Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024) review

In 2008, DreamWorks Animation released two films. One of these was a sequel to the studio’s 2005 hit Madagascar, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. As for the other, it would be the studio’s original project for that year; a martial arts comedy titled Kung Fu Panda. Starring Jack Black as the titular panda, Po, the film followed this avid kung-fu fanatic who, despite zero training, is chosen to be the ‘Dragon Warrior’, a kung-fu master who’s destined to save his home, the Valley of Peace, from evildoers. The original Kung Fu Panda is very much one of the prime examples of the classic adage ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’. In the months leading up to its release, it’s safe to assume that most people probably saw it as nothing more than a joke, especially with a title as admittedly goofy as Kung Fu Panda. It also didn’t help that, around this time, DreamWorks Animation had garnered something of a reputation for their reliance on pop cultural references, which dominated a lot of their work and arguably had an impact on their overall reception when compared to some of their industry rivals such as Pixar. As such, it’s safe to say that a film and premise like Kung Fu Panda didn’t seem like it was going to change anyone’s mind when it came to what a DreamWorks film could be. But, when the film finally came out, both critics and audiences were genuinely taken by surprise as Kung Fu Panda proved to be an incredibly well-crafted animated film with spectacularly choreographed action sequences, mature storytelling, and above all, an undeniable sense of respect for the Chinese culture that inspired it.

This, as a result, gave DreamWorks its latest hit franchise as the film would go on to spawn several spin-offs. On the big screen, the adventures of Po the Dragon Warrior would continue in 2011’s Kung Fu Panda 2 and 2016’s Kung Fu Panda 3. Both films managed to match the original in terms of both critical and commercial success while also achieving some historical significance for their director, Jennifer Yuh Nelson, who was the original film’s head of story and became the first solo female director of a mainstream animated film with Kung Fu Panda 2. That film would go on to become the highest-grossing animated film solely directed by a woman, and while she did have a co-director in fellow DreamWorks mainstay Alessandro Carloni for Kung Fu Panda 3, it was clear that Jennifer Yuh Nelson was the strongest driving force behind what was quickly becoming another one of DreamWorks’ flagship franchises. After Kung Fu Panda 3, though, that would largely be it for the Dragon Warrior on the big screen as DreamWorks began to focus more on the franchise’s TV spin-offs. But then, in 2022, it was announced that the cinematic adventures of Po and company would continue with Kung Fu Panda 4. This time, directorial duties went to Mike Mitchell, a longtime veteran of DreamWorks who had worked with them as far back as their first film, 1998’s Antz, while also directing the likes of 2016’s Trolls and, ironically, another DreamWorks fourthquel in 2010’s Shrek Forever After. And just like that latter film in many ways, what we ultimately have here is a solidly enjoyable addition to the Kung Fu Panda franchise that may not necessarily reach the exact same wondrous heights as its predecessors but still manages to exude much of the franchise’s charm and appeal.

For Po the Dragon Warrior (voiced by Jack Black), things couldn’t be better for him as the Valley of Peace’s greatest protector, especially after the events of Kung Fu Panda 3 in which the late Master Oogway gave him a powerful staff that can link the mortal world with the Spirit Realm. However, Po is taken by surprise when his mentor, Master Shifu (voiced by Dustin Hoffman), informs him that the time has come for him to find his successor as the Dragon Warrior since he’s now destined to take on the role of the Valley of Peace’s spiritual leader. And if that wasn’t enough, all sorts of disturbances start to occur across the Valley caused by, of all people, Tai Lung (voiced by Ian McShane), Po’s nemesis from his early days as the Dragon Warrior who was seemingly vanquished and sent to the Spirit Realm. Upon further investigation, Po discovers that this is the work of a sinister shape-shifting sorceress known as the Chameleon (voiced by Viola Davis), who seeks to acquire Po’s Staff of Wisdom and use it to collect the kung-fu abilities of all the greatest warriors from the Spirit Realm. Thus, with the aid of a wily bandit named Zhen (voiced by Awkwafina), Po travels to the Chameleon’s headquarters in Juniper City to take on his latest arch-nemesis before she can become the most unstoppable kung-fu master the world has ever seen.

