John Wick (2014) Review

This past weekend saw the release of the highly-anticipated action sequel, John Wick: Chapter 2, the follow-up to 2014’s critically acclaimed action thriller, John Wick. When the first film was released in late October of that year, it was a solid commercial success, grossing a little over four times its lean $20 million budget. In terms of its critical reception, many critics agreed that it served as an excellent bit of revitalization for the career of its star, Keanu Reeves. Reeves, of course, is well-known for his roles in beloved action films like Point Break, Speed, and the groundbreaking sci-fi action flick, The Matrix. However, at the same time, this also meant that Reeves ended up getting affected by the dreaded curse that is ‘typecasting’, which one could say negatively affected his career from time to time. But, thanks to this film, which was brought to us by the directing duo of former stuntmen Chad Stahelski (who stepped in as a double for Brandon Lee following his tragic death during the production of 1994’s The Crow) and David Leitch (who is set to direct the follow-up to last year’s smash hit, Deadpool), Reeves’ career saw a nice resurgence, reaffirming his status as one of the film industry’s premier action stars. And by the looks of it, that hot streak is continuing with the sequel, with its excellent 89% score on RT (by comparison, the first film isn’t too far off from that mark with an equally impressive 85% score) and a ‘defying expectations’ opening weekend gross of $30.4 million, nearly as much as what the first film made in its entire domestic run. And while watching this film, it’s easy to see why this series has become so popular. In an era where a lot of modern action films tend to limit their action sequences through editing and camerawork, John Wick is an unabashed ‘old-school’ action flick that is sure to satisfy longtime fans of the genre.  

John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is an ex-hitman who has moved on from the life of a hired gun, settling down with his wife Helen (Bridget Moynahan). However, Helen sadly passes away due to illness, which leaves John devastated. John then ends up receiving one final gift from her; a puppy named Daisy that is meant to help him cope with her loss. Sure enough, John immediately starts to bond with the dog but soon afterward, he is attacked by members of the Russian mob, namely an arrogant, hot-headed young man named Iosef Tarasov (Alfie Allen), after refusing to sell his vintage 1969 Mustang to them. Iosef and his crew then proceed to steal the car and, even worse, kill Daisy. But while Iosef initially assumes that the man that he and his boys attacked was a ‘f***ing nobody’, he soon learns from his father, crime boss Viggo Tarasov (Michael Nyqvist), that John Wick isn’t a ‘f***ing nobody’. In fact, he happens to be an old associate of Viggo’s who was well-known by many in the hitman community as ‘Baba Yaga’ AKA ‘The Boogeyman’. John used to be Viggo’s top killer before leaving the business entirely to settle down with Helen. And, sure enough, as soon as he recovers from the attack by Iosef and his goons, John embarks on a personal vendetta against them. Thus, the ex-hitman finds himself getting back into the business, and things get a little more interesting once he starts to reacquaint himself with some of his former associates.

As many have noted since its release, one of the best elements of the film is its action sequences. A lot of this comes from how they were done when compared to some of the more recent action films that have come out over the years. Fans of the genre have been highly critical of recent action films like the Taken series for their tendency to utilize rapid-editing during action sequences, which A.) runs the risk of having the audience be unable to tell what’s going on and B.) is a blatant attempt of either hiding obvious stunt doubles or trying to maintain a PG-13 rating for a wider audience. That is not the case with John Wick. The action in this film is incredible; it’s fantastically-choreographed, fine-tuned and coherent in terms of how it's edited, and excellently shot. It’s quite hard to list just one standout action sequence in this film because it’s full of them, from the first fight within Wick’s home to the big firefight in the Red Circle nightclub. As for the story, I really admire its simplicity. Now, granted, I’m aware that saying this may make me come off as being a bit hypocritical seeing how, in the past, I’ve critiqued action films like Mad Max: Fury Road and Deadpool for having simplified plots. But, at the risk of sounding even more hypocritical, in this case, I found that it worked because the simplicity of it all was consistent throughout. John’s motivations in this film are clear; his dog was his only source of coping with his wife’s death, hence why its death is so personal to him. In other words, the plot doesn’t really go to any ridiculous lengths (e.g. no crazy reveals or outlandish plotlines) and it does a nice job of setting up its universe.

As stated before, Keanu Reeves’ career has sometimes fallen victim to ‘typecasting’; either that or some people usually find his acting to be rather wooden. That’s not the case here as Reeves is excellent in the role of ‘Baba Yaga’ himself, John Wick. He exudes the perfect badass, but also calm and methodical, persona that, in the context of the film, perfectly exemplifies Wick’s status amongst the other members of the hitman community. And of course, Reeves is well-known for frequently doing his own stunts, which helps make the action sequences even more memorable than they already are. As for the film’s supporting cast, Reeves is backed by an excellent group of entertaining side characters. This includes Willem Dafoe as Marcus, an ‘old guard’ assassin who is John’s good friend and mentor, John Leguizamo as Aurelio, a chop shop owner who John goes to see first after he is attacked, and Ian McShane as Winston, the owner of a hotel, the Continental, that caters to the criminal underworld and who also has a courteous relationship with John. The villains are solid too. Alfie Allen (AKA Game of Thrones’ Theon Greyjoy) brings the right amount of sleaze to the role of Iosef while Michael Nyqvist brings much depth to the role of Viggo, who’s given a lot of great set-up in terms of his relationship with John. Admittedly, though, there are times where these two are overshadowed by some of the side characters. That’s not to say that they’re ‘bad’ villains, per se, but they’re still sort of the weakest links of the film.

Now, I know that I’m obviously quite late to the party on this one as I only watched it for the first time this week. But, now that I have watched it, I find that I do concur with the common sentiment amongst critics and audiences about it. John Wick is one of the best action films of this decade. Just like Mad Max: Fury Road, which came out the following year, this film is a kinetically-charged action flick with some of the most exceptional action sequences in recent years. And while the main plot is simple, the execution of it is what makes it work so well. In other words, it doesn’t try to be something it isn’t. It’s just a fine-tuned action extravaganza complete with a great lead performance by Keanu Reeves in the title role. Say what you will about his acting in other films but he’s an undeniable badass when it comes to his roles in action films and, thus, this may arguably be his best performance/character to date in regards to that genre. So, with that in mind, did this film do its job at revitalizing Keanu Reeves’ career? Well, to answer that question, I’m going to directly reference one of this film’s iconic lines, spoken by John himself during a discussion with Viggo. “People keep asking me if I’m back and I haven’t really had an answer. But now, yeah, I’m thinking I’m back!”

Rating: 4.5/5

(P.S Stay tuned for my review of John Wick 2 sometime this weekend)