Tag: Keanu Reeves

Ranked

RANKED – The Matrix

Post author By Mark
Post date December 30, 2021

Often held up as one of the hallmarks of the sci-fi genre, Lana and Lily Wachowski’s Matrix franchise has a long and complicated past: a universally loved and acclaimed original offering giving way to some of the most divisive sequels in film history; adored and staunchly defended by their fans and reviled by those that didn’t fully gel with the future-looking CGI spectacle. With the series making a long overdue return with Resurrections we thought we’d revisit the world of Neo, Trinity and Morpheus, ranking each instalment from the worst to the (some might say obviously) best. Now pop a red pill and let’s get into it…

5. The Matrix Revolutions (2003)

What should have been the epic franchise’s big finale ends up a bloated mess of a film with Revolutions, largely due to the shift in focus from Neo’s (Keanu Reeves) adventures to the maddeningly uninteresting battle for Zion. In theory, giant mechs going toe to toe with robotic squids sounds like it should be a spectacle for the ages, but after the inventiveness of the scenes within the Matrix the Wachowski’s seem content to rest on their laurels; filling the bland background of Zion with dull, confusing firefights that never seem to end despite the machines obvious dominance. This is also about 80% of the entire two hour runtime and for a final film with as much confusion to wrap up as the Matrix that makes for a frustrating time.

It also means that Neo’s storyline feels extremely rushed, the big cliffhanger of his whereabouts from Reloaded resolved so swiftly it begs the question why it needed to even happen in the first place. The rain soaked showdown between Neo and Smith is entertaining, even if the strobe light effect is borderline seizure inducing, and serves as a satisfying conclusion to such an intense rivalry. But the blinding of Neo and his subsequent transformation into pure light are strange twists to say the least, albeit somewhat expected at this point in the franchise given what the Wachowski’s have shown us. Still, if it means getting away from Zion and back to the Matrix for a few whacky minutes, then bring it on.

4. The Animatrix (2003)

While it may seem like an obvious expansion of the story now, The Animatrix was an unusual concept back in 2003. Give a bunch of Japanese animation studios free reign to create a series of nine short films set within the Matrix universe and see what they come up with (a premise mimicked to brilliant effect with this year’s Star Wars: Visions). The result is a mixture of some of the best storytelling in the franchise since the original film and at its worst, stories that are simply boring. Everything from the origins of the machine uprising to a noir detective story featuring Carrie-Anne Moss’ Trinity is explored and whilst the stories don’t amount to much in terms of furthering the overarching storyline of the main series, they do offer a tantalising glimpse into the Matrix outside of Neo, and all the weird and wonderful places that premise can journey to.

The animation is consistently gorgeous and even in those less interesting stories there is always a positive to be found, whether that be a gorgeous, fully CGI sword-fight scene or the unusually depraved, disgustingly violent sight of a robot ripping a brain from a skull (not positive obviously but tell me how many other animations you’ve seen that have done that). Overall it’s the element of fun and strangeness that makes the Animatrix a success; where the films got lost in an overly serious narrative of choice and chosen ones, these stories are simply able to experiment and have fun with the universe, often finding humour in it and, as the series is known for, producing some truly awesome fight sequences.

3. The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

Almost twenty years after the trilogy ended, this return to the Matrix doesn’t exactly feel necessary, with Lana Wachowski’s scorn for the current state of the entertainment industry overshadowing the actual story being told, but it is a mostly fun return to this world which thankfully doesn’t seem to take itself too seriously. With Neo once again trapped within the Matrix and struggling to tell the real from the programmed, the task falls on a new crew of survivors – led by Jessica Henwick’s Bugs and a reincarnated Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) – to spring the Chosen One from his digital prison and launch a desperate rescue mission to free Trinity.

Wachowski’s commentary quickly grows tiring, but it is her willingness to embrace humour which the franchise had previously avoided that makes Resurrections such an enjoyable ride. The story isn’t as needly complex as the other sequels – essentially boiling down to a series of rescue missions – and this makes for a far more digestible film; we can sit back and watch Neo kick the crap out of the bad guys without worrying whether the choices he is making are affecting some larger, constrictive prophecy. Where it falls short of the rest of the franchise is in the action; the finely choreographed fight scenes of the earlier films replaced by the quick-cut action of the modern blockbusters Wachowski seeks to lampoon. The point is made but a bit of the old kung-fu Neo specifically points out he still knows wouldn’t have gone astray.

