John Wick: Chapter 4
Written by Cameron Geiser
We’ve made it ladies and gentlemen, we’ve reached the peak of Action cinema with the fourth film in the John Wick franchise. Following the third film’s sense of escalation and scale, this next chapter follows suit in style. By now most audiences know what they’re getting into with the John Wick films. Keanu Reeves serves us grumbly dialogue whilst dispatching hundreds of henchmen, goons, and other skilled assassins in kind. Each new film has thus far increased the intensity of the series while also paying homage to cinema’s past, but this one, John Wick: Chapter 4, outdoes them all.
These films — but this one especially — show a lot of love to the stunt performers who’re doing all of that air gasping, palm sweating goodness. The editing, framing, blocking– all of it is in service of putting the performers in the best light possible. Which extends to the large cast of supporting actors who collectively have well documented decades of experience in the stunt game. Scott Adkins, fashioned in a comically large fat-suit, plays an entertainingly unscrupulous gambler named Killa in a Berlin club in one of the many kinetic set-pieces. Clancy Brown stars as “The Harbinger” a member of the High Table who officiates over sensitive matters pertaining to those on the table. He may not get in on any of the action, but the character actor has such a presence with that voice alone that he only has to bellow a few gravelly lines to etch his place within the packed film.
Fans of the John Wick series are in for a treat with this supposed final chapter.
Two more new additions to the film come in the form of Hiroyuki Sanada as Koji Shimazu, the Manager of the Osaka Continental and an old colleague of John Wick, and Shamier Anderson who plays “Nobody”: an independent assassin who tracks Wick and helps keep him alive while raising the price on his head. The standout addition though is Donnie Yen as Caine, an old friend of John Wick’s, who’s in his own state of subservience to the High Table. Though the most villainous presence of the new bunch goes to Bill Skarsgård as The Marquis, the High Table member waging war with John Wick.
The film begins with John Wick training in the depths of New York City with the Bowery King, Laurence Fishburne who, yes, still has that grand Shakespearean bravado. The series regulars return once again in Ian McShane as Winston, the Manager of the New York City Continental and the late Lance Reddick, the ever faithful Concierge of the Continental, Charon. Beyond the excellent cast gathered together for this film, the focus is on the pacing and the moment-to-moment action sequences. Which shouldn’t be unsurprising given the previous three films but this one is purely, and unabashedly, unrelenting. The choreography is simply breathtaking, the visual geography of each set-piece is brilliant and distilled enough that audiences always know what John Wick needs to do in any given scene or beat to progress.
John Wick: Chapter 4 has all of the right casting, ideas, and set pieces to truly shine as the action exhibition that it strives to be.
The two major set-pieces that bookend the film are set in Osaka, Japan and Paris, France respectively, and each one raises the bar for all future films that consider themselves to be within the Action genre. The plot is essentially irrelevant for this review, you already know that John Wick is going to war with the High Table after the fallout of the last film, and truthfully you don’t need to know anything else going into John Wick Chapter 4 and I feel it would be a disservice to include more information than is necessary.
If you’re familiar with the film series and enjoy Keanu Reeves in the role then I anticipate most people will enjoy the heck out of this one. It’s an Action film for the ages, and one that will stick with you long after leaving the theater. Plus, as a personal bonus, I’ve never seen nunchucks given this much love in movies. This one goes all out for one extended sequence, you’ll know it when you see it, and I’m here for that. Go see it on the biggest screen you can find, you won’t be disappointed.
Cameron Geiser is an avid consumer of films and books about filmmakers. He'll watch any film at least once, and can usually be spotted at the annual Traverse City Film Festival in Northern Michigan. He also writes about film over at www.spacecortezwrites.com.