‘Not even you can kill everyone,’ Hiroyuki Sanada tells his old friend John Wick (Keanu Reeves).
Accepted the challenge. Because, even by John Wick’s own, extreme standards, the body count in this fourth and, ostensibly, last installment of the loony toony, shoot-em-up franchise that takes battle action to a whole new level is off the scale.
Our black-suited assassin, John Wick, is on the run from The High Table, a super-elite authority that handles assassination and reward contracts and may order its members to kill one other.
The Marquis Vincent de Gramont (Bill Skarsgard), an effete, cake-eating Euro-baddie who assigns a blind samurai (a film-stealing Donnie Yen) to eliminate Wick, is its new type of master. It’s much easier said than done.
The plot is more analogous to a video game, with John Wick having to beat ever-increasing hordes of enemies in a stunning succession of guns’n’ammo’n’arrows’n’anything-else-to-hand (knives, nun-chucks, playing cards, pencils, etc) action set-pieces to finish one level and progress to the next.
Furthermore, while there are Easter eggs for fans, this is not a big sequel burdened by background. One of its major assets is its clarity of purpose.
You’d never realise Yen and Reeves are in their 60s since they have the balletic agility of Olympic gymnasts.
Elsewhere, a strong ensemble cast of both returning characters (Ian MacShane, Laurence Fishburne, and, in one of his final roles, the late Lance Reddick) and newcomers (Shamier Anderson, Rina Sawayama) each get their chance to utter gnomic statements like ‘how you do anything is how you do everything,’ primarily to allow us all to catch our breath and admire the jaw-dropping scenery.
Wick’s signature, neon-drenched style has never looked better.
Keanu Reeves holds it all together with his natural charm. Although his discourse is sometimes limited to a single word, no one can say ‘yes’ like Reeves. Like a mournful tree, his spiritual presence permeates every picture. And it is Reeves who gives weakness to his otherwise delightfully invincible hero.
Indeed, given that Wick has proven to be more indestructible than his Kevlar armour (really, what do they load these weapons with – popcorn??! ), the filmmakers face an uphill battle in keeping us involved in the possible threat.
Finding literally fresh views on the action that mix breath-taking battle choreography with masterfully maintained suspense is the answer.
Was it really necessary for this to last 2 hours and 49 minutes? No, but cutting it would be a disgrace.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is out in UK cinemas March 24.
Source My Celebrity Life.
