"John Wick: Chapter 4" review — Action franchise reaches new heights in ambitious, thrilling sequel
“This hit goes out to you, Mr. Wick.”
In October 2014, an independent action movie that just barely avoided a straight-to-video release with little buzz arrived quietly in theatres to low box office expectations. All of the cards were stacked against it: it featured an aging action star in a career slump in the lead role, it was being helmed by a first-time director, it was nearly cancelled weeks before production due to a shaky financial situation, and played directly against all of the conventions of action cinema at the time. But word-of-mouth is a powerful tool. Audiences responded extremely well to the action film and the industry was quick to respond to its exciting new way of depicting action. In October 2014, John Wick changed the face of contemporary action cinema. Nine years later, the odyssey started with the death of John Wick’s dog finally reaches its climax.
For those of you keeping score at home, you might remember that John Wick: Chapter 4 was actually due for release in the middle of 2021 before COVID-19 set the production of the film back substantially. Thankfully, this film was worth the wait. Chapter 4 is the series’ most ambitious entry yet. With a globe-trotting storyline, even more expansions to the Wick universe’s complex worldbuilding, and some of the best action choreography and cinematography around, the film is firing on all cylinders. Director Chad Stahelski and his team have wrought an exceptionally exciting action film. While many action movies in recent years have tried to emulate John Wick’s style, Stahelski reminds everyone that no one can do it quite like the original.
Taking place not long after the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019), Chapter 4 begins with Wick riding into the desert in pursuit of The Elder, the enigmatic leader of the “High Table.” But when this meeting ends with the man in black putting a bullet in the head of The Elder which leads to a cataclysm of consequences for his few friends, Wick is truly on his own. As he runs from Osaka to Paris with the price on his head ever-growing, Wick has just one way left to buy his redemption in the eyes of the High Table: and it all revolves around his family and one particularly pesky Frenchman. Along the way, Wick encounters friends old and new and even more enemies.
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| Donnie Yen in John Wick: Chapter 4. Photo: Lionsgate. |
The film looks absolutely gorgeous with some of the most incredible fight sequences in a series already known for its stunning and stylistic violence. Stahelski reunites with cinematographer Dan Laustsen (who shot Chapter 2 and 3) and the two of them turn all of the franchise’s visual staples up to eleven. The neon-soaked world of the first three films seems to have even more neon and dramatic lighting conveniently placed throughout its world. Even the quiet, more dialogue-heavy moments are well-lit and carefully shot, which makes them just as intense as any action sequence. It helps to make a good-looking film when the production design and the fashion sensibilities are so strong. The name of the game is strong lines and bold choices in the Wick world. Every set is carefully designed, creating distinct and interesting environments for the characters to rip their way through. The costumes are always a treat with every character always looking their best despite the extreme amount of violence.
More than anything, I strongly believe that the John Wick movies are about men’s fashion.
Chapter 4, like its predecessors, is a pretty thrilling film throughout. There are some great action setpieces in both Osaka and Berlin as Wick busts through glass panels and waterfalls. Donnie Yen’s character Caine gets a particularly excellent fight sequence involving some well-placed doorbells in the film’s first act. But once the film arrives in Paris, it absolutely rockets into the stratosphere. The action is both elegant and visceral. Each action sequence, shot in wide, long-ish takes, is perfectly choreographed, like a ballet of guns and death. There is one particular action sequence in a Parisian apartment involving an invisible roof and a fire-breathing shotgun that might be one of my favourite action sequences in recent memory. Of course, Wick takes more hits than a human ever could and always seems to walk away with nothing more than a light limp. There’s an element of slapstick that is inherent to these films that one must accept to fully embrace them. The carnage is over-the-top, and that’s the best part about it.
Narratively, Chapter 4 is a lot more focused than Chapter 2 and Chapter 3, despite its longer runtime, with stronger emotional stakes and a clearer objective for the protagonist. It manages to balance the “Wick vs the World” approaches of the second two films while giving Wick a more defined emotional arc like the first film. Wick has some soul-searching to do in this film as his emotional arc ties back into the tragedy of losing his wife in the first film. As Wick nears the end of his journey and realizes that his fate is impossible to outrun, he must figure out the sort of man he wants to be remembered as. The supporting cast certainly aids this by being more than just obstacles for Wick to overcome, and instead taking on strong characterizations of their own.
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| Rina Sawayama and Hiroyuki Sanada in John Wick: Chapter 4. Photo: Lionsgate. |
While Keanu Reeves is once again great as the title character despite saying even less dialogue than ever, John Wick 4 really shines in its support cast, the best the series has offered thus far. Ian McShane and Laurence Fishburne return as hotel manager Winston and the Bowery King respectively with some of the best material that they’ve been given to work with so far. The film pushes these characters out of the safety of their New York establishments and into unfamiliar territory, which draws more from McShane ad Fishburne. But it’s the new additions to the universe that are the highlights of the cast.
Donnie Yen is a brilliant bolt of energy as blind assassin Caine, my absolute favourite character in this film. Caine works as this fantastic foil to Wick, who not only poses a physical challenge (a feat few can accomplish) but adds a layer of emotional depth that these films do not often possess. And he does it all with a sense of charm and style while being endlessly entertaining to watch. Bill Skarsgård is an excellent addition to this universe as the film’s primary antagonist, the Marquis Vincent de Gramont. Skarsgård’s inclusion is a reminder that the John Wick movies have often been missing a truly great antagonist. Thankfully, Skarsgård chews more than enough scenery to make up for it. Shamier Anderson plays the mysterious “Mr. Nobody,” a bounty hunter in pursuit of Wick. Mr. Nobody’s inclusion in the story is very peculiar. While his presence is never justified in the same way as the other characters are, he bears almost no connection to Wick or the larger story, he makes every scene that he’s in better.
And there are plenty of other wonderful minor characters thrown into the mix as well. Scott Adkins plays a German card shark and business owner who comes across like some mutant version of Colin Farrell’s Penguin from The Batman in the best way possible. Hiroyuki Sanada tears up the Osaka-set parts of the film as Koji, the manager of the Osaka Continental Hotel, a silent but deadly old friend of John Wick. Singer Rina Sawayama makes her feature film acting debut as Akira, Koji’s daughter. Despite being new to the world of action filmmaking and working alongside well-establish actors and martial artists like Reeves, Yen, and Sanada, Sawayama holds her own very well. My only complaint regarding her character is that she’s not in the film more.
If you’ve seen a John Wick movie before, I doubt that Chapter 4 will surprise you. It has all of the series’ hallmarks: cool locations, great fights, Keanu Reeves’ signature pronunciation of the word “yeah,” and just about everything else that makes these movies tick. But this movie isn’t out to reinvent the wheel: its goal is to make the wheel as dramatic and exhilarating as possible. With gorgeous cinematography and some of the coolest fight scenes around, John Wick: Chapter 4 is a pretty stunning action film and delivers some of the strongest technical work in the genre at the moment. Maybe this is recency bias, but I strongly believe that this conclusive chapter of the John Wick saga might just be its best entry yet. If this is to be the end, it’s a good note to go out on.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is now playing in theatres.
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