As has always been the case with this series, Kung Fu Panda 4 more than delivers on its spectacularly choreographed and beautifully animated action sequences. While I’m well aware that some were disappointed at this film’s more traditional style of animation compared to some of the more stylized and experimental bits of animation seen in some of DreamWorks’ recent films such as Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Kung Fu Panda 4 is still just as vibrant and colorful as the films that came before it. Much of this helps to alleviate the fact that, admittedly, this film doesn’t have the same kind of strong emotional hooks that dominated the original trilogy. All three of the previous Kung Fu Panda films benefitted immensely from some strong bits of emotional poignancy that helped them narratively stand out compared to a lot of other DreamWorks films at the time, whether it was the first film’s reveal that the main antagonist Tai Lung was once the beloved adopted son of Master Shifu or how the second film revolved around Po learning about his past and the tragic events that led to him being separated from his birth parents. This film, on the other hand, is unfortunately lacking in that regard and it doesn’t help that there are some clearly missed opportunities for it to have those sorts of moments, such as a possible reunion between Tai Lung and Shifu given the former’s prominent role in this story. Instead, the film opts to be more of a straightforward adventure plot for Po and company that ultimately relies more on the franchise’s trademark sense of humor revolving around Po’s unconventional means of being a kung-fu warrior. To be fair, though, this series has never truly faltered with its sense of humor, and because this film thoroughly maintains that streak, it’s not necessarily a bad thing that it’s primarily just a light-hearted comedic romp.

Much of this is thanks to, as always, its entertaining cast of characters, headlined, of course, by everyone’s favorite comedic rockstar Jack Black in what has easily become one of the definitive roles of his career, Po the Dragon Warrior. As he’s always done in this role, Black doesn’t skip a beat maintaining Po’s hilariously bumbling yet wholly endearing persona. Now, as for the franchise’s other recurring characters… well, Kung Fu Panda fans will most likely be disappointed to know that Po’s fellow kung fu masters, the Furious 5, are almost entirely absent from this and, as has been the case with every Kung Fu Panda sequel, Master Shifu is largely uninvolved with the main plot even though this one sees the return of his first protégé Tai Lung. Still, Dustin Hoffman continues to provide plenty of great humorous beats as Po’s perpetually grumpy master while James Hong and Bryan Cranston, returning as Po’s adoptive father Mr. Ping and biological father Li Shan, respectively, also prove to be a major source of the film’s best comedic moments as Po’s two dads are turned into a delightfully wacky odd couple who head out on their own accord to help their son. As for the new additions to the cast (specifically, Po’s new morally grey ally Zhen and the film’s main antagonist, the Chameleon), they are, admittedly, the biggest victims of this film’s more basic narrative approach, with the Chameleon being a far more standard villain than any of her franchise counterparts. But for what it’s worth, Awkwafina has excellent comedic rapport with Jack Black as Zhen (complete with a few moments where she gets to flex her dramatic chops) while Viola Davis’ trademark fierceness shines through as Chameleon, thus resulting in the character still managing to be an effectively sinister villain.

At the end of the day, Kung Fu Panda 4 surprisingly ends up having quite a lot in common with director Mike Mitchell’s other DreamWorks fourthquel, Shrek Forever After. In both instances, we have films that, while far from being their respective franchise’s best installments, are still solidly enjoyable additions to them that don’t do anything that would’ve drastically harmed their legacy in any way. In Kung Fu Panda 4’s case, the only thing that truly keeps it from being just as great as its predecessors is the fact that it lacks the emotional throughline that, back when this franchise was first starting out, proved that DreamWorks films could be more than just pop-cultural dependent kiddie flicks. Without that, this film is more of a straightforward martial arts adventure that doesn’t do much to set up the new additions to its cast even though it simultaneously doesn’t rely as much on the franchise’s well-established ensemble as its predecessors did. But like I said earlier, I don’t necessarily feel that this is all a bad thing. Despite its narrative shortcomings, Kung Fu Panda 4 dutifully maintains a lot of the franchise’s hallmarks, such as its well-crafted action sequences or by consistently preserving Po’s status as one of the most endearing protagonists in all of animation. As such, if you’re just looking to go on another fun adventure with Po, which we haven’t gotten on the big screen in nearly a decade, then this film will give you exactly what you’re looking for. Skadoosh!!   