2. The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

The first of the sequels makes tremendous leaps both forward and backwards for the franchise. From a technical perspective the Wachowski’s were at the forefront of the early 2000’s push towards CGI, making for some bold, innovative action set-pieces that could not have been previously done. Now, watching these films in 2021 that CGI doesn’t hold up all that well, just look at the video-game looking confrontation between Neo and the endless Agent Smiths (Hugo Weaving), but the Wachowski’s certainly get points for trying. The highway chase sequence however is quite possibly the most highly regarded sequence of all the Matrix sequels and for good reason; it is a genuinely edge of your seat thrill ride that doesn’t take its foot off the gas (see what I did there) for a single second, hokey CGI be damned.

Where the series starts its steady decline is in the story department. There are some seriously huge leaps in storytelling and logic being thrown at the viewer and it all feels so rushed, with new characters and concepts introduced in almost every scene without being properly explained. None of it truly coalesces into anything other than a minor wrinkle in Neo’s journey towards realising his potential as the Chosen One, with a constant “is he or isn’t he” plot line never fooling the audience for a minute and distracting from the already confusing main story. He’s Keanu Reeves, of course he’s the one. This is also the film that introduces the concept of Zion and the franchise’s most dull side-story. For the last remnants of humanity it sure is a visually bland and boring place; hell even the machines get down with some funky strobe lights from time to time. No amount of dance party orgies can make you care about Zion, and Revolutions only serves to further highlight how utterly not compelling that storyline is.

1. The Matrix (1999)

No matter how weird the Wachowski’s took the franchise in an effort to top themselves, the original Matrix remains the best and a defining piece of sci-fi action cinema. The introduction to this dystopian cyberpunk world of chosen heroes and machine uprisings takes its time drip-feeding you the extensive word-building it lays out, taking full advantage of Neo as the audience surrogate rather than the all-powerful Messiah figure he becomes and having fun with his training. The “I know kung-fu” sequence remains a series high-point – a thrilling introduction to the action that would forever change the genre – and the climactic subway fight scene is a spellbindingly tight, spectacularly choreographed edge-of-your-seat sequence that feels gritty and high stakes unlike most of the CGI spectacle that followed.

Indeed this feels like one of the few times the series is ever truly accessible; the narrative is streamlined, the rules of the world are easily understood and you genuinely feel for Reeves’ protagonist, an everyman thrown into the deep end and forced to swim. Carrie-Anne Moss is effortlessly cool in her introduction as Trinity, even if her relationship with Neo doesn’t feel entirely earned and Lawrence Fishburne’s Morpheus is the perfect guide to shepherd us through through the confusion; a comfortably reassuring and suave presence disguising a man desperate for something to believe in. An awe-inspiring introduction to what would become one of the most influential and divisive sci-fi franchises of all time.

Tags Animatrix, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Keanu Reeves, Lana Wachowski, Lawrence Fishburne, Lilly Wachowski, The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Resurrections, The Matrix revolutions, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

Movie Reviews

The Matrix Resurrections

Post author By Mark
Post date December 27, 2021

Sequels to long dormant franchises are all the rage these days, but if there was one franchise that was expansive and confusing enough to truly warrant the sequel/reboot treatment it was The Matrix. Well that time is now, with one half of original directing team Lana Wachowski returning to the reality-questioning world of Neo and Trinity with a lot to say about the current landscape of entertainment and how audiences approach it. Whilst that extremely heavy-handed commentary doesn’t work as well as Wachowski thinks, the story that is told is a refreshingly straightforward affair for a franchise that became so bogged down in overly complex world-building. It isn’t a return to the form of that original film but Resurrections is a fun enough, if forgettable trip back into the Matrix.

