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.