Rating: 4/5

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019) review

In 2014, Keanu Reeves experienced a major career resurgence when he starred in John Wick, an action-thriller that was co-directed by former stuntmen Chad Stahelski and David Leitch (even though Stahelski was the only one credited by the Directors Guild of America), whom he had previously worked with on the Matrix films. In the film, Reeves played the titular John Wick, a retired hitman with a considerable legacy amongst his peers who ends up returning to his old profession when a group of Russian thugs kill the puppy that had been given to him by his wife as one last gift before her tragic death. Upon its release, the film was a big hit with critics and audiences, gaining considerable praise for its phenomenal action sequences that avoided several of the filmmaking techniques that, in the minds of many, have negatively affected many recent action films (e.g. rapid editing, shaky cam, etc.). Thus, a sequel was soon set into motion and released in 2017, with Stahelski taking sole directorial duties this time around due to Leitch working on other projects. Just like the first film, John Wick: Chapter 2 was a critical and financial success. It nearly doubled its predecessor’s run at the box-office and is generally considered to be a rare case of an arguably superior sequel. And because of the shocking incident that occurs during its finale, we now move onto the third entry of the series, John Wick: Chapter 3, which is the first of the series to have a subtitle via the Latin phrase for ‘Prepare for War’, Parabellum. It’s a film that sees its titular hero dealing with some of the toughest opponents that he’s ever faced in this series, and just like the previous two films, this all results in yet another epic action extravaganza with the legendary hitman who is known to many as ‘Baba Yaga’.

At the end of John Wick: Chapter 2, revered hitman John Wick (Keanu Reeves) ended up breaking the cardinal rule of the hitman community by killing his target, crime boss Santino D’Antonio, within the confines of the hitman safe-haven that is the Continental Hotel. Thus, without hesitation, the crime boss hierarchy known as the High Table quickly declare him as ‘excommunicado’ and place a $14 million bounty on him that is eventually raised to $15 million. Because of this, John now finds himself in a situation where he can’t rely on his usual resources while also being hunted by every single assassin that he comes across. And if that wasn’t enough, an adjudicator for the High Table (Asia Kate Dillon) takes several of his allies, including New York Continental owner Winston (Ian McShane) and local crime lord The Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne), to task for aiding him in his recent endeavors. With very few options left at his disposal, John travels to the city of Casablanca, Morocco, where he reunites with Sofia (Halle Berry), the current owner of the local Continental. Just like his situation with D’Antonio in the previous film, John convinces her to honor the unbreakable bond between them via the assassin marker that they’d set up after he had helped her in the past. Thus, Sofia reluctantly joins forces with him on his perilous journey to try and find a way to get out of his current predicament with the High Table. But as John soon discovers, he may end up having to take some truly drastic measures if he wants to get that $15 million target off his back.

One of the most impressive aspects of this series is its seamless narrative, with each subsequent installment’s plot being directly set into motion by the events of its immediate predecessor. John Wick: Chapter 2’s plot was initiated by John’s return to the hitman lifestyle, and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum is the result of Chapter 2’s finale, where he broke the golden rule of the Continental. And because of this, this film presents John at what is arguably the most vulnerable state that he’s ever been in apart from when his wife Helen died. Now obviously, as these films have very much proven, John Wick clearly isn’t someone who will go down that easy. Still, because this film puts him in a situation where almost everyone’s out to get him, it arguably makes Parabellum the most intense installment of the trilogy because of its non-stop pace. Of course, just like the previous two films, this film is full of amazing action sequences from beginning to end. As always, they’re well-shot, well-edited, and impressively choreographed. All this makes up for the fact that this film admittedly has one of the weaker plots of the series so far. To be clear, it’s still a very well-written action flick that continues the franchise’s excellent tradition of gradually expanding upon its lore and the assassin underworld that it has created. It’s also worth noting, however, that this is the longest entry of the series to date at 131 minutes long, and while there’s never a dull moment in this film, sometimes it does feel like the plot is being stretched a bit thin for a franchise that has never tried to present an overly complicated narrative.           