Now living as the celebrated game designer behind “The Matrix” – a trilogy of video games that adapt the original trilogy of movies – Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) is in a creative rut, forced by management to revisit his seminal franchise to produce “The Matrix 4”. A test run of code for the game opens up Thomas’ world to Bugs (Jessica Henwick) and a program that soon reveals himself to be a reincarnation of Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) questions the reality of Thomas’ situation. When Thomas starts to notice similarities between Tiffany (Carrie-Anne Moss) – a woman he sees at a local coffee shop – and the Trinity character from his game, the world around him begins to unravel, ultimately leading to Morpheus and Bugs once again extracting Thomas from the Matrix into the real world, where the legend of Neo looms large. Once again at war with the machines and a smarter, more deadly version of the Matrix, Neo sets out on a desperate attempt to rescue Trinity from captivity, knowing that only together will they be able to end the war once and for all.

Wachowski clearly has an agenda when it comes to Resurrections, taking aim at the surge of sequels, reboots and spin-offs that took the entertainment industry by storm since her original trilogy was at its height in 2003. To call this commentary on the nose would be an understatement, with the story going extremely meta in name checking Warner Bros as wanting this very sequel as a result of corporate greed. The rare few times where this works is when the film embraces humour in a way the franchise never previously did, with an amusing montage poking fun at every hot-take and analysis piece written about The Matrix. Mostly though, the film takes any chance it can to skewer the trend, even going so far as to having a returning character spit on the very idea of a “sequel franchise spin-off”. Does that character even need to be in the film? Not at all, but that in itself just another layer of ridicule and scorn that Wachowski constantly assaults the viewer with.

Where it loses the viewer is in the incoherence of its message, with Wachowski heavily borrowing elements from these hated reboot/sequels; copying action beats from her earlier films and even going so far as to include a cute, infinitely marketable fist-bumping robot. Is it all just one big joke on the viewer? Much like the world of the Matrix it’s impossible to tell at times, which gives the whole film a rather cold, empty feeling. Is this a genuine attempt to return to a beloved franchise and should we actually care about anything going on or is this just a spoof on what audiences have become accustomed to from blockbuster filmmaking? The very concept of the previous trilogy as nothing more than a blip in the larger narrative, reduced to a simple video-game by the newly developed Matrix, devalues the audience investment to a degree – why should we get excited about what very well could be a new series of films if they can simply be wiped away in the future, fans be damned? Sure you could argue Marvel movies commit a similar sin, cheapening deaths by reviving characters but it seems hard to be believe that Wachowski has such an issue with this that she bastardised her beloved franchise to present what amounts to one big rant about the state of film.

The first half of the film is where this commentary reigns supreme but thankfully this levels out once Neo is removed from the Matrix once again. What makes it so easy to push that cynicism aside and simply enjoy the ride is Keanu Reeves, who plays the unassuming Neo so endearingly earnestly that it is impossible not to root for this everyman once again thrown in way over his head. New franchise recruits Jessica Henwick and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II are fantastic, fully committing to the characters and world in a way that makes them feel like they have been apart of the franchise since the beginning. On an action level is where Resurrections is at its most disappointing, eschewing the visceral close combat and inventive stylings of earlier instalments in favour of the quick-cut nonsense of modern action films; failing to properly showcase the impressive fight choreography Reeves is more than capable of. It only serves to further muddy Wachowski’s point, turning her once-revolutionary action franchise into just one of the many poorly shot action films that exist today, devoid of any truly standout set-pieces that were once the franchises bread and butter.

The Matrix: Resurrections ultimately ends up like the other sequels, taking one step forward towards furthering the franchises and the bevy of interesting ideas behind it, before taking two back by cluttering an already confusing world; this time with a meta commentary so muddled that it is impossible to tell what beats are meant in earnest and which are poking fun at the state of modern film. Keanu Reeves remains this series’ strongest element, once again giving an enrapturing performance as Neo which is only strengthened by a solid supporting cast. When the film is pared back to its roots of inventive sci-fi action is when it is at its best, a solid enough ride that will leave you with a smile on your face at the fact that yes, after all these years, Keanu Reeves still knows kung-fu.

The Matrix: Resurrections stars Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jessica Henwick, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jonathan Groff, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Jada Pinkett Smith, Christina Ricci & Neil Patrick Harris – In cinemas now and streaming on HBO Max in the US.

