John Wick (film series)
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2 (18)
D: Chad Stahelski
Lionsgate/Summit/Thunder Road/87 Eleven (Basil Iwanyk & Erica Lee)
US 2017
122 mins
Action/Thriller
W: Derek Kolstad
DP: Dan Laustsen
Ed: Evan Schiff
Mus: Tyler Bates & Joel J. Richard
Keanu Reeves (John Wick), Riccardo Scamarcio (Santino D'Antonio), Ian McShane (Winston), Ruby Rose (Ares), Common (Cassian), Claudia Gerini (Gianna D'Antonio), Laurence Fishburne (The Bowery King), Peter Stormare (Abram Tarasov)
John Wick: Chapter 2 starts where the first movie left off and wastes no time as the former hitman goes about beating up the bad guys to get his stolen car back. If you want character development, that's all you're gonna get.
Wick is then visited by Santino D'Antonio, the gangster who allowed Wick to retire on the condition that he is granted one last favour... and now is the time for that favour to be extended.
The hitman reluctantly travels to Rome to carry out his mission only to become double-crossed and find himself on a hit list when he returns back to New York soil.
Storywise, the plot of this sequel has many of the tropes you'd come to expect from this kind of genre (unlike a man exacting revenge for the murder of his dog) although it does become increasingly silly as the film goes on.
As with the first film, the action scenes are brilliantly choreographed and directed, assisted by some rather amazing cinematography for an action movie, as well as exhilarating music and good editing.
The film leaves it open for chapter 3, expected imminently...
6/10
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 - PARABELLUM (15)
D: Chad Stahelski
Lionsgate/Summit/Thunder Road/87 Eleven (Basil Iwanyk & Erica Lee)
USA 2019
131 mins
Action/Thriller
W: Derek Kolstad, Shay Hatten, Chris Collins & Marc Abrams
DP: Dan Laustsen
Ed: Evan Schiff
Mus: Tyler Bates & Joel J. Richard
Keanu Reeves (John Wick), Ian McShane (Winston), Mark Dacascos (Zero), Laurence Fishburne (The Bowery King), Halle Berry (Sofia), Jerome Flynn (Berrada), Anjelica Huston (The Director)
With backstory and character development (or the closest thing to it) already ticked off in the first two movies the third John Wick movie cuts straight to the chase, as Keanu Reeves' assassin becomes a $14m target himself and tries to escape New York City (where EVERYONE appears to be a rival hitman) with his life.
His journey takes him to Morocco, where he tries to make things right, before returning to New York City for the big showdown.
Like the previous two movies, suspension of disbelief is very much needed for a movie which is very much carried by expertly crafted and choreographed action scenes which will make you both laugh and grimace (sometimes simultaneously). It gets more and more ridiculous as the film goes on, but that will only bother you if you're watching this for the story (which was always going to be far-fetched).
Once again, it's a chapter which ends without tying up all the loose ends, so a chapter 4 is inevitable. Personally, I think it's a shame that both this and the second film end so openly, they should at least attempt to close off some of the story strands. I guess monetary gain from sequels supersedes storytelling nowadays.
6/10
D: Chad Stahelski
Lionsgate / Summit / Thunder Road / 87Eleven (Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee & Chad Stahelski)
US 🇺🇸 2023
169 mins
Action/Thriller
W: Stay Hatten & Michael Finch
DP: Dan Laustsen
Ed: Nathan Orloff
Mus: Tyler Bates & Joel J. Richard
Keanu Reeves (John Wick), Donnie Yen (Caine), Bill Skarsgård (Marquis Vincent Bisset de Gramont), Laurence Fishburne (The Bowery King), Ian McShane (Winston Scott), Clancy Brown (The Harbinger)
Following the third John Wick movie, I had the belief that this was a film series that was improving with each film, but following this fourth instalment, I’m inclined to believe the opposite is true.
The first film was quite grounded as an OTT action flick, whereas this is practically a computer game, with the eponymous assassin still at large with a host of other professional assassins in pursuit, all of them members of a global operation called “The High Table”.
Wick’s only chance of survival is to exploit a loophole, and helps a family of Japanese assassins who in turn will help his situation.
The plot, or lack thereof, is what it is, and whilst the film is a good-looking one, with rich visuals and impressive stunt work, there’s really no excuse for it to be nearly three hours long.
The film series may end here, but the ending is still left ambiguous enough to pave the way for a spin-off tv series, for better or worse…
5/10