John Wick has easily become one of the most definitive roles of Keanu Reeves’ career, and just like in the previous two films, he continues to do a phenomenal job when it comes to his portrayal of the stoic assassin. The film even delves a bit into John’s backstory (namely, the events that led to him becoming an assassin in the first place) while also continuing to give Reeves more opportunities to establish himself as one of the best action stars in the industry, because just like Tom Cruise, Reeves isn’t afraid to do most of his own stunts. As usual, he’s joined by a solid ensemble cast headlined by series regulars like Ian McShane as John’s benevolent ally Winston, Lance Reddick as the Continental’s cordial concierge Winston (who even gets to partake in some of the action this time around to brilliant results), and Laurence Fishburne as the boisterous Bowery King. When it comes to newcomers to the franchise, it’s all headlined by Halle Berry as Sofia, John’s old ally from Morocco who’s always accompanied by a pair of vicious attack dogs. As far as the action is concerned, Berry more than holds her own against Reeves and their characters’ complicated relationship results in some solid banter between them, although it should be noted that she ultimately plays a minor role in the larger story. But then there’s the film’s main antagonists, and while the John Wick franchise has admittedly been hit-or-miss over the years with its villains, Parabellum’s key antagonists are some of the series’ best. First, there’s Asia Kate Dillon as the High Table’s Adjudicator, who is appropriately cold and calculating when it comes to managing the hunt for John Wick from behind the scenes. And then there’s Mark Dacascos as Zero, an assassin who is directly hired by the Adjudicator to eliminate John. Like many others in this world, Zero is a huge fan of the legendary ‘Baba Yaga’, which provides the film with some of its best humorous moments that mainly consist of Zero’s various attempts at striking up a friendly conversation with his target.

Thanks to Chapter 3 – Parabellum, the John Wick franchise has managed to pull off the often-daunting task of being a trilogy of films where each installment is genuinely outstanding. Sure, this film could still technically be regarded by some as the ‘weakest’ entry of the trilogy (which usually ends up being the case with threequels), but in this instance, that isn’t even remotely a bad thing. Just like its two predecessors, this film is full of amazing action sequences from beginning to end. And thanks to the continuously excellent direction from Chad Stahelski and another phenomenal performance by Keanu Reeves in the title role, Chapter 3 maintains the franchise’s great affinity for simple but highly effective action-thrillers, even if this one occasionally feels a bit too simplistic despite boasting the series’ longest run-time. But perhaps the most interesting part of this film… is the fact that it shows that this series is far from being over. Yes, while I’m sure that some might have expected this to be the finale to the story of John Wick, the film ends similarly to Chapter 2 by extensively setting up the next big conflict that John will be involved with, and sure enough, a Chapter 4 was recently confirmed for a 2021 release. Plus, there are also quite a few spin-offs in the works, including an upcoming TV series set at the Continental and a rumored crossover with Atomic Blonde, the 2017 action-thriller that was directed by the original John Wick’s co-director, David Leitch. And while some film franchises tend to fizzle out at this point and experience a noticeable decline in quality, it’s very much clear that the John Wick franchise is just as resilient as its titular badass.

Rating: 4.5/5

John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) review

In 2014, former stuntmen Chad Stahelski and David Leitch teamed up to direct John Wick, starring Keanu Reeves as an ex-hitman who finds himself forced back into the business when a group of Russian mobsters attack him, steal his car, and kill his dog, the latter of which was a gift from his wife before she died to help him cope. The film was a solid commercial success upon release, grossing over four times its modest $20 million budget. It also did great with critics and fans of the action genre, who praised the film for its incredibly shot and choreographed action sequences in an age of rapid-edit, ‘PG-13-friendly’ action. And this year, the legendary ‘Baba Yaga’ is back for another round of vengeful, but also stylish, gunplay in John Wick: Chapter 2. Reeves, of course, returns in the title role as does director Chad Stahelski, though this time around, David Leitch is only serving as an executive producer. Then again, only Stahelski was credited as director for the first film by the Directors Guild of America, even though both directed it. Plus, Leitch went off to work on the upcoming spy thriller The Coldest City and is also being primed to helm the sequel to Deadpool, so I think it’s safe to say that he was just tied up with other projects. But, thankfully, this doesn’t affect John Wick: Chapter 2 too much because, oh boy, this film is one epic action sequel. And that’s because it does two great things at once. Not only does it maintain plenty of the same great elements of the first film, particularly in terms of its action sequences, but it also feels like a natural follow-up, upping the ante in all the right ways without losing the badass aura of the original.

At the end of John Wick, the titular ex-hitman (Keanu Reeves), known by many in the assassin community as ‘The Boogeyman’, successfully avenged the death of his dog Daisy at the hands of the Tarasov family. And after finally getting his vintage 1969 Mustang back as well, which he retrieves from the chop shop owned by Viggo Tarasov’s brother Abram (Peter Stormare) in this film’s opening sequence, John prepares to retire once again, having picked up a new dog (which isn’t given a name in the film) from an animal clinic at the end of the first film. However, he is soon approached by another old associate of his, Italian crime lord Santino D’Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio), who has come for payment over a blood oath that he and John made years ago, in which the former helped the latter retire from the business. John initially declines the offer, saying that he is ‘retired for good’, but when Santino destroys his home as payback, he quickly finds that he has no other choice. To fulfill his side of the bargain, John is directed to Rome, where he is tasked with taking down a high-value target so that Santino can take their place on the council of crime lords known as ‘the High Table’. But even after John pulls off this job, Santino then betrays him and places a $7 million bounty on his head. News of the bounty attracts the attention of every major assassin in New York, putting ol’ ‘Baba Yaga’ on the run as he goes on his own path of vengeance against Santino.

