John Wick

Keanu kicks some ass in action roles

John Wick (Keanu Reeves) has just gone through the most emotionally trying time in his life. After losing his wife, he is given a gift from beyond the grave in the form of a small dog. The note attached by his wife leads him to immediately care for the dog, as if her spirit lived on through him (not that way, you perverts). He crosses paths with the son (Alfie Allen) of a man who use to employ him, and the son has no idea who he is. The son wants John's car and after John says no, the son breaks into his house, takes his car, and kills the dog. Unfortunately, the father (Michael Nygvist) finds out who the son stole from and battens down the hatches. It turns out that John Wick is "The Boogeyman" an ex-contract killer that helped to build the father's illegal empire.

The story here is simple, and that is what makes it so charming. We have definitely heard this story told over and over again; but, here they add a layer of subplot that sets the movie apart. The revenge game is played out, but the revenge game on top of dealing with the natural death of you wife is not. The ultimate badass thing is played out, but the ultimate badass in a world of equally (or slightly less) badasses is not. That is the part of this story I found the most endearing, the criminal underbelly having "gentleman killer rules" and using gold coins as currency for nefarious purposes. I know I harped on The Equalizer for throwing a badass into an impossible situation, and the man comes out clean after the movie; but this movie is not that. This movie distinguishes itself by letting everyone know that this man is a badass, and the opposition should be scared; where The Equalizer went the route of so many recent movies by no one knowing how badass the protagonist was.  It also has the element of a monster movie, this time allowing the "good guy" to be the monster all the others should fear. There are so many subtleties that make this movie the best action movie of the year, that it is overwhelming; but, I think my favorite part of this was that it stunk of nineties action. a simple time where you went to an action movie to see people get killed or beat on, and the only real reasoning you had to have was "he killed my dog." A superior time where the storyline was helpful, but the action is what blew us away. Luckily enough this movie had great story elements, mixed with amazing action sequence.

The choreographer for this movie needs to be given some form of award because the actors all made the moves seem as easy as breathing. It is damn hard to keep an actual body count in this movie, and the way they trained John Wick to leave care at home and keep focused on killing people was artistic in a way. Every motion carries value, every person brought down leads to the next, it is like watching a river flow but with death. If you ever saw Equilibrium and know what "Gun Kata" is, it is like watching a movie take advantage of that fighting style without ever revealing that is what he is using. Even when he is not using guns, he is still a proven killer and the sound really drives this point home.

The sound in this was another fantastic achievement, letting every cock of a gun or crack of a bone carry some weight. It engrosses you in the film even more, when you hear him reload, or listen to the footsteps of his enemy. The only problem I had with the sound came from the music. Sometimes it enhanced the experience for me, other times I felt like they were trying to be a bit too on the nose when they were trying to make it feel like a nineties action romp. Don't get me wrong, some of the music was great, bringing you back to the club scene from The Matrix, other points were like watching an action sitcom. It broke my trance from the movie's artistic style, and I couldn't let it go by with out at least mentioning it.

Ok, looks like I have reached the point in my review where I have to defend the acting of a famous guy that people seem to dislike. Keanu Reeves is a good actor for movies like this, that is the reason why the first Matrix worked so well. He was born in the skin of an action star, and can sell this type of role to anyone in the audience; so, don't let your hatred cloud your judgement young padawan. As for the rest of the actors, they all performed remarkably. Of course most of them were doing what Keanu was doing by being typecast, luckily there are sometimes where typecasting is the best thing for a movie. Willem Dafoe plays the same type of character we are used to from him (sans Spider-man and The Boondock Saints) and does so perfectly, not taking away any attention from the star, but still being likable. Alfie Allen plays the same character we are used to from Game of Thrones by being a privileged, whiny, pretentious, douche bag, that makes it easy for the audience to hate. The real masterful work came from Michael Nyqvist who should remind everyone of an evil Christoph Waltz from Django Unchained. He really sold his role of scared, but still scary in a way that we shouldn't see replicated for sometime.

Final Verdict: See it in Theaters Another just barely under the mark of perfect, I'm beginning to get a little bored seeing so many good movies. Just kidding. This movie is going to be hard to beat out for action of the year, and you should all see it as soon as possible.