Filmrajongó

Directed by Chad Stahelski, starring Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Laurence Fishburne, Ian McShane, American crime, action thriller, 169 minutes, 2023, not recommended for those under 18!

Guns, cars, dogs, gold coins, safe houses, a homeless kingpin, an assassin's moral code, and a director turned filmmaker who envisioned all of this in the now four-part revenge saga. What did the Romans give us? Wise quotes. And what do we offer the world? A barrage of gunfire wrapped in sage quotes.

Do you love the John Wick trilogy? Well then, go watch the fourth installment; you'll enjoy it. Because this film was made for devoted fans. Who else would sit through almost three whole hours without a care in the world, just to see John Wick bulldoze his way through everything in an attempt to avenge his late wife's murderers and the dog he received from her? Well, wait, he managed that in the first installment, then they added a twist in the second, and by the third, we really have no idea what drives him, apart from giving the choreographers, stunt performers, and set designers as much work as possible so we can marvel at how Keanu Reeves and his stunt doubles can endlessly innovate within a single theme.

This is what happens when a stuntman directs a film. The story is crafted in a way that allows for the most diverse locations for spectacular fight scenes. What were a designer house, a thermal entertainment facility, and an industrial complex in the first installment have now turned into a globe-trotting adventure in the fourth, surpassing even James Bond films, with exciting locales in Morocco, Japan, Germany, and France, each featuring a colossal showdown. But what more can be told here? To be honest, not much. Despite the five times larger budget and twice the runtime, nothing can bring back the magic of the first film. However, to its credit, every cent spent on each film is evident in the meticulously crafted visuals and choreography, a feat in today's cinema. This is what happens when a stuntman directs a film.

A bit of John Wick history: In 2014, Keanu Reeves breathed fresh life into the action film genre, reeling from shaky cameras, when he played the lead role in a film directed by his longtime stunt double, Chad Stahelski. The film was inspired by the violent and brutal world of samurai, anime, and action films, as well as the "gun fu" that became John Woo's trademark. All it needed was an extremely simple revenge plot, sprinkled with coolness and quality (e.g., a fight with a Mustang muscle car at the airport, a tattoo on the back with a Latin quote, Álvaro Siza's architecture book on the design apartment table) to create the iconic masterpiece that it is today. It should be noted that in the same year, "The Equalizer," starring Denzel Washington, managed the same feat, but with a story that was both substantial and moral, which is not a priority here. John Wick's quite respectable second installment in 2017 exploded at the box office with twice the budget, and, like the second chapter, hinted at the unfolding of a significant saga. The third chapter, with a budget four times that of the first film, a runtime of over two hours, and numerous locations, was dedicated to revealing the mythology of the assassins. Wick roams around to give the cult's background some space, leaving behind even more stylishly executed bodies as he goes. He's the man who once killed three men in a bar with a pencil.

Thanks to the pandemic, the fourth chapter arrived two years late, and with 169 minutes (starting from 96...), it had to find a way to keep the audience engaged. This is a Sisyphean task, and the film plays along with it. Indeed, there's a scene where John Wick must climb a hillside filled with stairs and enemies, but he's pushed near the end and absurdly, without any injury, he has to make his way back up. All of this, of course, is timed. He has just three minutes left, but the film follows his heroic struggle for about ten more minutes. This scene could be the ars poetica of the whole film. Extend the runtime infinitely, and viewers can savor every moment as the seemingly invincible Johnathan, despite injuries from countless car impacts, gunshot wounds, stabbings, spine-breaking falls, and verbal humiliations, advances toward his goal. Judging by the box office numbers, this is what people want, not a moralizing Denzel Washington as an action hero; that's too genre-unfriendly. So, now we have a bigger, longer, uncut version. This is what happens when a stuntman directs a film.

Who is this John Wick? Simple. He has one purpose: revenge against the system that didn't let him find peace. And what kind of person watches this approvingly? Someone who also has one purpose: to watch action movies. And that's what we get, executed at the highest level in the genre. The John Wick franchise's virtue is that it manages to incorporate the pinnacle of the profession into every scene. Repetitive? Very much so. There is hardly a move or action we haven't seen in some form in a previous installment. Fighting with randomly picked objects, throwing depleted firearms at the enemy, vehicles as weapons, and more. Plus, we finally visit Japan, the birthplace of martial arts films, to find out that John Wick handles nunchaku remarkably well.

We also get an exciting character in Donnie Yen, playing the blind assassin Caine (a tip of the hat to Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman). Ian McShane returns as the director of the New York Continental, and, of course, Laurence Fishburne as the homeless kingpin. The main antagonist is played by Bill Skarsgård, and his most memorable scene is when he distracts from Delacroix's painting in "Liberty Leading the People" with his unnecessary monologue. The other characters mostly speak in short sentences, but who cares? However, the film delivers an important message: "A man's ambition should not exceed his value." The same goes for the movie and its viewers. This is what happens when a stuntman directs a film.

John Wick: Chapter 4 remains an incredibly precise action film, surpassing sushi knives in its choreography and cinematography. It's rare to feel during a complex, multi-character action sequence that you know exactly what comes next, where everyone is, and why events unfold as they do. Many films skimp on this, using lots of cuts, shaky cameras, and scenes shot in darkness to create the illusion that something significant is happening, but you can tell you're being fooled. From the first installment onwards, everything in John Wick is well-crafted, and it's rare in terms of movement and combat representation. What happens in John Wick is perfectly crafted martial arts for the big screen. I've praised the film's simplicity a lot. But every coin has two sides, and it's undeniable that what Chad Stahelski conducts is masterful in its own right. This is what happens when a stuntman directs a film.

I shouldn't like this

movie. It's a primitive, repetitive revenge film, with scenes we've seen a hundred times, that you can watch for marathon hours. But the truth is, I enjoyed it. The three hours flew by, and at times, I even laughed at its absurdity and genuinely funny scenes (except the dog peeing scene, I'd cut that). While I marveled at the incredibly professional fight scenes, which I couldn't get tired of even in the fourth film. Although I should. But there's a weakness in it. A guilty pleasure, you might say. Aside from Toy Story, I can't think of a film series with a good fourth installment. This one isn't either. But it maintains the quality in action, and the dedicated enthusiasm of the cast and crew shines through, wanting to get the best out of what they excel at. In the world of CGI-dominated films (hello, Marvel and DC), John Wick stands as a refreshing masterpiece, though, of course, it is filled with computer tricks. The rooftop action scene in a Parisian apartment couldn't have been made any other way, but nothing falls flat on the screen. Plus, John Wick effectively evokes the tricks of the Fast & Furious and The Expendables franchises. Only the film "Nobody" managed to authentically capture the essence.

John Wick's story tells us about an Old Testament world where the only rule was an eye for an eye. Somewhere, it's hellish to exist in this, but many still long for it. According to IMDb, the fifth installment is already in the works, so we won't be without John Wick for a while. And there's also a Continental and a Ballerina series coming with big names. We'll see if they have imagination. Nevertheless, the post-credits scene says a lot about the mood we can expect in the sequel. Have I mentioned that this is what happens when a stuntman directs a film?