There’s a standard opinion rumbling about on the web, that the John Wick sequence is at its worst when it’s worldbuilding, and at its finest when it’s thumping skulls. The speculation goes that every one the mythology that surrounds John Wick – the Continentals, Excessive Tables and tokens – is getting unwieldy, and the sequence is dropping sight of what made it profitable. That opinion was hardened when folks noticed the runtime for John Wick: Chapter 4. 2h 49m! It might solely be that mythology stuff.
Having reached the tip of John Wick: Chapter 4, battered and bruised, holding onto one thing like an ending, we are able to say with confidence that the web was Incorrect with a capital W. John Wick: Chapter 4 isn’t a dip in kind – if something, it’s a continuation of robust kind – and the mythology stuff doesn’t let it down in any method. It’s gentle contact and efficient. If there’s something that lets John Wick: Chapter 4 down, it’s the fisticuffs. At instances, it’s exhausting and – whisper it – somewhat too reliant on CGI.
We’re skipping forward. John Wick: Chapter 4 begins virtually instantly after the third installment, simply as the opposite films have segued instantly from their predecessors. Winston (Ian McShane, easy) is dragged in entrance of the Excessive Desk’s consultant, the Marquis (Invoice Skarsgard, louche and impatient) and made to reply for why Wick was in a position to kill his males throughout the Continental’s partitions. There’s a steep punishment, and the value tag on Wick’s life goes up.
It’s at this level that John Wick: Chapter 4 does one thing moderately daring, and makes Wick, the Baba Yaga, one thing of a nasty man. He has no possibility however to run to buddies who’re damned if they assist and damned in the event that they don’t. Via their connection to him, they turn out to be targets, and he brings unwitting dying upon them. We felt like shouting on the display, telling Wick to depart the poor folks alone. Shack up with an enemy for an evening. Get them killed.
The theme of friendship that has been warped into horrible new shapes is a continuing in John Wick: Chapter 4, and it’s manifested within the form of Caine (Donnie Yen, utterly charming). He’s an previous buddy who’s pressured to struggle on the facet of the Marquis, by way of threats on Caine’s daughter’s life. He additionally occurs to be blind, which provides but extra spice to the struggle sequences. He swings from being overwhelmed and (actually) blindsided to all of a sudden conscious in a single heartbeat, as enemies make a sound and prick up his ears.
These are weighty themes that Keanu Reeves can’t fairly shoulder. We don’t keep in mind him being fairly this picket and clean within the earlier John Wick films, however in Chapter 4 he’s distractingly mediocre. If there’s meant to be an interior battle effervescent away in Wick – that his actions are bringing penalties to his buddies – then it evaporates earlier than the digital camera reaches Keanu. He’s acquired an excuse in fact: he’s getting, as they are saying, too previous for this shit, and 4 movies is sufficient to weary anybody.
For as soon as, John Wick has a plan. Delivered by Winston, it kicks John Wick: Chapter 4 into gear, and the film features some momentum. There may be an precise method out for John, regardless of how unlikely, and it’s a closing window that he appears to be like more and more unlikely to sneak by way of.
That plan depends on dusting off some previous Excessive Desk customs, and we have been all for it. The mythology gubbins didn’t crush John Wick: Chapter 4: they’re used sparingly, and made sufficient sense (cribbing from historical past) that the deus ex machina felt plausible the place it might have delivered an eyeroll. It’s nonetheless a marvel that the John Wick films have proven so little of the Excessive Desk and the way they function. Presumably that’s coming with expanded universe stuff like Ana De Armas’s Ballerina.
It’s the fights which might be somewhat on the stodgy facet this outing. There’s a sequence in a German nightclub that’s misguided for a few causes – one character is clearly in a fats swimsuit, whereas the club-goers dance despite the fact that they’re susceptible to a bullet to the skull. One other struggle on the Arc de Triomphe is method, method too lengthy, leaning into apparent CGI because it tries to escalate the battle. There are solely so some ways you possibly can throw a nasty man – or Keanu, the truth is – at a automotive, and issues border on the repetitive.
However within the broadest sense, John Wick: Chapter 4 carries on the custom of turning fight into wondrous cinematography. It’s not for everybody, nevertheless it’s undoubtedly for us. An exquisite sequence lifts the digital camera up on a crane, refusing to chop as Wick strikes from room to room inside a dilapidated constructing, firing sawn-off rounds. One other struggle on the steps of the Sacre Coeur strikes up and down steps, as enemies and Wick tumble and get again up once more. You possibly can virtually think about Chumbawumba kicking in.
We’re going to overlook the fights of a John Wick film. They’ve at all times felt like a response in opposition to Bourne Id, and the shaky-cam footage of the previous thirty years of films that borrowed from it. The choreography and cinematography as a substitute cribs from martial arts films, refusing to chop, counting on the experience of stuntmen and girls to connect the scenes collectively. The result’s a nearly-three-hour film that whips by, solely getting leaden when the fight will get over-indulgent. It’s a rollercoaster – one that ought to have gotten previous by now, however by some means, miraculously, is simply as thrilling as the primary time we stepped on it.
Maybe the best miracle of all is that there’s an ending, and that ending feels right. After the anarchy of John Wick: Chapter 3, it was laborious to see the place on earth it was all heading. However John Wick: Chapter 4 finds a path and, with Wick-like metal in its eyes, heads immediately for it. That it finds that concentrate on, with barely a wayward bullet over the runtime, is kind of the achievement.
We suspect a John Wick marathon has now turn out to be a feat of endurance. This ultimate chapter within the Wick saga could also be lengthy, and a few fight sequences border on the farcical, however the total emotion is satisfaction. The Wick showrunners have discovered a decision, and it strikes like a bullet practice in the direction of it. Bravo, Baba Yaga: it is a sequence with out a single bum notice.
