The Continental

Given the success of the "John Wick" saga, it was obvious we'd get sequels and spin-offs.

Within this section, we find a series that has nothing to do with John Wick but does relate to fundamental foundations of the franchise: "The Continental." The premise is quite interesting, seeing the rise and rise of Winston Scott from a nobody to a fundamental pillar of this story.

So much potential...wasted. It's hard to understand why they went the way they did. They could have connected better with the franchise and shown us much more than what we saw.

It was more of a revenge story against Cormac O'Connor (masterfully played by Mel Gibson) than anything from this universe. Opportunities to expand the lore were missed, and what we got was a gang fight with average choreography, something those of us who saw the previous four films aren't used to.

Even at the end, the pregnancy of Yen, the wife of Winston's deceased brother (another wasted character) could have been used as an excuse to show John's origins and tie everything together perfectly.

However, for some reason, it wasn't.

Is everything bad in this series? Of course not, but when you see its potential, you can't help but regret the lack of effort to make a better product.

We're stuck halfway between what could have been and what should have been.

Definitely the weakest part of the franchise.

It's decent show if watched as intended - prequel to John Wick's movies. Even so, it bizarrely gives John Wick level skills and power to a bunch of random and useless characters (basically everyone in the crew), who somehow almost all make it out alive in the end. The whole idea of this universe is that John is simply superior to a huge variety of enemies. The twins are by far the best characters besides young Winston and Charon and how can they possibly be defeated by irrelevant folks with superhuman resistance who literally pull off magic victories like John's? It was pretty clear the showrunners didn't want to kill them in the show, and for that they shifted the balance of skills which makes the show credible within its universe. Also some storylines were very strange for a show with this purpose (like the "Asian on Black racism"). Overall the 80s setting didn't benefit the ambiance which sufffers from this obsession of lower budget showrunners with playing songs every other minute, in a vibe that was so upbeat that felt like a movie about weed dealers in a nightclub than John Wick's characteristic somber and grandiose feel. All in all, it's not horrendous but you'll catch yourself rolling your eyes more than once during this.

I don't know what people expect from this but I have seen many negative reviews and complaints. Going into it with an open mind I really enjoyed the first episode, people need to realise that this isnt the John Wick movies it's something different and not to compare them and nitpick every detail about the differences. This is a television show with a different story and different actors, you need to just enjoy it for what it is and have a good time watching it. So far the story is interesting and it's great seeing backstory from characters who aren't John Wick. I think this show has great potential and I am really looking forward to seeing the rest of it.

Being a John Wick fan I've been looking forward to The Continental ever since I first heard about it. Then after seeing the trailers my excitement grew even more. After watching the first few episodes I can absolutely say that The Continental has not only met my expectations but has exceeded them in every way. It's as fast paced and entertaining as the John Wick movies. Even though you'd probably enjoy this more if you've seen the John Wick movies, you don't have to have seen them to like this. The action scenes are as good as anything I've seen on tv. I can't stop watching this and know it's a limited series but I really hope they plan on doing several seasons of this because I'm hooked.

Been skeptical/meaning to watch and it's a great take on the epic John Wick lore. Best aspects is the thrilling action, fancy scenery, and is fairly well made! I don't know why this was a mini series but I love anything one man army like and charming like this. I would say Keanu is better at Wick otherwise not to bad, Collin Woodell is great too and probably gets a lot better! Continental seems to be missing something not sure what I still like it for what it is although I haven't felt well lately so that's a little bit of it. The music is genius plenty of excitement and great vibes I'm sensing; solid experience.