Five years ago John Wick (Keanu Reeves) retired from his life as a hitman. He settled down with his wife (Bridget Moynahan) and was leading a normal life. Unfortunately, “normal” was short-lived as she succumbed to cancer leaving John on his own to grieve, or so he thought. Late one night a knock comes to his door, a delivery, a gift from the beyond. It’s a small puppy with a note from his wife, a gift allowing him the opportunity not to grieve alone, or so he thought.
A few nights later and John has another visitor. No knocking this time, just three guys in ski masks come to steal his car and, subsequently kill his dog. The intruders leave John bloody and beaten, laying down next to his deceased puppy, his car stolen from his garage. The bad guys got away, or so they thought… And with that the fuse is lit for John Wick, a revenge thriller with a ridiculous premise that is way more entertaining than it has any right to be, but entertaining it is nonetheless.
Directed by stuntmen David Leitch and Chad Stahelski, John Wick is all about the action and it really delivers. While the setup may be a little wishy-washy not a lot of time is spent dwelling on it. There’s an understanding here that the setup was merely a means of motivation for the violence to come and boy does it come. Wick is a one man killing squad, but it’s the way they’ve established the character that makes it work so well.
We come to the understanding Wick was never a man to be messed with and one of the best in his profession. One character relays a story where he saw Wick in a bar kill three guys with a pencil. Early on we get a taste of his proficiency when we see Wick take out 12 guys that have infiltrated his home. Wick doesn’t waste time in killing them. There are no conversations with his would be assassins, and yet that isn’t the best part. The best part is when a police officer comes knocking on the door, sees a dead body in Wick’s hallway and asks, “You working again?” and leaves without so much as a warning. There are no rules in this world and the movie doesn’t necessarily flaunt that fact, but early on it makes sure you know that fact so once bullets go flying in downtown New York in broad daylight you won’t look on saying, “How is this allowed to happen?” Just go with it.
Within this world exists a fraternity of assassins and a downtown hotel that’s well aware of their profession. It’s something of a “safe” place to stay, chat and relax before heading out to do your night’s work. Here we meet fellow assassin Ms. Perkins (Adrianne Palicki) and top dog Winston (Ian McShane). We’ve already met Marcus (Willem Dafoe), a friend of Wick’s who’s also in the business, and it’s John Leguizamo as chop shop owner Aurelio that tips Wick off to the baddies that stole his ride and killed his pup.
Enter Viggo Tarasov (Michael Nyqvist), a Russian mafia top dog whose son, Iosef (Alfie Allen whom you’ll recognize as Theon from “Game of Thrones”), and his two buddies are the fellas that stole Wick’s car. Wick used to do jobs for Viggo — blah, blah, blah — Viggo tries to protect his son and eventually the streets and clubs of New York become riddled with bullets.
Plenty of bones are broken, necks snapped, close-range headshots, long-range headshots and all of this with very little chatter. There is, however, a sense of humor about it all and only a couple of silly scenes where Reeves attempts to get emotional — the “I’m back” scene they are using in a lot of the marketing is ridiculous and a scene where Wick takes his car for a wheel-screeching joyride is pointless — but for the most part it all works within the confines of the narrative. Even if it all ends with a fist fight rather than a gunshot… why does it so rarely end with a gunshot? Why must it be a fist fight? Just shoot and get it over with!
Ignoring the fact 47 Ronin even exists, Reeves has pretty much been absent from the Hollywood scene for some time now and even John Wick was an independent production snatched up by Lionsgate. 2008’s The Day the Earth Stood Still was the last time a Reeves production was as heavily marketed as John Wick and should enough people turn out for this one I wouldn’t be surprised to see a sequel, or at the very least see Reeves start doing a lot of similar, lower budget action features a la Liam Neeson.
Reeves is still very much a wooden actor, but he has always had the ability of choosing the right roles to fit that talent and aside from a couple scenes where he’s asked to show emotion, John Wick is perfectly suited for his abilities. Wick is a shoot first ask questions later kind of guy and as a result the action keeps moving. John Wick rarely slows down, allowing for little time to focus on its flaws, making for a satisfying actioner in the process.
