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John Wick
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
It's seems genuinely difficult to me to square the financial support of this sort of movie since doing so rather implicitly gives a pass to using dogs as critical plot devices.
I really didn't know where the movie was going to go after it's flashforward and I was disappointed to find that after Wick goes on his killing spree to avenge his first dog, he ends the movie by replacing it with another. That's SO ANNOYING because it's probably the most transparent way they could have possibly objectified dogs.
Guy needs emotional support. Gets a dog. Feels better. Dog dies. Gets another dog.
There isn't even any mention of the fact that you can't replace something with sentimental value AND EVEN THEN we're saying a dog has sentimental value because of it's status as GIFT.
BIGGEST complaint of the movie, easily, obviously, even debatably worth saying at all, but it really is the one thing that holds this movie back for me because otherwise I thought this was a solid flik.
The gunplay and CQC was tight and varied, this is much more the Hard Boiled school of shootouts where engagement comes from a power fantasy character smoothly transitioning through a chaotic environment, disabling and executing baddies one by one.
As a power fantasy character, John Wick isn't even that hard to empathize with, even given his criminal background and even given his extremely questionable relationship with dogs (especially given that ending). That's rather tough to pull off and I would attribute a good amount of that to a combination of tone, pacing, and world-building.
We spend almost double the standard 15 minute sell-me window to root this movie in an emotional well before we really get our first shootout and by then we've fairly established the characters, their motives, and the excuse to hit puree with the rest of the movie. The conflict is established fairly well. I really can't complain.
The world-building is somewhat subtle, but I much appreciated the odd moments of inferrable jargon and reference to established constructs that comprise this underworld that John's a part of. It's that little bit that presses the movie forward.
I suppose I shouldn't neglect the mix of B-list actors either, even Willem Dafoe who gets a short turn as an uncertain ally is a much appreciated inclusion. Most everybody pulls in for a good time.
I'm also pretty big on the music which was unafraid to adopt the ambient synth/rock backing from the club or bathhouse to accompany it's action scenes. The tone's consistent and it gels well with the action. Far better than the nonsense you'd get in Haywire.
Really, I liked the movie, and I'd be plenty content to say I'd have no regrets seeing it again, but interweaving the dog into the plot was really damaging. It doesn't leave a good taste in my mouth.
Final Verdict: [Pretty Good]
John Wick
Crime Action / English / 2014
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
For the Action Movie Countdown.
It seems that after The Matrix and failing to restore his critical status with the likes of Constantine and The Day The Earth Stood Still, Keanu Reeves has got deeper into martial arts and returned to direct Man of Tai Chi and star in action vehicle John Wick. Is Keanu Reeves back?
WHAT'D I THINK? *SPOILERS*
It seems that after The Matrix and failing to restore his critical status with the likes of Constantine and The Day The Earth Stood Still, Keanu Reeves has got deeper into martial arts and returned to direct Man of Tai Chi and star in action vehicle John Wick. Is Keanu Reeves back?
WHAT'D I THINK? *SPOILERS*
"Yeah, I'm thinkin' I'm back."
It's seems genuinely difficult to me to square the financial support of this sort of movie since doing so rather implicitly gives a pass to using dogs as critical plot devices.
I really didn't know where the movie was going to go after it's flashforward and I was disappointed to find that after Wick goes on his killing spree to avenge his first dog, he ends the movie by replacing it with another. That's SO ANNOYING because it's probably the most transparent way they could have possibly objectified dogs.
Guy needs emotional support. Gets a dog. Feels better. Dog dies. Gets another dog.
There isn't even any mention of the fact that you can't replace something with sentimental value AND EVEN THEN we're saying a dog has sentimental value because of it's status as GIFT.
BIGGEST complaint of the movie, easily, obviously, even debatably worth saying at all, but it really is the one thing that holds this movie back for me because otherwise I thought this was a solid flik.
The gunplay and CQC was tight and varied, this is much more the Hard Boiled school of shootouts where engagement comes from a power fantasy character smoothly transitioning through a chaotic environment, disabling and executing baddies one by one.
As a power fantasy character, John Wick isn't even that hard to empathize with, even given his criminal background and even given his extremely questionable relationship with dogs (especially given that ending). That's rather tough to pull off and I would attribute a good amount of that to a combination of tone, pacing, and world-building.
We spend almost double the standard 15 minute sell-me window to root this movie in an emotional well before we really get our first shootout and by then we've fairly established the characters, their motives, and the excuse to hit puree with the rest of the movie. The conflict is established fairly well. I really can't complain.
The world-building is somewhat subtle, but I much appreciated the odd moments of inferrable jargon and reference to established constructs that comprise this underworld that John's a part of. It's that little bit that presses the movie forward.
I suppose I shouldn't neglect the mix of B-list actors either, even Willem Dafoe who gets a short turn as an uncertain ally is a much appreciated inclusion. Most everybody pulls in for a good time.
I'm also pretty big on the music which was unafraid to adopt the ambient synth/rock backing from the club or bathhouse to accompany it's action scenes. The tone's consistent and it gels well with the action. Far better than the nonsense you'd get in Haywire.
Really, I liked the movie, and I'd be plenty content to say I'd have no regrets seeing it again, but interweaving the dog into the plot was really damaging. It doesn't leave a good taste in my mouth.