The Citizen Kane of action franchises (no I will not elaborate), John Wick has retained a damn good standard throughout its (so far) four film run- mainly due to Keanus odd charisma and the insane action sequences. More so the latter, obviously. I think its pretty golden standard may have just hit their peak with the latest instalment. The more I think about this film, the more I love it.
John Wick 4 is officially my standard for action movies, mindless yes but not mindless enough to not be self aware. It’s not self aware in the cringey fast and furious way but more in a accepting the absurdity and playing to its strengths sort of way. It’s been a while since I’ve seen action choreography this inventive, yes the dialogue isn’t very good but it’s just used to drive the action forward so it’s sort of more acceptable. When it’s at its lowest, this film is just really weird- the last scene is sort of shot to look like a video game cutscene- it floats the line between bad and good but never really reaches towards one or the other- I don’t think I’ve ever been this indifferent to a films low points. However, when it’s at its highest- this film is maybe the single most engaging action movie I’ve ever seen.
Every setpiece is bigger than the last, just getting more and more outrageous, tougher and tougher until you’ve seen Wick go through pretty much everything and still stay on his feet. Like I mentioned earlier, the choreography is just mind blowing. The work the stunt people must’ve put in to every second of the heart racing action is unimaginable. You feel every punch, every kick, every slice and every bang. It’s so exaggerated and yet it’s not so detached that you can’t feel the impact of what’s happening, I gasped, I winced and I cheered. Each action scene is- I’m guessing- very long but you never feel their length because it’s so well paced and shot. There’s some truly brilliant sequences of film here, for example: a Birds-Eye-View long take going through a house as mountains of people fire guns butchering each other, a rainy and synthy club with some amazing close combat and- actually yknow what, I don’t feel like spoiling anything big right now- so let me just say that the entire final act of this film is probably the best choreography I’ve ever seen.
Although earlier I said the last scene was made to look like a video game cutscene, the rest of the film is actually beautifully shot. The lighting is lavish, dark brooding backdrops juxtaposed with a huge amount of colourful mixtures hitting the actors faces. John Wick 4 is a true visual feast. There’s a couple special effects mistakes that stood out to me but they’re not big enough problems to damage my respect for the truly spirited visual achievement this film is. Dare I say it, it’s not only lit but it’s just shot brilliantly on almost every level. I just wish that certain shots were given more room to breathe, there’s one sequence that I feel would’ve worked a lot better in a long take with no cuts but hey- it still works just fine.
More so than the visuals, the sound design really stuck out to me- you not only hear but you feel the impact of everything. And I mean everything, even if it’s something seemingly insignificant, its treated individually. This is going to sound a little bit weird but, there’s a lot of noise chaotically falling over each other and yet each noise still sounds singled out.
Its exciting, it’s blood fuelled good old fashioned vengeance, and although it’s not fully there with its feelings (certain scenes feel quite undermined) I’ll be damned if it doesn’t get a few hits of emotions in there every once in a while. It’s a glorious and prophetic act in this ballet of blood. I cannot recommend seeing it at the cinema enough, a really great experience.
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