Review of John Wick (2014) by Leon B — 02 Dec 2015

Review:

After listening to all of the hype surrounding this movie, I'm glad that I finally got to watch it! The plot was a bit weird but I enjoyed the Matrix style, gun tooting action. The last few Keanu Reeves movies have shown a moody side to his acting, compared to the earlier days of Bill & Ted and I must admit, I'm kind of liking it. His no nonsense demeanor really worked as John Wick but there script was a bit sketchy. Anyway, the movie is about a ex-assassin who has recently lost his wife and become a recluse in his house with his dog, which his wife got delivered to him after she passed away. Whilst filling up his car at a petrol station, some Russian gangsters offer him money for his car but he kindly turns them down and he goes on his way. This is were the plot was a bit weak in my opinion! For some random reason, the Russian gangsters turn up at his house and they beat him up, take his car and kill his dog. I was hoping that there was going to be a twist in the story which would make that aspect make sense but they were just being total out of order. Anyway, John Wick (Keanu Reeves) decides to go on a killing rampage, trying to get to the culprit who killed his dog but he has to go through the Russian mafia which puts his life in danger, along with his close friends. The storyline is pretty straight forward but there are a few elements that were a bit sketchy to me. Now, he's supposed to be an untouchable assassin who people call the "Boogeyman" but he was getting beat up, near to death in most of the action scenes. I don't know if the director was trying to make it seem realistic or not, but the way that some of the characters was describing John Wick is yet to be seen. OK, he was going around by himself causing havoc in New York but if it wasn't for Willem Dafoe, he would have died a few times in the film. With that aside, I did like the action scenes and the whole dark, intense feel to the film really worked. There definitely has to be a sequel because the John Wick character is really needed in Hollywood at the moment. Enjoyable!

Round-Up:

I really can't believe that Keanu Reeves is 51 and it's now that he's decided to become a action hero. I suppose it's after all the training from the Matrix movies! Anyway, his movie career started in 1986 in the popular Youngblood, ice hockey movie with Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze but he really hit the big time with the Bill & Ted movies in 1989. After getting branded as a comedic actor, which he didn't like, he decided to turn to action movies with Point Break in 1991 and Speed in 1994. In between those movies he took the lead in Bram's Stokers Dracula, which didn't go down well with the critics because of his accent and Little Buddha which also was a bit of a failure but he bounced back with the Devil's Advocate and, of course, the Matrix trilogy. Since then, he has struggled to find a genre that he was comfortable with and he starred in various movies like Hard Ball, Sweet November and the Gift. Constantine had mixed reviews along with Scanner Darkly, which was a brand new way of filming and then he came out with two disappointing films which were Generation Um... and Henry's Crime. Recently he has turned to action movies like Man Tai Chi, which he directed, 47 Ronin and, of course, this movie, which he plans to star in a sequel. In total, his movies have grossed nearly $3Billion so he has had a impressive career to date. He's never been comfortable around the whole Hollywood scene but he has proved to be a bankable star, even though he doesn't like to admit it. Anyway, this film was directed by Chad Stahelski whose done the stunts in over 70 movies which include Point Break, the Matrix trilogy, Spiderman 2, Die Hard 4, Rambo, X Men, Iron Man 2, the Expendables, Tron Legacy, Sherlock Holmes and the Hunger Games so he really does have a impressive portfolio when it comes to stunt coordinating. This is his first movie in the directing chair and after its success, he plans direct the sequel, hopefully with a meaningful storyline. Anyway, for his first project, I was quite impressed with the result and I can't wait to see John Wick causing more havoc again.

Budget: $20million.

Worldwide Gross: $79million.

I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/thrillers about a ex-assassin who seeks revenge after Russian gangsters kill his dog and steal his car. 6/10.