March 27, 2023 · Watch the official trailer
There will not be a better action movie in 2023.
That’s the defining characteristic of director Chad Stahelski’s fourth installment in the “John Wick” franchise, which sees a near 60-year-old Keanu Reeves battle a seemingly endless number of henchmen in the most dazzling, creative and largely brutal violent ways possible.
Over the course of two-and-a-half hours, cinephiles are treated to a smorgasbord of unique, visually inventive action set pieces that will astound and cement the flag for practical effects in action filmmaking in a reminder to moviegoers and fellow filmmakers just how dynamic the simple act of placing a camera in front of real people on a live set can be.
“John Wick: Chapter 4” features every possible scenario and type of martial arts, hand-to-hand combat, gunfighting, knife-fighting, one-on-one, three-on-one, massive group battles imaginative that all could easily feel formulaic but have a relentless and kinetic energy that never lets up on the gas pedal.
The film’s 169-minute running time does linger, but rarely in the extensive action sequences. While the narrative structure, emotional core and character development far exceed the prior two installments, it’s clear from the outset that the plot is just a loose structure meant to tie together spectacular visual cinema that showcases the technical mastery Stahelski, his production team and especially his stunt department have over their craft.
“Chapter 4” continues shortly after the events of the third installment as John remains on the run with an international cabal known as “The High Table” sending its network of assassins after him with a $20 million bounty on his head. John must fight his way across the globe in search of final revenge and his ultimate freedom while confronting demons from his past.
Reeves excels at a blend of stoicism and emotional strength in the rare moments his John gets to breathe between assassination attempts. The most impressive thing about Reeves’ performance is the physical dexterity he has to contort his body in and around of sticky situations while effortlessly pulling off technical fight choreography.
“Chapter 4” places Reeves at the center of the frame far less than before, mainly due to the emergence of new secondary characters with equally impressive emotional stakes to support their dynamic fighting styles.
A veteran of Hong Kong cinema, Donnie Yen steals large parts of “Chapter 4” with his brilliant emotional, yet keenly artistic physicality as John’s longtime friend Caine, who goes blind prior to the events of the film and must rely on his other senses to keep him alive and eliminate his targets.
It’s an even more impressive feat in fight choreography as Yen and Stahelski cultivate genuinely inventive ways to showcase Caine’s skill as a trained killer while not making his blindness seem like a gimmick, nor turn him into a superhero. The precision required to pull off the stunts Yen does while not being visually engaged with his fight partners is nothing short of masterful and has a similar artistic quality to that of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”
At its core, “Chapter 4” takes all the small details and improvements that Stahelski has made as a director and assembles them into one largely cohesive visual cavalcade of action brilliance.
Paired with a career best effort from cinematographer Dan Lausten who also shot the Oscar-winning “Shape of Water,” Stahelski embraces the opportunity to make every moment an eye-catching display worthy of multiple big screen viewings with highlights including an apartment building fight shot completely from an overhead angle, a cross city chase through Paris reminisnent of the “Mission: Impossible” franchise and some of the most hair-raising single take extended fight sequences in cinema history.
“John Wick: Chapter 4” is far too violent, much too much of a genre flick and arrives way too soon in the calendar year to be recognized by awards bodies, but there’s no doubt of its worthiness on a technical level. Stahelski’s film is an absolute masterclass in stuntwork and capturing action sequences on camera in ways that no moviegoer could deny its quality.
While the run-time may weigh heavily on some audiences, there’s far too much in its favor for moviegoers not to make “John Wick: Chapter 4” a must see on the biggest screen possible.
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