“John Wick: Chapter 4” is the fourth film in the “John Wick” franchise. In the first film, Russian gangsters killed a man’s dog, not knowing that he is the “Baba Yaga” of their world, retired to live a life of love with a civilian, his deceased wife. Reawakened and seeking revenge, he dispatches everyone. In the second film, a crime boss cashes in on a blood oath that John swore to him in exchange for the boss helping him complete an impossible task. John reluctantly honors his blood oath, but when the crime boss betrays John, John kills him in the New York Continental Hotel, a sanctuary/neutral ground, which makes him “excommunicado” to the High Table, which all crime syndicates serve and are now obligated to kill John Wick. In the third film, John tries to find a way to evade this sentence, and anyone who helps him along the way gets punished. When a former ally shoots him, the “Bowery King” (Laurence Fishburne) retrieves him so they can fight the High Table, which is where the fourth movie begins with John recovered and ready to fight the world.
Your enjoyment of the latest installment depends on what you love about this franchise.
I love Keanu Reeves and have watched him in anything, so I love this franchise. I was never a huge fan of the initial movie, but each sequel is better than the prior installment so I went into this movie psyched though the prospect of an almost three hour film is daunting. I had no notes with the third film. I basically reached heaven and was just happy to be alive and watching it on a big screen so I am not surprised that “John Wick: Chapter 4” could not live up to that even though it is a very solid film. I loved “2” and “3” because as I remember them, the story primarily follows John and depicts his point of view whereas “1” and “4” primarily follows the supporting characters as they discuss John in the vein of how do you solve a problem like John Wick?
“John Wick: Chapter 4” is weak on story. “2” and “3” set up the problem as bigger than John Wick’s personal grievances. The hypocritical High Table needs to be stopped. We were promised a revolution, with John leading the charge as the figurehead with thinkers like Winston (Ian McShane) and the Bowery King in the shadows, which is teased in this film too with paintings alluding to the French revolution. People are sick of being “under the table.” Instead of an underworld revolt against the High Table, we get a lavish bait and switch with the Marquis de Gremont (Bill Skarsgard), which fabric enthusiasts will not mind as his textured three-piece suits are stunning but is disappointing if franchise followers have been waiting with bated breath to see how assassins revolt against their rulers.
The High Table has bestowed unlimited power to the Marquis, which the Harbinger (Clancy Brown) disapproves of, but the High Table is desperate to quell the revolution by any means necessary; however, the revolution seems less threatening considering how many people jump at the chance to claim the bounty on John’s head. Marquis’ decadence is depicted by Robert Palmers’ backup dancers finding a new job as fencing equestrians or a pastry buffet table in a gigantic Baroque room. I did wonder why his gray-suited henchmen were so invested in his safety and mission, but we never discover how such an ambitious man won their loyalties.
So “4” is lopsided because revolution is switched with humanity. John becomes a symbol of humanity: friendship, humans and animals, family. The Marquis revels in destroying these bonds by enlisting Caine (Boston’s own Donnie Yen), one of John’s old friends and a blind assassin, to kill John or else his daughter will be killed. His foil, Shimazu Koji (Hiroyuki Sanada), the manager of the Osaka Continental, does not see it as a choice. His friendship matters more than the High Table’s rules and his professional status although his daughter, a concierge, seems miffed that the friendship is valued above her life, but the movie ignores this insensitive conflict. Instead of a protagonist, John Wick becomes a Rorschach test that reflects the viewer’s character, and the action follows the ensemble’s moral quandary. Winston sympathizes with John, but is reeling from playing both sides after the Marquis strips him of his power. Newcomer Mr. Nobody (Shamier Anderson) has no relationship with John and is in it for the money, but his dog is the wild card who can tip the scales. While all these side quandaries are interesting, as someone who would prefer to follow John Wick, it was somewhat disappointing to see him as a punchline to the dialogue with terse one-word responses after the characters deliver these Shakespearean-esque speeches. Do I still love every “yeah?” Absolutely. It may seem insane, but there was not enough John Wick in this movie, and it felt as if the filmmakers were laying the foundation for spinoffs without John as the focal point. “Have you given any thought to where this ends?” The filmmakers are hoping that we have not, and we will not notice that the goal of defeating the Marquis is very different from flipping the High Table.
The mythology is unshakeable, and the tightest part of the story. When Winston finds a loophole in the rules for John to win without literally killing everyone, “John Wick: Chapter 4” delivers a riveting sequence in Berlin where John appeals to his former crime family that cousin Katia (Game of Thrones’ Natalia Tena) and ends up on a sidequest against Killa (Scott Adkins), who proves to be a formidable opponent while dancers do not miss a step during the first brutal fight sequence where John seems as if he will not make it.
If you watch “John Wick: Chapter 4” for the action, then this sequel is the best of the four. One critic claimed that it was the greatest action film of all time, and that is fair. It pays homage to a collection of genres by mashing them up and putting them in a modern setting. Would you like a Western feel to “Laurence of Arabia” (1962)? What about some atmospheric cherry blossoms against a postmodern landscape with neon red tinting? The longshot of Shimazu going through his hotel before and after the shit hits the fan is an homage to Japanese film imagery-the yakuza, samurai, ninja shuriken throwing stars, nun chucks and sumo wrestling. Caine, who initially appears disheveled, cleans up nice borrowing Agent Smith’s suit with teased hair. Just adding Yen to the cast is enough to elevate the movie, especially as another fearsome blind warrior so soon after “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (2016). While John Wick takes a licking and keeps on ticking, Caine is a smooth and rapid operator, and age has not slowed him down. While in Japan, he uses his cane as a blunt weapon, then he unsheathes it for the rest of the movie and reveals a sword. Yen is as fast as lightning with his blows. The film won me over during a chase fight scene set in the middle of the Arc de Triomphe where the obstacles multiply. The denouement feels like a video game with John dodging moving vehicles and assassins. There is a tense overhead sequence in an abandoned building which gives a God’s eye perspective of the action and the entire building if He could see through the roof and wanted to see what a Dragons Breath shotgun can do. The ascent to the forecourt of the Sacre-Coeur in Montmartre becomes a bruising gauntlet of an already daunting staircase lined with henchmen. Reeves’ stuntman better be able to retire after this movie.
I left energized and feeling secondhand exhaustion, but “John Wick: Chapter 4” leaves everyone under the High Table so I am little disappointed that the film did not keep its narrative promise.
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John Wick dies at the end. I’m hoping that he died from the cumulative effect of all his injuries, not just the duel, because I felt like many who hated the end of “No Time to Die” (2022), which I enjoyed. Seriously that is how he dies!?! There is a post credit scene so stay for the credits. I feel like “John Wick: Chapter 4” lost its overall narrative focus by returning to personal instead of systemic vengeance, and I am arbitrarily going to blame writer Michael Finch because he is the only newcomer writer.
Things that feel racist but are not necessarily racist, but I felt fucked with as a black person: Charon’s execution and Mr. Nobody having the one scene that made the entire audience turn away from the screen because it was so unflinching and brutal. After I went to the screening, Lance Reddick died so maybe everyone knew he was sick and figured it was a way of resolving the storyline. RIP!
Side note: I am disappointed that we never saw the Marquis fight because I think that he can.