Just like the first film, John Wick: Chapter 2 features some incredible action sequences that highlight all the great camerawork, editing, and stunt choreography that went into making them. Heck, being that it’s basically set not too long after the events of the first film, this film comes right out the gate with an awesome sequence in which John fights through a bunch of goons to get his car back. There’s that, a big shootout within Roman catacombs, a fight in the New York City Subway, a fight within a hall of mirrors, etc. Bottom line, just like the first film, there’s plenty of standout fights in this film, so much so that it’s admittedly hard to pick just one as a favorite. And as for being a sequel, this basically does the best thing that any good sequel should do; it ups the ante of the story’s stakes without losing sight of what made the first film work so well. As I noted in my review of the first film, I really admired the simplicity of its plot execution. John’s motivations are clear throughout and the set-up of the assassin world is excellent without going into too much detail. From the ‘honor system’ that’s set up at the Continental Hotel, which caters to the criminal underworld but maintains the ground rule of not having one’s business occur on property, to the montage in which John meets with various people in Rome (e.g. a tailor, a ‘Sommelier’ (Peter Serafinowicz), etc.) to acquire his supplies before he goes on his latest mission, these films set up a cool world in which assassins go about their business in a graceful manner. All that, of course, was there in the first film and in this film, writer Derek Kolstad does just enough to further expand this universe without losing the narrative’s charming simplicity.

John Wick… is a badass; simple as that. And Keanu Reeves is badass in the role. From doing his own stunts (while in his 50’s, no less!) to just maintaining a calm and collected persona throughout, a perfect representation of Wick’s highly-effective and tactical approach to everything he does, this may arguably be Reeves’ greatest role to date when it comes to his forays into the action genre. In other words, he was just a perfect fit for this role. And of course, like the first film, he’s got a nice cast of highly memorable supporting characters to back him up. There are some of the returning characters from the first film, like Ian McShane as the diplomatic owner of the Continental Hotel in New York and John Leguizamo as Wick’s friend and chop shop owner Aurelio. And then there’s also some of the new additions to the cast, like Common as Cassian, the bodyguard of John’s high-value target who becomes more of a ‘rival’ to him once John takes out the target, and Ruby Rose as Santino’s mute henchwoman Ares, who John crosses paths with numerous times over the course of the film. Plus, fans of The Matrix will no doubt get a kick out of the scene where Reeves is reunited with Morpheus himself, Laurence Fishburne, who plays a New York crime boss known as the ‘Bowery King’. But, once again, I find that the main villain, Santino, is the weakest link of the film. Again, like Viggo and Iosef from the first film, he’s not a ‘bad’ villain’, per se; he’s got nice set-up in terms of his relationship with John and all. But, also like Viggo and Iosef, he tends to get overshadowed by all the supporting characters.

John Wick: Chapter 2 is one of the best action film sequels of all-time. Of course, that’s also benefitted from the fact that it’s a sequel to one of the best action films of the past decade, the original John Wick. Like its predecessor, Chapter 2 features excellent action sequences that are well-shot, finely-edited, and wonderfully choreographed. But then, of course, the film must deal with the fact that it’s a sequel, and overall, it handles that aspect brilliantly by feeling like a natural follow-up to the first film. The ways in which the story and action are built up from the first film are incredibly well-handled. In other words, the film still manages to maintain the simplistic charm of the first film while also upping the ante in terms of the action sequences as well as raising the stakes for John. On that note, without giving anything away, the way in which this film closes provides us with an awesome set-up for the third film. It ends on such a bold note that I think it’s safe to say that fans of this series will be eagerly awaiting John’s next adventure, whenever it comes out, to see how it all ends. But now, the big question is this; did this film also manage to outdo its predecessor? Well, while I do think that both films are great in terms of how they film their action and for the nice, simple execution of their stories, I think I do have to say that John Wick: Chapter 2 is a superior sequel to what was already a great action film.   

Rating: 4.5/5

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)