John Wick: Chapter 4 Review: Undoubtedly The Most Ambitious And Spectacular Film
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, Rina Sawayama
Director: Chad Stahelski
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Expected in cinemas from March 24, John Wick: Chapter 4 in the original language), is the fourth chapter of a saga that wants to pull the strings of what was shown in the previous three chapters, through a path that will put a strain the protagonist played by Keanu Reeves. From the first film to this one we’ve learned about both the lethality of John himself, and the secret rules that define his world. These rules are precisely the pulsating engine of the fourth episode, presenting a simple narrative, in terms of structure and writing, accompanied by an aesthetic sumptuousness not to be underestimated at all, and from a breath that becomes wider in the details that accompany and surround the story. John Wick: Chapter 4, therefore, like the films that preceded it (the first is present on Netflix, and the rest are available on home video on Amazon), plays its cards by following certain precise paths, while continuing to move on a terrain that all fans know very well.
Action, death, and violence merged however in a context that remains extremely mysterious and dark, made up of fleeting shadows and faces that never really show themselves, that do not fully begin by presenting themselves in the light of the sun, offering a set of very close moments to the more classic comic stories, or even to certain manga sort of, demonstrating some very interesting storytelling and characterization potential. It’s the moment of reckoning for John Wick, whose bounty on his head can only worry more and more the leaders of the Table. It’s time for revenge and for the curtain to fall on the extremely violent adventures of the iconic hitman played by Keanu Reeves in the most spectacular chapter ever in the saga directed by Chad Stahelski. John Wick: Chapter 4 is undoubtedly the most ambitious and adrenaline-pumping episode of the franchise, a film if it is draining, as the action reaches heights of exuberance never even reached by the series (those who have read the review of John Wick 3 Parabellum know what we are talking about speaking). A bombastic ride towards a heartfelt and enthralling epilogue, which – not without some flaws – will thrill those who have loved the escalation of beatings that has accompanied the rise of Keanu Reeves since the first chapter.
John Wick: Chapter 4 Review: The Story Plot
The story of John Wick: Chapter 4 opens shortly after the ending of the previous film, with John himself ready to respond to the moves of the Grand Table in his way. The problem is that the methods adopted in the previous stories have now become useless, given that death, in this case, remains a choice for its own sake that only leads to a vicious and useless circle. Everything evolves when a certain Marquis de Gramont enters the scene (Bill Skarsgård), a powerful new character sent by the Table to eliminate John at all costs. His methods are different from all those we have encountered so far, also because instead of fearing the legendary assassin, he exploits all the information and power he possesses to bring him out, in the open, punishing even those he knows.
In the beginning, therefore, John Wick: Chapter 4 presents itself as a real manhunt with no holds barred and studded with deaths. In escaping from one ambush, however, new characters from Wick’s past are also introduced, assassins like him who have chosen different paths while maintaining a certain type of bond based on honor and respect. This dynamic allows us to get to know characters like Caine (Donnie Yen) or Shimazu (Hiroyuki Sanada), while always maintaining a certain mysterious aura that further fuels curiosity about the world of assassins. Freedom, death, and identity remain firmly linked to everything that happens on the screen, proposing an experience that exploits a large amount of action and violence to weave a path consistent with what we know so far, pushing John Wick: Chapter 4 even further forward in terms of details and rules to reckon with above all else.
After miraculously escaping death following the events of Parabellum’s stormy finale, Jonathan sets out on his path of revenge against the organization he has decided to turn his back on. But other forces, far more menacing, are preparing to persecute Wick as never happened before: the leaders of the Table have unleashed one of their most tenacious and fearsome heralds, the Marquis de Gramont (Bill Skarsgard), determined more than ever to forever erasing the idea and memory of John Wick from the face of the Earth. The journey that awaits Keanu Reeves’ anti-hero leads him once again into the center of a vicious manhunt, with an entire army of assassins ready to claim his death. From Japan to France, the protagonist also must deal with figures well above mere mercenaries up to a painful final confrontation in which he will inevitably have to deal with the demons of his past and with the specter of death which – as evident from the latest trailers of John Wick: Chapter 4– now seems close to claiming his life.
A plot that does not differ too much from what was seen in the previous episodes of the film franchise, in which the basic warp is nothing more than a pretext for a parade of blood, death, bullets, and martial art fights, in a long catwalk almost three hours in which the action becomes an intoxicating and enthralling catharsis. In the wake of its predecessors, however, Stahelski’s new film does not miss the opportunity to expand its narrative universe more and more, introducing new characters and also pulling the strings of various storylines concerning some historical supporting actors of the saga. A story in which the secondary figures find greater depth, leaving room for the character of Reeves for an almost exclusively physical, debilitating, and destructive test.
