"John Wick: Chapter 4" - Film Review
To say there’s not a lot of meat on the bones of John Wick: Chapter 4 is to misunderstand its purpose. Anyone who steps into a theatre expecting to be blown away by dialogue and intricate storylines will quickly find they’re in the wrong place. The entire series is a sisyphean journey of revenge. The audience knows that John Wick (Keanu Reeves) can never be free from this life of an assassin. He’s doomed to roll the ball up the hill over and over again. Or, in the case of Chapter 4, John is doomed to climb that 222-step staircase to Sacre-Cœur in Paris, both physically and metaphorically.
The film picks up fairly soon after the events of Parabellum, with John still seeking freedom from a life of crime. He kills the Elder (George Georgiou) and enrages Marquis Vincent de Gramont (Bill Skarsgård), who wants John, and everyone associated with him, to perish. Thus, John is once again spurred to go on a worldwide murder spree as he searches for an opportunity to duel with the Marquis. It’s only through this duel that John will have any chance at true freedom. On his tail are Marquis-hired assassins Caine (Donnie Yen) and Mr. Nobody (Shamier Anderson).
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John Wick: Chapter 4 makes a strong case for the recognition of stunt performers on the same stage that celebrates actors, directors, costumer designers, etc. In an era where television shows and movies are poorly lit, stunt performances are lost in the shadows. The final season of Game of Thrones was plagued with viewer complaints of lost action. John Wick: Chapter 4 is almost mockingly lit by bright, bold neon. Not only does this give the film a retro-futuristic atmosphere, it lets the audience see the spectacle of the fight. It’s why people are buying tickets. The entire franchise hinges on the man, the myth, the legend that is John Wick, an assassin who has killed three men with a pencil. Butts are in seats to see how each iteration of the franchise will one-up itself in creative means of murder.
Much of the buzz surrounding the movie is a distinct awe for the previously mentioned staircase sequence. It’s a brutal, bloody, fight of endurance that has roots dating back to Sergei Eisenstein. You don’t get John tumbling down the stairs of Sacre-Cœur amidst the carnage he’s created without the baby carriage in Battleship Potemkin. The viewer quickly loses count of the assassins John murders on his quest to the top. Each fight is new and different, with John becoming all the more creative every time he attacks. Another exciting moment is the result of a bird’s-eye view of a fight sequence in which John is making his way through the rooms of an abandoned building. There are bad guys at every turn, and John’s only way out is through them. The camera follows unflinchingly above, and the scene is brightly lit so the audience can clearly track the incoming threats. The way this sequence was shot makes it apparent that stunts are a choreography all their own…just with added firepower.
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It would be impossible to talk about the stunts of John Wick: Chapter 4 without mentioning Yen. Even those unfamiliar with his storied career as one of Hong Kong’s most well-known actors and martial artists will immediately recognize that Yen is no ordinary performer. His blind assassin moves with the utmost grace, dancing effortlessly across the screen. He begins the film hired to kill John, but it’s difficult not to root for him in some sense, even if it’s just to get one more scene of Yen masterfully battling his way through attackers.
This is not the end for the John Wick franchise as two spin-off TV shows are on the horizon, but if this is the last time he lights up the big screen, it was a fond farewell.
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