‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ Review: Keanu Reeves Takes Franchise to New Levels of Action and Length – SXSW

More. More. More.

That seems to be the mantra for the fourth installment of the hugely successful title John Wick Franchise. There is definitely more action, with a whopping 14 action sequences, almost four times the number than before wick movies; other places including a Bond-esque world tour from Jordan to Japan to Paris to Berlin; and like so many recent films, longer running time at 169 minutes and you have to stay until the end of the credits to get the most bang for your buck.

The John Wicks In fact, they’ve gotten progressively longer and a bit fancier since the concise 101-minute original from 2014 and the 122-minute original from 2017 chapter 2and the 130 minutes Chapter 3: Parabellum. It’s grown by nearly 40 minutes, but mostly never slows down and remains a fan celebration of star Keanu Reeves’ mastery of this martial arts/weapons-fu/now-auto-fu genre.

Personally, I never forgave the first film for brutally killing John’s cute little beagle, but I have to let it go as the rest of the series didn’t let audiences down – especially the last one with a kickass Berry and what is still for me this amazing sequence, a masterpiece of action choreography with all these killer dogs doing their thing on the people.

This new film opens with the premise of the High Table, this unseen cabal of crime lords who want to make a deal for John’s head that Wick is dead. He is not, and instead in a sequence that can be described as John Wick meet Lawrence of Arabia, We are introduced to him again in the Jordanian desert as he rides in the first of these many, much Action sequences, which are of course the signature attraction here. Director Chad Stahelski, former martial arts expert and stuntman for Reeves in the matrix Images, knows exactly what the audience wants and expects, and seems determined to take things up a notch or two. Fortunately, even if it seems fair at sometimes very well John Wick: Chapter 4 deliveries.

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Alternate between constantly on the run and the hunting, Here, Wick is on the offensive and instead decides to chase the high table and engage in a one-on-one challenge against their sadistic emissary, the Marquis, to get the target off his back. This leads to a new series of close situations and unholy alliances with returning and new characters. Chief among them is Donnie Yen’s temporary friend Caine, who is now here out of necessity to save his daughter Enemy Also. In another role where he is blind (as in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) He goes up against Wick in nothing better than a mirrored room decorated with Japanese artifacts, where the two fight Caine wielding a sword and pistol against Wick’s samurai sword, guns and AR15. It’s brilliant. So does a series set in Paris, where the series puts this anti-hero in the driver’s seat of a classic muscle car and rampaging through the streets of Sacre Coeur, where Bill Skarsgard’s The Marquis reigns supreme. So does another long set piece in a Berlin nightclub where he encounters another new opponent, the aptly named Killa (MMA star Scott Adkins), and yet other at the Osaka Hotel run by John’s confidante Shimazu (Japanese film icon Hiroyuuki Sanada). I could go on. And then there’s the grand finale, a modern martial arts nod to the classic duel to the death, this time presided over by the older man known only as Harbinger (veteran Clancy Brown).

Reeves continues to really impress and seems to get better at these things with each franchise (after four matrix films in which he honed his early skills). His characters are men of few words, but who really needs a lot of dialogue? The cast in this one, featuring two genre giants, Yen and Sanada, really takes the series to a new level, and Skarsgard looks like he’s having a great time playing a deadly man we tend to hate . Also kudos to new cast member Shamier Anderson as The Tracker, a killer with a loyal Belgian Malinois (this series seems to employ a lot of dogs) who is not only a loyal companion but also quite terrifying when the situation it requires Rina Sawayama makes an impressive film debut as Shimazu’s resilient daughter and caretaker of his Osaka hotel.

Returning to the series are Laurence Fishburne as Bowery King, the lynchpin who oversees an underground underworld operation and remains a mysterious friend of Wick, and Winston as Ian McShane, the owner of the New York Continental Hotel, the assassin’s port. Lance Reddick once again plays the ever-helpful caretaker there.

Just as big a star as any of these actors will be Scott Rogers, the lead stunt coordinator/choreographer who helps direct these spectacular set pieces. The ending promises more later, but in which direction we have to wait and see the inevitable John Wick: Chapter 5.

Producers are Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee and Stahelski. Lionsgate opens the film Friday exclusively in movie theaters, including Imax. It had its first US premiere at SXSW on Monday night

Title: .John Wick: Chapter 4
Section: special occasion
Director: Chad Stahelski
Screenwriters: Shay Hatten, Michael Finch: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgard, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Rina Sawayama, Scott Adkins, Clancy Brown.
Time: 2 hours 49 minutes
Distributor: lion gate