The story of John Wick is simple: don'tKick the Dog if that dog happens to belong to Keanu Reeves. Even your Russian mobster daddy can't help you if screw with John Wick. Why, you may ask? Because John Wick is probably one of the greatest action heroes to come out of the second half of 2014.
This movie is 96 minutes long. There's approximately fifty dead mooks by the end of it. If you do the math, you'll quickly realize that this movie gets going and does not stop. Some of the best action sequences to come out of Hollywood in recent years can be found in this movie. Wick uses an enthralling fix of Bourne-style hand-to-hand and Gun Fu throughout the movie. And boy, is it nice to look at. Is it realistic? Hell no, but this movie is not going for realism. This movie lives and dies on masterful use of Rule of Cool.
John Wick is structured, in fact, like a video game. Each action sequence feels more like a level in a first-person shooter than a "fight" scene. Appropriately enough, Wick must face a boss at the end of these levels. However, unlike other action movies which have somewhat forgettable villains, each boss in this movie is distinctive and awesome in their own villainous way: Adrianne Palicki plays the best boss in the movie as her Femme FataleDark Action Girl character. And speaking of levels and bosses, let's talk about the club level. I don't mean just in this movie, this is the club scene when it comes to action movies. Move over Collateral, because John Wick certainly takes the cake when it comes to awesome shootouts in nightclubs.
This film also manages to establish an interesting setting. There's some serious world-building going on in its 96 minute run time. David Leitch and co-director Chad Stahelski create a memorable world of hitmen and women with its own set of rules, currency, and customs. Is it how hitmen probably operate in real life. No, but it works for the pulpy style John Wick is going for. I would personally welcome the film's evolution from a standalone action movie into a franchise or even a shared universe of crime-action films, MCU style.
A non-stop awesome-fest of cinematic kinesis
The story of John Wick is simple: don't Kick the Dog if that dog happens to belong to Keanu Reeves. Even your Russian mobster daddy can't help you if screw with John Wick. Why, you may ask? Because John Wick is probably one of the greatest action heroes to come out of the second half of 2014.
This movie is 96 minutes long. There's approximately fifty dead mooks by the end of it. If you do the math, you'll quickly realize that this movie gets going and does not stop. Some of the best action sequences to come out of Hollywood in recent years can be found in this movie. Wick uses an enthralling fix of Bourne-style hand-to-hand and Gun Fu throughout the movie. And boy, is it nice to look at. Is it realistic? Hell no, but this movie is not going for realism. This movie lives and dies on masterful use of Rule of Cool.
John Wick is structured, in fact, like a video game. Each action sequence feels more like a level in a first-person shooter than a "fight" scene. Appropriately enough, Wick must face a boss at the end of these levels. However, unlike other action movies which have somewhat forgettable villains, each boss in this movie is distinctive and awesome in their own villainous way: Adrianne Palicki plays the best boss in the movie as her Femme Fatale Dark Action Girl character. And speaking of levels and bosses, let's talk about the club level. I don't mean just in this movie, this is the club scene when it comes to action movies. Move over Collateral, because John Wick certainly takes the cake when it comes to awesome shootouts in nightclubs.
This film also manages to establish an interesting setting. There's some serious world-building going on in its 96 minute run time. David Leitch and co-director Chad Stahelski create a memorable world of hitmen and women with its own set of rules, currency, and customs. Is it how hitmen probably operate in real life. No, but it works for the pulpy style John Wick is going for. I would personally welcome the film's evolution from a standalone action movie into a franchise or even a shared universe of crime-action films, MCU style.
He really shouldn't have killed that dog.