John Wick: Chapter 4
Who could have guessed back in 2014 that an almost straight-to-video actioner starring Keanu Reeves would go on to become a globe-trotting four-chapter epic? The constant growth of the John Wick franchise, each entry doubling its budget and ambitions, is emblematic of what stuntman-turned-director Chad Stahelski has accomplished: the cleanly shot, clearly choreographed action of the series has revolutionized Hollywood filmmaking, taking the best elements of Hong Kong heroic bloodsheds and blending them with the gritty underworlds of the ‘70s and ‘80s American cinema.
This meeting of East and West is solidified in John Wick: Chapter 4, which, for the time being, is the final entry. Such a decision from Stahelski and Reeves is more than understandable: they have spent a decade now working on these films, so it only makes sense that they want to move on to other projects in their career, with Keanu Reeves especially not being as quick now as when he was 48 years old. However, they go out with a bang, stuffing one single film with enough set-pieces, pathos, melodrama, and violence to fill entire franchises.
The laconic assassin, perennially on the run, may have found a way to defeat the High Table and lose the $18 million (and rising) bounty on his head. Going from the Moroccan desert to Osaka, then traveling to New York, Berlin, and then Paris, Wick’s journey through the world sees him reuniting with old friends and finding new foes. Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne, and the late Lance Reddick all come back in their signature roles from the series, but it is the new additions that leave an indelible mark that far surpasses any of the secondary characters from previous films.
For all intents and purposes, John Wick: Chapter 4 is a John Woo Hong Kong thriller by way of Walter Hill. The “friendship” between John and the blind assassin Caine (Donnie Yen playing a Chinese mix of Zatoichi and Daredevil) is not unlike that between Chow Yun-fat’s hitman and Danny Lee Sau-Yin’s cop in The Killer: both forced to fight each other, but both full of respect and understanding. Their encounters are some of the more surprisingly poignant moments of camaraderie in these films, as is any instance of John seeking support and help from the Osaka Continental’s manager and his daughter (played by Hiroyuki Sanada and Rina Sawayama) or from the Ruska Roma in Berlin (headed by Natalia Tena’s Katia). The world in the John Wick films has always felt alive, but never like this, where each moving part feels fully formed and clearly defined without a need to overexplain (as Parabellum was dangerously close to doing).
Bill Skarsgård plays the devilishly slimy Marquis de Gramont, continuing the tradition of the Old Guard (moved by mutual respect and honor) being destroyed by the selfish, greedy, opportunistic New Blood. A new, younger entry who manages to own every one of his scenes is Shamier Anderson as Mr. Nobody, a skilled tracker aided by a vicious dog: not only does he hold his own during the fight scenes, but he has genuine charisma and screen presence that makes him instantly endearing. Another worthy mention goes to Scott Adkins, a living legend of DTV action cinema who plays the asthmatic, heavy-weighted Killa: that entire sequence might be the best club scene in the entire saga, with Adkins channeling Sammo Hung’s imposing presence in SPL: Kill Zone.
Speaking of the action, John Wick: Chapter 4 is as good as American filmmaking can get. Chad Stahelski goes above and beyond to deliver unforgettable, exciting, and tiring shootouts, duels, fist fights and sword battles, adding more guns, dogs, nunchucks, and even Dragon’s Breath shotgun shells into the mix for an explosive cocktail that is unlike any other ever filmed. If the Mission: Impossible films are full of impressively real and bombastic stunts, John Wick has always been more about operatic ballets. The use of kevlar suits (first introduced to great effect in Chapter 2) is fully embraced as now these sharply dressed killers use their vests as literal shields, turning already the already impressive gun-fu into medieval battles, with guns instead of swords and Prada tailoring in lieu of armors. All of the low-key humor, one of the underrated trademarks of the series, is kept intact, adding much-needed levity during fights and even dialogue scenes.
The escalation of violence is exhausting, something that many who dislike the series cite as their primary problem, but it has never felt as thematically fitting as it has here. While many comparisons have been drawn to video games, the Warriors-inspired climax perfectly encapsulates why such drawn-out sequences are important: John is tired, constantly beaten and battered, but he keeps going because he has one last chance to make things right and turn his life around. He owes it to himself, to his late wife, and to his friends that are counting on him. Just like it is impossible not to cheer when John slaughters a wave of enemies in a top-down crane shot (imagine Hard-Boiled’s hospital oner replicated inside of Hotline Miami), everyone gasps when he falls down the ridiculously long 222 steps of the rue Foyatier. Audiences' reactions are visceral during these films, and it is a testament to how engrossed they are in the heightened drama that they feel as frustrated as the protagonist whenever something goes awry.
It is hard for the fourth entry in a series to be the best one, but John Wick: Chapter 4 is the exception to the rule. This is cinematic Nirvana, a transcendent experience unlike any other in contemporary blockbuster filmmaking. Chad Stahelski, Keanu Reeves, and the impeccable stunt performers at 87Eleven have created something truly special with these films: a genre-defining spectacle that takes everything that worked in the ‘80s and ‘90s and updates it with bigger budgets, safer precautions, and smartly used digital effects. It may be too early to call it a masterpiece, but it is indeed a tremendous film and the best American action film since 1999’s The Matrix, as well as a surprisingly moving conclusion to this saga.