6/10

Tags Carrie-Anne Moss, Christina Ricci, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff, Keanu Reeves, Lana Wachowski, Neil Patrick Harris, Priyanka Chopra, The Matrix, The Matrix Resurrections, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

Movie Reviews

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum

Post author By Mark
Post date May 24, 2019

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum is brutal. There’s no other word to describe the 2 hour action-fest from returning series director Chad Stahelski. But despite it’s lengthy title John Wick 3 is lean and mean. Wasting no time on extraneous dialogue or set-ups, the film gets on with the action straight away, and how bloody that action is. Just when you think they can’t top the action of the previous film, Stahelski delivers the most impressive set-pieces in the franchise to date (and possibly action movie history), as well as bringing us attack dogs led by Halle Berry. If that doesn’t get you in the cinema, stop reading now.

Parabellum picks up immediately after the events of Chapter 2, continuing the saga of John Wick’s hellish week which began so long ago with his poor puppy’s death. Injured and on the run, Wick has an hour to prepare himself before the contract on his head goes public. Stahelski uses this brief prologue sequence to dial up the tension of the coming conflict, having John run across New York city through the rain and past numerous assassins – each hiding in plain sight amongst the public to take stock of their soon-to-be prey. When the clock chimes 6pm, the chaos unleashes and it’s from that point on that we as viewers barely get a chance to catch our breath. The third instalment in the franchise is almost non-stop action, opting for an extra gun fight or motorbike chase rather than further exploration of its underground assassin society. We’re given a few extra details around the assassin world that further the plot and I admire the choice not to double down again after the extensive world building of previous films. We’ve spent enough time in this world to be familiar with how it works and Stahelski relies on the incredible skills of his stunt performers and actors to entertain us, rather than drowning us in world-building exposition. When the final act kicks into gear it really is a spectacle to behold, and the continued emotional connection we’ve developed with Wick throughout the franchise means you’re on the edge of your seat as he faces off against some impossible odds.

As I’ve mentioned, the action here is not just another step, but a giant leap up in terms of scope and duration. Chapter 3 features about as many action scenes as the last two films combined, if not more, and it’s almost exhausting to watch in the best possible way. As a viewer you’re always tense and fearful for John as he escapes countless near death situations, and it takes its toll on you by the time the credits have rolled. My favourite fight scene of the film – and you have plenty to choose from – involved Wick facing off against a group of shinobi in a hallway lined with cabinets of knives. What starts off as a thrilling hand-to-hand martial arts fight quickly escalates once the knives (and axes) come into play, and I was transfixed as the camera spun around to keep me deep in the action – while still showing what every player in the scene was doing at any given time. This type of camerawork showcases the impressive work of Keanu Reeves and the stunt teams as the long pans and fixed angle shots allow us to see the action in all its glory. It’s something that’s not exactly new here – all the action in the series has been consistently well shot – however it’s taken up a notch here by the scale of the fights and some impressive additions to the stunt performers.

Newcomers to the franchise Cecep Arif Rahman and Yayan Ruhian get a chance to show why they are two of the finest working stunt actors in the world today. Known for their work in The Raid series, the two actors square off against Keanu in a martial-arts heavy fight scene, with many winks and nods thrown in to their previous stunt work, as well as an acknowledgement of the friendly rivalry between The Raid and John Wick franchises – arguably two of the best action franchises around today. They are joined by another fresh face Mark Dacascos, who plays shinobi leader Zero. Not only does Dacascos showcase his impressive stunt abilities, squaring off against many enemies with brutal efficiency and acrobatic skill, he also brings some much needed levity to the proceedings – Zero is something of a fan-boy of John Wick and makes no effort to hide it. Humour has never been this franchises strong point but it’s a welcome addition here that lets off some of the tension built up through the action.

