John Wick : Chapitre 4

For a conclusion to a franchise (at least the Wick story arc) you'd expect story. Each movie has gotten a little further away from telling an interesting story. I even enjoyed when they layered in more of this far-fetched stuff with the high-table & continental in 2 & 3. But, we still don't know much about this world, how it was created, or who is in charge. I thought this movie would do more with this secret government for criminals, but instead this movie made those aspects of the story pointless. So many elements from the past movies were just glazed over to essentially give this movie no story. No Elder, No Winston's betrayal, No past characters except Winston & The King, No Dog, No Wife. All of those things amounted to a few 1-liners in this movie. Instead they focused on the worst aspect of 3 and multiplied it with fights that last too long, and people that need to be shot 20 times. I personally preferred the realism and tactical focus to the action of 1 & 2.

Stuntman turned writer/director Chad Stahelski struck gold with his 2014 surprise hit John Wick. It was somewhat of a comeback for the legendary Keanu Reeves and reinvigorated the action genre. Since then it's become THE action juggernaut franchise. Now we are on number 4 and while usually things get redone with that amount of sequels, this film innovates and thrills to new heights in an absolute epic.

One of the most surprising aspects of this particular entry, is the story being written as well as it is. Something that is hard to come by in the genre at times. Not saying the others in the franchise weren't but this is easily the best story diving deeper in the high table aspects as well as John Wick's true emotions . The rich characterization is also at its best with outstanding additions like Skaarsgard, and even more screen time for supporting greats like Fishburne to compliment the magnificent Reeves. RIP Lance Reddick. It's nice to have such substance amongst the endless high octane ballistic visuals.

Speaking of ballistic, this movie goes more all out than any I've seen for insanely well crafted choreographed shootout and fight scenes. Just when you thought you've seen it all, Stahelski/Reeves prove their action minds are ever evolving. These guys were born to make action movies together.

The extremely vibrant colors and plethora of locations is also a feast for the eyes. The sharp atmospheric imagery creates the ultimate backdrop for not only the action but also just the dialogue. The sound is also top notch and perfectly compliments the intensity. It's just an absolute sensory journey that you don't get in too many action films aside from the Wick genre.

Overall the limitless and outrageous action alone is nothing like we've seen before for the genre or just cinema in general . But also this rich unique story may only build Wick's timeless character for more films in the future which at this momentum will be welcomed.

I've enjoyed the entire Wick collection but this was my least favorite' The fight scenes were just way too long and usually followed immediately with another way too long fight scene. This movie felt like one long fight scene with a little dialogue mixed in. I could have done with a lot more story dialogue and a lot less fighting. The other movies felt like the fight scenes were part of the story and this one feels like they did fight scenes just to do fight scenes.

It's kinda hard to put into words but watch it, and I recommend watching it, and you'll see what I mean. You might like it a lot more than I did.

There really was no story here at all, just a long shoot em up scene. The action in it was good, but i also felt like it was too much of a good thing. After a while you don't really appreciate the stunts because that's the entirety of the film. It was a little too straight forward and had a lot of side plots that never went any where. All that said, cinematographically it was a pretty film. It had some incredible back drops to the chaos. But if you just want an action flick that doesn't require any thought for a couple hours, i'd recommend it. Really as low as the bar is for films these days this isn't that bad. I'd give it a 6.5 if i could.

By now you know what to expect from a John Wick movie. I thought the franchise was losing a little momentum in chapter 3 so I was worried this could be disappointing. It's not. It's even more on steroids than any Wick before! Even close to 3 hours it doesn't feel to long which is very special for a action movie. This franchise has set new standards. If anybody says a movie is good like John Wick, it better f'n be! The set pieces as everyone mentioned before are really insane this time. The Tokyo sceney with illuminated cherry blossoms was beautiful. The only super illogical thing that bothered me was that nobody flinched at the nightclub, eventually they did but after a whole 10 minute beatdown through the whole club, but then again it's a shady nightclub for high table people. If you liked the first three movies, get your ass to the cinema. Yeah.