There’s a standard opinion rumbling about on the web, that the John Wick sequence is at its worst when it’s worldbuilding, and at its greatest when it’s thumping skulls. The idea goes that each one the mythology that surrounds John Wick – the Continentals, Excessive Tables and tokens – is getting unwieldy, and the sequence is shedding sight of what made it profitable. That opinion was hardened when individuals noticed the runtime for John Wick: Chapter 4. 2h 49m! It might solely be that mythology stuff.
Having reached the top of John Wick: Chapter 4, battered and bruised, holding onto one thing like an ending, we are able to say with confidence that the web was Unsuitable with a capital W. John Wick: Chapter 4 shouldn’t be a dip in type – if something, it’s a continuation of sturdy type – and the mythology stuff doesn’t let it down in any method. It’s mild contact and efficient. If there’s something that lets John Wick: Chapter 4 down, it’s the fisticuffs. At occasions, it’s exhausting and – whisper it – slightly too reliant on CGI.
We’re skipping forward. John Wick: Chapter 4 begins nearly instantly after the third installment, simply as the opposite motion pictures have segued instantly from their predecessors. Winston (Ian McShane, easy) is dragged in entrance of the Excessive Desk’s consultant, the Marquis (Invoice Skarsgard, louche and impatient) and made to reply for why Wick was in a position to kill his males throughout the Continental’s partitions. There’s a steep punishment, and the worth tag on Wick’s life goes up.
It’s at this level that John Wick: Chapter 4 does one thing moderately daring, and makes Wick, the Baba Yaga, one thing of a foul man. He has no possibility however to run to buddies who’re damned if they assist and damned in the event that they don’t. By their connection to him, they turn out to be targets, and he brings unwitting dying upon them. We felt like shouting on the display screen, telling Wick to go away the poor individuals alone. Shack up with an enemy for an evening. Get them killed.
The theme of friendship that has been warped into horrible new shapes is a continuing in John Wick: Chapter 4, and it’s manifested within the form of Caine (Donnie Yen, fully charming). He’s an previous good friend who’s compelled to struggle on the aspect of the Marquis, by threats on Caine’s daughter’s life. He additionally occurs to be blind, which provides but extra spice to the struggle sequences. He swings from being overwhelmed and (actually) blindsided to immediately conscious in a single heartbeat, as enemies make a sound and prick up his ears.
These are weighty themes that Keanu Reeves can’t fairly shoulder. We don’t bear in mind him being fairly this wood and clean within the earlier John Wick motion pictures, however in Chapter 4 he’s distractingly mediocre. If there’s meant to be an inside battle effervescent away in Wick – that his actions are bringing penalties to his buddies – then it evaporates earlier than the digicam reaches Keanu. He’s obtained an excuse in fact: he’s getting, as they are saying, too previous for this shit, and 4 movies is sufficient to weary anybody.
For as soon as, John Wick has a plan. Delivered by Winston, it kicks John Wick: Chapter 4 into gear, and the film features some momentum. There may be an precise method out for John, irrespective of how unlikely, and it’s a closing window that he seems to be more and more unlikely to sneak by.
That plan depends on dusting off some previous Excessive Desk customs, and we had been all for it. The mythology gubbins didn’t crush John Wick: Chapter 4: they’re used sparingly, and made sufficient sense (cribbing from historical past) that the deus ex machina felt plausible the place it might have delivered an eyeroll. It’s nonetheless a marvel that the John Wick motion pictures have proven so little of the Excessive Desk and the way they function. Presumably that’s coming with expanded universe stuff like Ana De Armas’s Ballerina.
It’s the fights which are slightly on the stodgy aspect this day trip. There’s a sequence in a German nightclub that’s misguided for a few causes – one character is clearly in a fats go well with, whereas the club-goers dance although they’re prone to a bullet to the skull. One other struggle on the Arc de Triomphe is method, method too lengthy, leaning into apparent CGI because it tries to escalate the battle. There are solely so some ways you may throw a foul man – or Keanu, in reality – at a automotive, and issues border on the repetitive.
However within the broadest sense, John Wick: Chapter 4 carries on the custom of turning fight into wondrous cinematography. It’s not for everybody, nevertheless it’s undoubtedly for us. An exquisite sequence lifts the digicam up on a crane, refusing to chop as Wick strikes from room to room inside a dilapidated constructing, firing sawn-off rounds. One other struggle on the steps of the Sacre Coeur strikes up and down steps, as enemies and Wick tumble and get again up once more. You’ll be able to nearly think about Chumbawumba kicking in.
We’re going to overlook the fights of a John Wick film. They’ve all the time felt like a response towards Bourne Identification, and the shaky-cam footage of the previous thirty years of films that borrowed from it. The choreography and cinematography as an alternative cribs from martial arts motion pictures, refusing to chop, counting on the experience of stuntmen and girls to attach the scenes collectively. The result’s a nearly-three-hour film that whips by, solely getting leaden when the fight will get over-indulgent. It’s a rollercoaster – one that ought to have gotten previous by now, however one way or the other, miraculously, is simply as thrilling as the primary time we stepped on it.
Maybe the best miracle of all is that there’s an ending, and that ending feels right. After the anarchy of John Wick: Chapter 3, it was exhausting to see the place on earth it was all heading. However John Wick: Chapter 4 finds a course and, with Wick-like metal in its eyes, heads instantly for it. That it finds that concentrate on, with barely a wayward bullet over the runtime, is kind of the achievement.
We suspect a John Wick marathon has now turn out to be a feat of endurance. This remaining chapter within the Wick saga could also be lengthy, and a few fight sequences border on the farcical, however the total emotion is satisfaction. The Wick showrunners have discovered a decision, and it strikes like a bullet practice in direction of it. Bravo, Baba Yaga: this can be a sequence with out a single bum notice.