Returning franchise veterans Ian McShane and Lawrence Fishburne reprise their roles as Winston and the Bowery King respectively, delivering some of their finest work to date. McShane in particular has a much larger role than in previous instalments, dealing with the consequences of aiding John in the last film. He plays the role with his usual stoic charm, but underpinned this time around with fear and anger. The Adjudicator, a new character played by Asia Kate Dillon, is instrumental in bringing out these emotions, acting as a representative of the High Table – the rulers of the assassin world – who aim to bring Winston and the Bowery King to justice for their association with the excommunicated Wick. Dillon plays the role with a little too much smugness and the character simply becomes annoying to listen to rather than instilling a sense of dread – taking away the impact of the news she delivers to the various high-ranking assassins in the film. The last character worth noting here is Sofia, played by Halle Berry, who makes a triumphant return to the action genre here (I’m talking specifically about her role in Die Another Day: a guilty pleasure). Whilst it’s not the best performance of hers in terms of acting quality, Berry did perform all her own stunts and the skills she puts on display, particularly her proficiency with guns, is exciting to watch. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the attack dogs again – Sofia’s personal hounds who bring some truly vicious punishments down on anyone unwise enough to cross her and John. It’s yet another example of how the franchise plays with the notions of conventional action cinema and I was constantly scanning the scene for the next entrance of the dogs.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum does what you didn’t think was possible and ups the ante from the last film. Whilst the acting and story take a backseat to the action here, it’s s conscious choice and easily forgivable when the action is this good. Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeves have cemented themselves as a winning partnership in action cinema with this film, and in traditional John Wick style, leave the ending open for more adventures of the expert assassin. It’s hard to believe they can top this, but if anyone can do it, it’s this pair and they have more than earned our trust at this point.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum stars Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Ian McShane, Lawrence Fishburne, Asia Kate Dillon & Mark Dacascos – in cinemas now.

Tags Chad Stahelski, Halle Berry, John Wick, John Wick Chapter 3, Keanu Reeves, Parabellum

Movie Reviews

John Wick: Chapter 2

Post author By Mark
Post date May 19, 2019

Keanu Reeves and director Chad Stahelski struck gold in 2014 with the original John Wick. The pair crafted a tight, brutal action revenge film and created an iconic action character in the titular assassin. The story seemingly ended in that film, as John had found a new furry companion and walked away having settled his debt and avenged his previous canine companion. The unexpected financial success of the film, however, prompted a sequel to be put together, and while John Wick: Chapter 2 falls prey to some typical action sequel clichés, it still manages to be an engaging, even more brutal adventure into the assassin underworld.

Chapter 2 kicks off with a bang as we follow Wick tying up some loose ends with the Russian mob from the first film. This acts as an epilogue of sorts for the previous film but also as a chance to showcase the bigger budget and the fights that will come as a result. Once John returns from this mission and attempts to settle back into his retirement, he is greeted by Santino D’Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio), head of an Italian mob family and an old acquaintance. Santino is the holder of a “marker” against John, a blood oath Wick struck years earlier that allowed him to escape from his criminal life and live with his wife – but now D’Antonio has come to collect. A globe trotting tour of assassinations and criminal syndicates follow as John is sent on a mission to take out Santino’s sister and heir to the council of assassins who essentially run the global underworld.

If all this sounds a bit confusing and ridiculous it’s because it is. The film makes it clear that it is foregoing a cohesive plot in favour of more complex fights and bigger stunts to go with that increased sequel budget. While the plot for the first film wasn’t exactly groundbreaking, it had a solid pace and moved with purpose as we followed John on his singular path for revenge. Here we fall into action clichés as John moves from room to room full of goons on his way to completing his mission. Once things develop further later in the run, the plot gets even murkier and I was unsure where John even was until we got a handy pan of the New York skyline as a reminder. While you are never bored watching, it is a shame that the story doesn’t do more to propel John on his way, instead opting in favour of abrupt shifts in location as we watch Wick adapt to each new situation he finds himself in. While not everything is a home run, writer Derek Kolstad is clearly taking risks in his screenplay, adding huge chunks of mythos to the assassin world and expounding on the first movie’s lore tenfold. The Italian settings make for a shift in environment that sets the action set pieces apart from the American counterparts of the first film, giving them their own distinct visual flair.

