“John Wick 4 movie review”

So it ends here or does it? An odd way to begin a review but we have we have seen John Wick get beat up, shot, fallen off roofs and he still lives to fight another day. 

He is going against the 80s type epitomized by Stallone and Arnie, who can fight thousands and not get a scratch. 

He might hail back to the die hard sort of protagonist, the hero who gets extremely beat up but never stays down. 

The premise of the story is man who has to kill to survive, he loves animals especially dogs but deals with his enemies mercilessly. 

Each time he meets an impossible to meet goal, he faces the odds and surmounts them. 

The plot remains fairly simple along with a weave of killers working for an ethereal organization. The attraction is how he always picks himself up after each painful battle and faces the next series of insurmountable odds. 

And battle he does. And he kills in more and more complex and novel ways, each those methods get more jaw dropping. 

You may think some ennui sets in after the first or second installment but here in lies the attraction. Apart from the genuine charisma of Reeves, he also build in some common themes that make it attractive- camaraderie, loyalty and friendship. 

Despite having the whole world being on his tail, he manages to dig up some rather loyal friends and they are willing to risk life and limb for him. Some do really sacrifice their lives to keep him alive. 

So he jumps right into the fourth installment, having survived multiple gunshots and a heck of a fall .. 

Again he’s the target of many other assassins and Winston is also now in the same doldrums. The villain of the day is Bill Skarsgard  and he plays a conniving aristocratic type of bad guy who doesn’t like to get his hands dirty. Instead he relies on some rather lethal hit men and some are friends of John.  

So you get some serious conflict of interest and in the process he introduces some of the hottest names in the Asian movie scene as he moves action from Europe to Asia. This is another trait where John Wick goes global and brings audiences to exotic parts of the whole. 

However one thing leaves me a little unsettled. There are gunfights galore and he excels at them. But when he does hand to hand combat or sword / knife play, his age begins to show. The stuntmen seem to be slowing down for him and have to anticipate his moves and the action isn’t as fluid as before. 

Don’t get me wrong, the action still comes in fast and furious but once you hit four in a row you want to hit a home run and get bring it back home with the best action there is. 

And for action, cue Tina Turner - he is simply the best ..

Apart from Tom Cruise, no one is close to doing their own stunts. 

Tom is in his own league when it comes to death defying stunts but Reeves impressed with his gun play and combat skills. It is even tiring just to watch the relentless action as he pummels and gets pummeled. 

As the action winds down and you wonder if he will return, there is some relief that the punishment on John Wick has stopped, temporarily at least, but you also look forward to the continuation of his franchise. 

For fans of Keanu, this is a must own must watch movie and even for neutral fans it is a good addition to the library of action movies. 

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