A role that the iconic Matrix star (who shone in a sequel that however does not fully do justice to the brand, as we tell in the Matrix 4 Resurrections review) fully embraces without sparing himself, in a role in which he acts by emotional subtraction despite this Chapter 4 fulfills its entire story arc. A swing that doesn’t always shine for the quality of the script. However, we are not talking about narrative coherence, but about rhythm: John Wick Chapter 4 lasts about 2 hours and 50 minutes, a playing time that becomes too staid during the central act, getting lost in too many chatters between one action sequence and another. Duration which fortunately does not affect the fun that much, but which perhaps could have been dried in the middle segment to be more fluid, while juggling characters and acting performances of the highest level.
John Wick: Chapter 4 Review and Analysis
However, the element in which John Wick: Chapter 4 shines the most is the direction, as well as its incredible action component. It is enough to retrace the evolution of the previous three chapters in memory to understand how much Chad Stahelski has continuously experimented to bring the visual frame of his franchise to peaks of rare cinematic hyperbole, between increasingly long and layered fights, exaggerated impacts, and scenes that we could define as bordering on suspension of disbelief. Yet John Wick has always been this: a real catharsis in the name of almost superheroic beatings, with a pleasant dose of quotation suspended between oriental cinema and a rare western.
John Wick: Chapter 4 exaggerates these two elements to such an extent that it becomes a sensational declination in a modern sauce of these two different styles, fragmenting their dosage through the two macro-settings of the film. In the first act, mostly shot in the suggestive Osaka Continental, the shootings and punches perpetrated by Reeves and his opponents alternate with the hiss of katana and nunchaku in a constant neon-flavored homage to wuxia and Kurosawa, while the final stage – a fascinating Paris at the crack of dawn – explodes again amidst bullets and flames, all towards a conclusion that looks authoritatively at a surprising neo-western. Stahelski not only takes the stunt sequences to a decidedly higher level than in the past but experiments more with the camera, crafting sequences of rare beauty and intensity well supported by sound accompaniments that keep faith with the exquisitely “punk” soul of the saga.
The unmistakable touch of Chad Stahelski is also confirmed in John Wick: Chapter 4, with a direction that is both breathtaking and sumptuous, also thanks to the photography of Dan Laustsen . Part of the general fascination of the film derives precisely from how some sequences were made, with a general study both in terms of staging, choreography and, above all, set design. The long central fight sequences are always dynamic in a certain way, also presenting eccentric characters that positively affect their general performance. Not simple shootings or melee clashes, but a set of elements that push the characters in the game to move continuously and to exploit what they find at their disposal.
The action component is the master in John Wick: Chapter 4, trying to further expand its possibilities compared to the past (after all, the 3 months of training Keanu Reeves underwent had to lead to something). In the direction of the film, however, we also find some interesting contamination coming both from other genres (first and foremost from the Western) and from other mediums outside the world of cinema. In many moments it almost seems that the camera takes on a life of its own, proposing shots that cannot fail to recall the world of video games, pushing the formal possibilities of the sequences richer in details and characters on the screen to the limit.
Not only that, but the particular dynamism of the camera also moves hand in hand with the developments of the story, continuously playing with the infinite possibilities of an immortal protagonist, and with a path dismayed by a thousand obstacles and characters who try to demonstrate their superiority on him. Being the protagonist of John Wick: Chapter 4 means facing waves of assassins who continually try to kill you, to earn notoriety and money on your skin, trying in every possible way to track you down even to the detriment of the legend that drags you along. From such a simple path, in terms of story, the director manages to extract an experience that continually dares in aesthetic and formal terms, pursuing reasoning, with his shots of shots, which he knows how to keep glued to his seat.
Is John Wick: Chapter 4 a good sequel? Absolutely yes. It is still a story that continues, in terms of attention, what we have seen in the previous films, trying to be even more daring and to play with the world built up to now. Violence and death become the vehicle of a game between two players trying to eliminate each other in a game that maybe, like all of us, they barely know. The feeling of being in something huge and dark, in this film, becomes more tangible than ever, as is the general commitment to making everything even more sumptuous than in the past, in aesthetic and formal terms. The result is an experience that knows how to entertain and play with the spectators, making the most of it from start to finish. The simplicity of the story is soon overtaken by a thrilling set of formal choices not to be overlooked at all. The biggest flaw of the film remains its duration, also because the two hours and almost fifty minutes are felt enough.
John Wick: Chapter 4 Review: The Last Words
It’s hard to say if John Wick: Chapter 4 is the best film in the saga, but it’s undoubtedly the most ambitious and spectacular. Perhaps penalized by an excessive duration, which is felt above all in the central act, the fourth chapter with Keanu Reeves is a concentration of adrenaline, exaggerations, and exuberance probably never touched before, and which consecrate the franchise in the Olympus of action cinematically. If we add to all this an incredibly inspired direction, a sign of Chad Stahelski’s now unquestionable maturity behind the camera, we have the perfect mix that those who have loved the escalation of cathartic beatings experienced in recent years cannot fail to appreciate.