Where the increased budget has been put to use is the action. John Wick: Chapter 2 ups the ante significantly from the first film, delivering larger, more intense action scenes which expand from purely hand-to-hand fights through to vehicle combat and some magnificently shot chase scenes. The hand-to-hand scenes feature plenty more goons for Wick to cut through with his signature brand of Gun-fu, with Reeves one again performing majority of the stunts himself – allowing for long, uninterrupted shots of the action to be shown. These are beautiful to watch as Wick manoeuvres himself across a room cutting down everyone in his path, and they’re made even more stunning when they’re set in locations like a museum’s hall of mirrors or a brightly lit, futuristic train station. The chase scene in the train station is worth mentioning, and was easily the highlight of the film for me, as John attempts to outrun several rival assassins all intent on bringing him down. The scene moves back and forth between an all out chase as John sprints away from his enemies, taking down any in his path, and a stealthy escape as he tries to hide in plain sight, blending with the public. This stealth scene is particularly innovative because it also acts as a silent shootout of sorts, with Wick and his enemies taking shots at each other with silenced weapons. It all culminates in a thrilling train showdown with another assassin, a truly tense scene where each fighter vies for supremacy in the tight space of the carriage. It is quality action like this that make me overlook the fact that the public has no concern whatsoever about bodies piling up in their midst.

I mentioned before that Chapter 2 expands the assassin world, and this is evident in the introduction of several new characters. The character played by Ruby Rose, a deaf & mute assassin, could have been something more if it was portrayed by a more talented actor. It’s certainly an interesting concept, however Rose does nothing with the role and it boils down to her serving Wick with looks that say “I don’t like you very much” as she proceeds to try to kick him in the face. A better portrayed, if still not amazing, killer is Cassian, played by rapper Common, a bodyguard for Wick’s target who has a murky history with John. He definitely has more to work with in his role than Ruby Rose, and his past experiences with John makes for some great dialogue exchanges and fights. By far the best of the newcomers is Lawrence Fishburne, who plays the Bowery King, leader of an underground syndicate of assassins who pose as homeless around New York. Reeves and his The Matrix co-star obviously have great chemistry and their dialogue together pops. Fishburne excels at playing the unhinged leader, going for the same kind of over-the-top reactions and hyperbole in his dialogue that made Michael Nyqvist’s villain from the first movie so much fun to watch.

Whilst John Wick: Chapter 2 doubles down on the action and world building that made the first film so great, its nonsensical story detracts and leaves viewers confused about the significance of the fight they are watching. It’s hard to care about the outcome of a fight when we’re not exactly sure why John is in this particular mess. What does keep us invested, however, is another stellar performance from Keanu Reeves, who continues to give it his all, both in his acting and his stunt-work. We’re now so emotionally invested in the character that we will follow him anywhere and I can’t wait to see what awaits him in the next instalment of the franchise.

John Wick: Chapter 2 stars Keanu Reeves, Lawrence Fishburne, Ian McShane, Ruby Rose, Common & Riccardo Scarmarcio – Available to view on streaming and home entertainment now.

Tags Common, John Wick, John Wick: Chapter 2, Keanu Reeves, Lawrence Fishburne, Ruby Rose

Movie Reviews

John Wick

Post author By Mark
Post date May 16, 2019

John Wick is for Keanu Reeves what Taken was for Liam Neeson. At a time when Reeves was churning out sub-par dramas and straight-to-DVD atrocities, this was a breath of fresh air and resurgence for Reeves to shoot back into the public consciousness. The revival is well earned too, John Wick is a demonstration of a perfectly crafted revenge film, with copious amounts of blood, intense hand-to-hand combat and one seriously cute dog that sparks a night of complete carnage.

If you haven’t seen John Wick – which is unlikely given that it is one of the most popular action flicks in recent memory, and the third film in the franchise is set to hit cinema screens soon – it revolves around Reeves as the titular “reformed” assassin. I use quotation marks here because in this world no one really ever gets out of the hitman game, and while John may think he has found peace with his new wife, her untimely death rattles him to his core. Add to that the fact that Russian mobsters have recently murdered his newly befriended puppy – the last gift his dying wife gave him – and you have one seriously pissed-off Keanu Reeves on the loose. One of the best weapons in the film’s arsenal is the build-up to Wick unleashing his inner-assassin. We spend the first 40 minutes of the film building the character of John as a man coming to grips with the loss of his wife and transferring that love and affection to his new pet, and watching other people react to the news that Iosef (Alfie Allen), the son of Russian mob boss Viggo Tarasov (Michael Nyqvist), has killed Wick’s beloved beagle. To say John has a reputation is an understatement, and after all this build-up it’s immensely satisfying to watch his skills in action after we’ve heard so much about them. You’re always rooting for Wick because we have that emotional investment, and it’s a good thing too, because John does some pretty horrifying stuff to some people.

