John Wick Review

“Yeah, I’m thinking I’m back.”

Film review by Isaac Handelman

Since the end of the Matrix trilogy, Keanu Reeves has been floundering amidst B-movie action outings, underwhelming dramatic roles, and The Day the Earth Stood Still. Now, more than a decade after The Matrix Revolutions, Keanu delivers a convincing argument that he’s ready to return to the realm of quality action cinema with the gloriously confident, over-the-top firecracker-of-a-movie that is John Wick.

 When we meet the titular-anti hero, he’s seen five quiet years after wriggling his way out of a vaguely-defined role in a vaguely-defined criminal organization headed by Viggo Tarasov (Michael Nyqvist). Despondent after his wife’s death at the hands of an illness, Wick finds temporary solace in the adorable face of his wife’s final gift to him: a beagle puppy named Daisy. After a random robbery by a trio of Russian thugs, led by the son of Wick’s former boss (Alfie Allen), results in Daisy’s death, Wick is thrust back into the violent world he worked so hard to escape in order to secure vengeance against those who wronged him. He’s assisted by veteran sniper and acquaintance Marcus (Willem Dafoe), and opposed by most everyone else.

Wick’s background is kept purposefully nonspecific. Even by the film’s end, we don’t know a whole lot about our leading man, but in a way that feels akin to the alluring mysteriousness of a character like James Bond. Wick’s amusingly short exchanges with minor characters establish him as a respected figure and give him an air of command over his scenes. The lack of definition of Wick’s character and back-story does not work against the film, but instead keeps Wick unpredictable and open for exploration in potential future sequels. Reeves’ stoic yet occasionally exaggerated performance make Wick an easy character to root for.

Leaving profound character development by the wayside, John Wick is more concerned with letting Keanu Reeves madly lay waste to troves of henchman as he races to kill the jerk who killed his dog. The film contains no pointless sub-plots; in fact, it contains no sub-plots at all. Nearly all of the film’s hour-and-forty minutes is devoted to chronicling Wick’s trail of destruction.

The action sequences are energetic and unbelievably entertaining, which is good, because there are a lot of them. No real sense of danger is commonly present for our protagonist, as he so handily dispatches all who oppose him, but that’s okay because it’s simply so much fun to watch John Wick kick the collective ass of his enemies. Wick’s mix of brutal melee strikes with ridiculously steady-handed pistol shots gives the character with a memorable combat style all his own. Wick’s intimidating moniker “Boogeyman” feels justly awarded, even in an era where audiences are constantly asked to think of good-looking white actors as unstoppable forces of nature.

David Leitch and Chad Stahelski’s slick direction keeps the action clocking along. Thankfully, they never resort to the infamous “shaky-camera technique,” ensuring that every one of Wick’s combat acrobatics is clearly documented for audience approval.

John Wick’s tongue-in-cheek attitude ensures that the film never veers into the realm of self-seriousness. In fact, the characters themselves seem aware of the silliness of many of the situations they’re in, highlighted by Viggo’s amusing despondency in regards to his chances of beating Wick. Though it’s certainly not an action-comedy, John Wick can be very funny; the film’s great sense of humor helps it to never feel too heavy.

John Wick is an example of a film that is elevated by its singular purpose. It’s not concerned with delivering anything more than a great time. Depth and development be damned; John Wick is delightfully absurd and absurdly delightful.