John Wick
It's rare that moviegoers can get excited for a Keanu Reeves film. The Matrix was the last time for me. John Wick, however, is a triumphant return to action for the now 50-year-old Reeves.
The film begins with Wick grieving his wife's death through the companionship of an adorable puppy (Daisy) his wife posthumously gives him. Soon, Wick's home is broken into by Russian gangsters who kill Daisythe most heart-wrenching death of 2014and steal Wick's car. I can't think of a better way to pit the audience against an antagonist than by having him kill a puppy. It's a cheap play, but it works.
After the robbery, the audience is still in the dark concerning who Wick is. With limited lines of dialogue and interaction, it's difficult to get a beat on the character. The first hint comes from a scene in which Wick delivers a short line of Russian dialogue to one of the would-be burglars, who consequentially becomes Daisy's murderer.
Wick's ambiguity wanes after meeting with Aureilo (John Leguizamo), a chop-shop owner who refused to chop (is that the lingo?) Wick's car. Wick learns that it was Iosef Tarasov (Alfie Allen), Wick's former boss' son, who stole his car and, more importantly, destroyed Wick's last living link to his wife, his "semblance of hope."
Wick is essentially stripped of his existence, his reason for living, in one short week. This leads to a symbolic scene where Wick uses a sledgehammer to "dig up his past" by unearthing his buried arsenal. It soon becomes clear that John Wick was once a highly regarded hitman virtuoso.
The rest of the movie plays out as a high-octane action romp. Each action scene is exquisitely choreographed and seething with style. I couldn't help but think of Taken meets a bit of gun-fu. Chad Stahelski, with his stuntman background, thankfully doesn't shy away from showing the action. He pulls back the camera and allows the audience to fully engage and experience the highly stylized action sequences. Best of all, we aren't subjected to Michael Bay shaky-cam vomit-inducing "techniques."
A unique facet of this film is the underground criminal organization that Wick is forced to re-immerses himself into. The film creates a unique yet believable criminal network where there is a peculiar amount of respect and courtesy among so many thieves and murderers. But through great direction and a tight script, it works perfectly. There is a hilarious scene in which the Hotel Manager politely phones Wick's room to alert him of several noise complaints. The phone relentlessly rings while Wick and Perkins (Adrianne Palicki), a fellow assassin looking to collect a 2-million-dollar contract for Wick's head, are knee-deep in savage close-quarters combat. It's the elaborate underground criminal world and scenes like this that keep John Wick from becoming another cliche action movie.
John Wick isn't a perfect film. There are occasional bits of cringe-worthy dialogue that border on hokey, even for a film like John Wick that purposefully never takes itself too seriously. And I won't say Keanu Reeves' performance was stellar, but his acting abilities are well-suited for a silent, reserved character like John Wick. However, we all know what a pig wearing lipstick is.
For me, John Wick turned out to be one of the better surprises from 2014, and I'm itching to watch it again.
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and Tom Cruise doing a really fine job handling the drama of the piece while simultaneously kicking ass. A really good time to be had.