In a genre flooded with mediocrity and boring, repetitive action, it was a stroke of genius to hire long-time stunt coordinator Chad Stahelski to make his directing debut here. Stahelski clearly has a grip on how to film a convincing fight scene and all the action is shot beautifully. There is clearly a focus on practical stunts here and the cinematography benefits from this greatly. We get plenty of long shots that don’t cut away like most conventional action scenes and this allows us to see the brilliant work of the stunt performers. It also means the viewer is never lost in a fight scene and always has a sense of the geography and where the major players are. John Wick was also a major proponent of the “Gun-Fu” fighting style which had mostly been confined to Hong Kong action films previously. This involves Kung-Fu style action sequences using guns instead of more traditional weapons and it is absolutely breathtaking to watch. The fact that it really is Keanu Reeves in most of these action scenes is a testament to his craft in particular. A great example comes through a midnight siege on a busy night club; the way the lighting, music and action all mix together is so engaging – easily making it the best club fight scene in action movie history.

The story also takes a deep dive into world-building, providing a fair amount of lore, which is expanded upon in the sequels. Once he decides upon revenge, John operates out of a hotel which acts as an assassin headquarters of sorts, where every service necessary to perform a hit is offered; from gaining access to kill contracts to accessing the services of a clean-up crew to tidy up a vicious murder scene. It all serves to immerse you in the world, as well as serving as a story device, and it shows that writer Derek Kolstad has put that little bit of extra care into the script rather than serving up another paint-by-numbers Taken knock-off. What also helps to deepen the world and the lore is the characters that populate John Wick. From the Hotel Manager (Lance Reddick) who explains the hotels rules and offers their multitude of services, to Adrianne Palicki as rival assassin Ms. Perkins. They all flesh out the film and have their own unique personalities and traits, making it so much more enjoyable than just watching John cut through a room full of goons.

I mentioned that this was a film instrumental in Reeves’ comeback and it’s because he delivers some of his finest acting work here, in addition to the action previously touched on. While it may not require some of the dialogue heavy scenes of some of his earlier work, the amount of emotion and intensity conveyed through looks and body language is astonishing. John Wick barely speaks in the first 30 minutes and we’re so invested in his story and understand his loving relationship with his wife and dog perfectly. Other standouts in the film include Ian McShane who plays hotel owner Winston with the perfect mixture of snark and warmness, and Alfie Allen, who – fresh off his work as Theon Greyjoy in Game of Thrones at the time – really gets to play with the role, making Iosev Tarasov a disgusting, spoilt character that we are actively cheering on Wick to deal with. Michael Nyqvist plays the arch-villain of the film with a little more over-the-top dramatic flair – providing memorable so-bad-they’re-good lines such as “He’s not the Boogeyman. He’s the one you send to kill the Boogeyman”. It comes across as almost a tribute to the ridiculous action film villains of the 80’s, albeit toned down to fit with the rest of the film, and it really is good fun to watch him chew the scenery as he reacts to Wick murdering his way though the mob.

While it may be easy to just accept the John Wick franchise as the beast that it has become today, the first film came seemingly out of nowhere at the time and injected some much needed energy and Gun-Fu into a stale action genre. The importance of the film on the genre as it stands today cannot be understated. John Wick is a master-class in action cinema, combining quality performances from an all-star cast led by a resurgent Keanu Reeves with intense, vicious action that places it among the very best of modern action movies.

John Wick stars Keanu Reeves, Willem Dafoe, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Ian McShane and Adrianne Palicki and is available to view on streaming and home entertainment now.

Tags Alfie Allen, Chad Stahelski, Ian McShane, John Wick, Keanu Reeves, Lionsgate