There’s a typical opinion rumbling about on the web, that the John Wick collection is at its worst when it’s worldbuilding, and at its finest when it’s thumping skulls. The speculation goes that each one the mythology that surrounds John Wick – the Continentals, Excessive Tables and tokens – is getting unwieldy, and the collection is shedding sight of what made it profitable. That opinion was hardened when folks 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 will say with confidence that the web was Unsuitable with a capital W. John Wick: Chapter 4 isn’t a dip in kind – if something, it’s a continuation of sturdy kind – and the mythology stuff doesn’t let it down in any means. It’s gentle contact and efficient. If there’s something that lets John Wick: Chapter 4 down, it’s the fisticuffs. At instances, it’s exhausting and – whisper it – just a little too reliant on CGI.
We’re skipping forward. John Wick: Chapter 4 begins virtually 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 inside 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 fairly daring, and makes Wick, the Baba Yaga, one thing of a foul man. He has no choice however to run to pals who’re damned if they assist and damned in the event that they don’t. By way of their connection to him, they turn into targets, and he brings unwitting loss of life upon them. We felt like shouting on the display screen, telling Wick to go away the poor folks 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, utterly charming). He’s an previous good friend who’s compelled to struggle on the facet of the Marquis, by means of 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 out of the blue 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 picket and clean within the earlier John Wick motion pictures, however in Chapter 4 he’s distractingly mediocre. If there’s meant to be an interior battle effervescent away in Wick – that his actions are bringing penalties to his pals – then it evaporates earlier than the digital camera reaches Keanu. He’s acquired an excuse after all: 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 good points some momentum. There may be an precise means out for John, irrespective of how unlikely, and it’s a closing window that he appears to be like more and more unlikely to sneak by means of.
That plan depends on dusting off some previous Excessive Desk customs, and we have 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 surprise 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 can be just a little on the stodgy facet this outing. There’s a sequence in a German nightclub that’s misguided for a few causes – one character is clearly in a fats swimsuit, whereas the club-goers dance though they’re prone to a bullet to the skull. One other struggle on the Arc de Triomphe is means, means too lengthy, leaning into apparent CGI because it tries to escalate the battle. There are solely so some ways you’ll be able to throw a foul man – or Keanu, actually – 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, but it surely’s positively for us. An exquisite sequence lifts the digital camera 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 may virtually 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 in opposition to Bourne Identification, and the shaky-cam footage of the previous thirty years of films that borrowed from it. The choreography and cinematography as a substitute cribs from martial arts motion pictures, refusing to chop, counting on the experience of stuntmen and ladies 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 by some means, 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 appropriate. After the anarchy of John Wick: Chapter 3, it was arduous to see the place on earth it was all heading. However John Wick: Chapter 4 finds a route and, with Wick-like metal in its eyes, heads straight for it. That it finds that focus on, with barely a wayward bullet over the runtime, is sort of the achievement.
We suspect a John Wick marathon has now turn into a feat of endurance. This last 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 the direction of it. Bravo, Baba Yaga: this can be a collection with no single bum word.
