Source: IMDb
The fourth installment of John Wick is here! And boy we weren’t ready! Keanu Reeves is back as the main character John Wick. This time we see John is still with the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) where is building up his strength to go against The Table. Just to quickly summarize, The table is not happy with Winston (Ian McShane) and his Concierge Charon (Lance Reddick) and once again deconsecrates The Continental. Winston is not happy with this and teams up with John to get back at The Table.
Source: Lionsgate Youtube Channel
John still has friends and even though The Table has given power Marquis Vincent de Gramont (Bill Skarsgard) to kill him. The plot thickens when John has gone to Tokyo to regroup and hide out, while there he catches up to the manager of the Osaka Continental Hotel, Shimazu Koji (Hiroyuki Sanada) who is John’s old friend, but Shimazu’s daughter, Akira (Rina Sawayama), who is also the concierge, wants John gone. Of course, this sets up an epic action scene where the High Table is on the lookout and we see Caine (Donnie Yen), who is an old friend and assassin like John, brought in to take him down.
Anytime there is a bounty on John’s head, you know there will be tons of action. One of the other assassins who really is independent but then finds himself caught up with The High Table is Mr. Nobody (Shamier Anderson), who has a special tracking skill that The High Table wants to use. He has a support dog who has special skills himself .
The cinematography by Dan Lausten was beautiful. The use of color during the fights scenes, especially because most of the scenes were shot at night, highlight, good and evil. Chad Stahelski was beautifully directed and tells the 4th chapter of John Wick’s story so well. It’s a story of retribution and consequences. It’s told and shown so epically. That good deeds are met with honor and that bad or evil is met with consequences.
Keanu Reeves once again embodies John Wick. We feel his motivation of retribution and to make The High Table have consequences for some of their actions. Bill Skarsgard is so evil and scary as Marquis; a man who is driven by power and feels that he is untouchable. Shamier Anderson makes his presence known as Mr. Nobody who becomes somebody indeed. Every time Mr. Nobody and his dog hit the screen, I couldn’t wait to see what happened.
The action in this movie was bananas. If you’re not big on action, this is not the movie for you. Pretty much from the beginning to the end of the movie. It nonstop! As a fan of action movies, this one is near the top. There are three scenes that stood out to me. The scene at the Osaka Continental, the nightclub scene, The Arc de Triompe and the Sacre’ Coeur staircase. Okay 4 big action sequences. The honorable mention is the apartment building scene where it was shot overhead, giving it a somewhat video game feel.
Overall, in the midst of all this action, we do get some emotional heavy hits. I’m really sad that we won’t get to see Charon played the great, late actor Lance Reddick of which the film is dedicated to. The good thing is he has some more projects coming so it won’t be the last we see this great actor but the last we will see of him in the John Wick movies. John Wick 4 is a solid sequel which helps elevate the first three which is very rare for a franchise. I’m looking forward to seeing the spinoffs from this franchise, The Continental tv show and The Ballerina movie! Go see John Wick! You will not be disappointed! It’s a Gotta Watch!