"You ready John?"
Then he takes half a minute to reply with, "Yeeeaaah"
I grew old on my couch waiting for his reply Haha. It never gets old. I had all the time and patience in the world for John Wick.
Finally, I got to watch John Wick: Chapter 4 and I must say it has been a journey of chaos, blood, deaths, and betrayals for him. Right from the beginning of this franchise I knew John was going to be given a peaceful ending which will end with his wife Helen, the person who actually mattered to him. It was deserving and a perfect ending after all the struggles, he deserved to go out that way.
The John Wick Franchise is an amazing saga that was well produced. All the sequels did excellently well in the box office. In my opinion I think it is the best saga with a good and rich storyline and it ended in a perfect way. All loose ends were well tied. So let's get to the review quickly.
John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023) is an action thriller film that has been long awaited by many of its audience since the previous installment, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019). The wait was worth it as many of its audience have been satisfied with the outcome of this fourth installment. I am satisfied and impressed.
Summary Of The Plot.
This movie was directed and co-produced by Chad Stahelski. It was also written by Michael Finch and Shay Hatten with Lions gate as its distributor. Following the last installment's story, this sequel continued right from there. After John Wick was left to die by "The Table", he was rescued by the Bowery King who nursed him back to good health.
This sequel storyline started with John Wick back to his full health and was ready to take on 'The Table' to get his revenge with the assistant of the Bowery King. To start his revenge John went to Morocco in search of the Elder who is above 'The Table' to ask for his finger back. But the mission went well for John when he ended up killing the Elder. In reaction to John's move, a member of 'The Table' Marquis was given all their source at his disposal to kill John Wick. Marquis summoned New York Continental hotel manager Winston and his concierge, Charon to strip them of their duties and declared Winston "excommunicado" after killing Charon right before his eyes. After which the New York Continental hotel was destroyed.
As events continue to unfold, Marquis then hires Caine, a blind, retired High Table assassin, to kill John, an old friend, while threatening to kill his daughter if he fail not to succeed in his mission. Caine had no choice but accept the mission, because he had to protect his daughter. On the other hand, John goes to seek refuge at the Osaka Continental hotel that is managed by his friend Shimazu Koji. Upon his arrival, Caine, Marquis' second in command, Chidi, with other trained assassins arrived at the hotel to look for John. Shimazu refused them access to his hotel and that led to a blood bath. What happens next? Will John be able to exact his revenge against 'The Table'?
My Review And Rating.
This movie is blessed with an exceptional cast and all the supporting characters capture their respective spotlight. I feel like I want to see more of the supporting characters in future spin-offs which brings me to the Continental spin-off in the works presently. I can't wait to see it.
Keanu Reeves is the only one who kept this franchise moving on for this long. His role in the franchise was made for him and him alone. I doubt anyone else could fit into his role the way he did. Yes, his dialogues are scanty but he still conveys a lot of messages through his mannerism, moves, and action. An action man I would name his character. Reeves was fantastic in this sequel as he has been in the previous installments and "Yeeeaaah" he handle his role like a champion. He is the glue that keeps the franchise together without him everything would collapse.
The supporting characters as I said earlier were amazing and fantastic. I will talk about a few that I loved in this sequel. Hiroyuki Sanada acted as Shimazu Koji. This man is one of my favorite actors and I was so emotional when he died in the middle of the movie. I felt sad because I was hoping to continue to see him throughout the movie. His performance was good and I felt his presence was strong in the movie regardless that his role was cut short.
Bill Skarsgård as Marquis was amazing! He acted his part well and he made a fantastic villain. He was prick with lots of resources at disposal and he sure held his spotlight on all his scenes. His accent and his mannerism was perfectly portrayed. Also we have Shamier Anderson as Mr Nobody aka the Tracker. I must confess I enjoyed his role in this sequel. He was a deadly force with his pet dog and also an enigma. It was never explained how he could track John Wick anywhere around the world.
Finally, Donnie Yen as Caine was a character I admired. Though he was blind, his liability was a deadly asset. I felt bad for him when he had to kill John to protect his daughter but then again I was angry with him when he killed Shimazu. Will there be a spin-off with him and the Kojis? I would love to see one though.
The director did a fantastic job with this movie and the entire franchise I must say. The plot was well written and rich in quality. The storytelling technique was unique because it all kept each sequel fresh and new. The script was also well written. The scene arrangements were excellently done so that it flowed seamlessly with the action scenes sequence. I started watching this movie and I didn't know when almost three hours were gone. That is how interesting and engaging this movie and franchise was.
The setting and location of the film set was well selected and perfect for the story of the movie. The action stunts were portrayed well. The visuals and cinematography was the best. I really enjoyed this movie, it was entertaining and very satisfying. Though there was one thing about this movie that got me exhausted. It was the fighting. They all kept rising up from the dead and they were hard to kill thereby making all the fighting scenes unnecessarily long which I think adds to the long duration of this movie.
Rating this movie, I will give 4.7 out of 5 stars. I really enjoyed it and I think John Wick is a classic action franchise that I will be rewatching occasionally to keep the memory fresh with me. If you have not seen this movie, hurry now and watch it. I promise you that you won't be disappointed.
All images above are from the movie screenshots
Thank you for visiting and supporting my blog 🤗