leitch (uncredited), WRITTEN BY: Derek Kolstad, STARRING: Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, RUN TIME: 101 Mins, RELEASE: 2014
John Wick is a mob hit man who, upon falling in love, quits. 5 years later, his wife dies and to make sure he's not alone she arranges for a dog to be brought to him after her death. Later, some men wanting his car break in and beat him up and kill his dog. When he recovers, he sets out to get the ones who killed his dog. He learns that the leader is the son of his former employer. And the man wanting to protect his son, tries to take care of Wick, but he's still as good as he was.
To start, I have to admit that I have avoided this film like the plague. I make no secret of the fact that I am not a fan of Keanu Reeves. I have never been; I just don't rate him as an actor in the slightest. He has never given a performance so far that has even slightly impressed me and I've seen less wooden performances from the ThunderBirds' marionettes. That being said, I've heard a lot of people of late making comparisons between this and recent action/thriller The Equalizer, in regard to which one is better. So, with that in mind (I loved The Equalizer by the way) and nothing better to do I decided to bite the bullet and go henceforth into the unknown (also, I will not be comparing it to The Equalizer).
The first thing I have to admit is that I really liked this film (to my surprise). It is a really enjoyable action/thriller. I just want to point that out straight off because my issues with his film in no way take anything from its entertainment value. Forget about the suspension of disbelief you have to employ in watching this, that goes hand-in-hand with most action films. They are all pretty much as far fetched as shit is from China. I like the simplicity of this story; a man avenging the loss of his dog that was gifted to him by his late wife following her death. That's kind of cute, and if you're going to go on a spectacular revenge killing-spree then that's about as good a reason as any (I too felt the anger and loss of that poor little puppy). I also like how dark and gritty this film is. I can never really properly explain what I mean by that, but some action films just look too clean and saturated. John Wick is much dirtier (for want of a better word). So, so far I am impressed with both the story and the visual tone of the film.
So, how does the action element hold up? That's a simple answer; brilliantly. They are without-a-doubt the strength of this film. John Wick has more gun-play than anything else, and each of these fantastic scenes are choreographed with excellent precision; delivered smoothly by Reeves, who is no stranger to this. It's point-blank ass-kicking awesomeness at its finest. That being said, John Wick lets itself down with its weak script. It just felt to me that little effort went into writing it, instead relying on its action scenes to carry it through (which, fair play, it succeeded in doing). It just all felt a bit lazy and I didn't feel myself invested in it. Every time a conversation came up I just wanted it to get back to the combat. There really are no standout performances either from the cast. To be honest, that doesn't bother me when I come to the co-stars, but I was hoping from more from Reeves. A lot of people have told me how great he is in this film, but he really isn't, in my opinion. Although he is superb in each and every action sequence, he is still a terrible actor. His ability to convincingly portray any level of emotion is still yet to be proven and vocally he just fails to deliver every line that he is given. Oddly though, I still don't think I would like to see anyone else in this role. There is still something that I found captivating about him as the title character.
Another thing that irritated me about this film was the constant need to big-up (or however you want to put it) the character of Wick. I get that he is obviously a legend among the people that circle his world, but the writers just seemed to feel the need to point that out at every given opportunity, and it really wasn't necessary. I get it; he's a badass. I don't need to the constant reminders of his skills or what his name is, but thanks anyway. The soundtrack also became quite repetitive and annoying, and I could have easily and quite happily watched some of this film on mute without losing track of it. Oh, and the 'good luck' moment; if you don't know why that really wound me up and caused my eyebrows to rise to the top of my forehead whilst my eyes rolled, then fair enough. I just hope that I am not entirely alone on this.
Overall, if you are looking for a great action/thriller then I can definitely recommend John Wick. Although it may not blow you away, you'll probably still find it to be a great little film that works beyond the disappointment of its flaws and will leave you feeling very satisfied. Give it a go. I'm glad that I did.