Even if a movie was bad, I’d watch it if Keanu Reeves was in it. And honestly, John Wick movies never made sense to me, yet I still find myself thoroughly enjoying them. The movie succeeds for a number of reasons, the first being that John Wick is a perfect fit for Reeves’ style. With his laid back demeanor, he sometimes sleepwalks through his roles, yet that peaceful vibe really fits incredibly well for this character. The coldness Reeves brings to the film works brilliantly, and you can’t help but root for him and cheer when one of the bad guys is defeated.
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The Movie Review
While mourning the death of his terminally-ill wife Helen, former deadly assassin John Wick receives one last gift from her – a sweet little beagle named Daisy. Daisy now keeps the lonely assassin company while he finds a new purpose in life, even though he’s not so keen on it.
That is until the arrogant Iosef Tarasov breaks into Wick’s house for his prized 1969 Mustang and ends up killing his precious dog. This awakens his other side, The Boogeyman, and now he’s out for revenge. Viggo Tarasov, the Russian kingpin and Iosef’s father, is fully aware of what the boogeyman can do. He and his family can only brace for the wrath that is about to be unleashed.
In their directorial debut, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch combine their professional stuntman experience in the making of John Wick. Stahelski – who was only credited as the director – previously worked as a stunt double for Brandon Lee in the Crow, and for Keanu Reeves in The Matrix movies. Meanwhile, Leith has done stunts for countless Marvel films, and was Brad Pitt’s stunt double five times. So if you wanna know why the action in John Wick was so badass, it’s because it was directed by veteran stuntmen!
While the plot lacked substance, being a simple revenge story about a cold hitman who loses his wife, dog, and prized Mustang, I liked that the action compensates for it.
The cinematography matching the choreography of the characters looked awesome, and it felt like I was watching a third-person shooting game. This type of movement makes the movie more engaging even in incredibly long fight scenes. On top of that, the performances of the cast were great.
You have Keanu who is born to play this character because of his ability to be emotionless and enigmatic, then there’s Michael Nyqvist and Alfie Allen who were fit for villains, as well as Willem Dafoe and Ian McShane. Even more, the hyped-up techno/rock soundtrack is perfect and it’s one of my favorite things about the movie.
The thing I disliked was how stupid and easy to kill the bad guys were, the entire film overpowers John Wick and it doesn’t leave any room for tension.
There are also many parts that just didn’t make sense, especially when John shows mercy for his biggest enemies. It’s disappointing because the plot leads up to a boss fight between the Tarasovs, every event including the death of Dafoe’s character should give him more reason to kill, but he doesn’t.
In the end, the movie doesn’t sell itself as a thoughtful movie. It’s meant to be violent, entertaining, and relentless through and through.
The Bottom Line
In conclusion, John Wick is one of the best action films to ever exist, and succeeds tremendously even if the odds were against them. With newbie directors and writers, as well as Keanu’s reputation for taking on more boyish roles than badass characters, it still became an excellent film.
John Wick is dark, gritty, and visceral, it doesn’t attempt to be groundbreaking and for that reason its become one of the most memorable films in history.
