Before viewing John Wick: Chapter 4. I was skeptical as to how lead actor Keanu Reeves would perform in this one alongside other action movie stars such as Donnie Yen and Hiroyuki Sanada.

I mean after all, Keanu Reeve’s age is catching up to him and if his latest performance in 2021’s Matrix Resurrections was anything to go by, I was expecting less action set pieces and more story-telling.

While I was not wrong in some regards, as John Wick: Chapter 4 does have more character moments to discuss the story and make it more heartfelt and meaningful when compared to previous entries in the series, I was definitely wrong about Keanu Reeves inability to still deliver amazing and engrossing action set pieces.

Story – Turning the Tables

The story continues to revolve around Retired Assassin John Wick, who is now designated as wanted worldwide, the bounty on him is getting higher and higher which results in John Wick having to take matters into his own hands and nip the problem in the bud which is to take out the High Table.

So begins John Wick’s ultimate revenge tour with him mowing down tons of people in beautiful John Wick spectacle.

With the film being 2 hours and 49 minutes long, I was pleasantly surprised to see that more time is given for the actors to display their acting prowess, as the story now is more emotional and everyone does an amazing job at conveying the emotional tone and subtle nuances that the scenes required.

While the plot is still as over-the-top as ever I can still appreciate it for what it was and at the very least, the characters were given more dimensions and I was actually more invested in them as people, rather than just bullet-sponges for John Wick.

Lights. Camera. ACTION!

The action in the John Wick films is the real secret for the franchise success, and I have to say throughout the entire movie run-time, never once did I feel bored or asked myself, “When will this scene end?”. Directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch added way more action sequences compared to Chapter 3 and all of it was beautifully shot and choreographed.

The cinematography was great, the directors managed to genuinely make the audience including myself feel the pain that was being laid out on screen.

There was a scene where John Wick fights with his enemies in a busy Parisian driveway, during that sequence, John Wick gets tossed around as he is knocked over by multiple cars and that made me wince at times because the way the scene was framed felt genuinely real.

The John Wick movies were never one to shy from showing the chaotic and sometimes ludicrous violence that John Wick is capable of, and Chapter 4 continues that trend with close-up shots of people getting slashed across the neck, stabbed and many more which also made me go “Oof” at times due to how impactful each violent act felt on screen.

Couple with the fact that they are wearing Bulletproof suits ( its a real thing apparently! ) and you will get long extended fight sequences between the main characters which has them being stabbed, thrown off a building, blown up and more that highlights more on the gritty nature of the movie.

Giving Credit to Legends

Some of the action scenes in the movie are inspired by works from Jackie Chan movies such as the involvement of the environment in the sequence as well as the use of random items to perform the action scene. Which is always refreshing to watch as it gives the scene a more organic flow to it.

Donnie Yen as Caine is John Wick’s strongest opponent and his character is a tribute to the Japanese “Blind Swordsman”, almost inhuman in nature, he has astute hearing capabilities and he is able to identify the position accurately simply based on audio cues.  Caine also knows Wing Chun (of course he does!) and fights like Donnie Yen does as Ip Man in the movie which results in some pretty impressive fights scenes that had me at the edge of my seat.

Verdict

While John Wick: Chapter 4 can be viewed as a mindless action movie with nonsensical plots and a story with the depth of a puddle, it is however an entertaining one regardless. Seeing Keanu Reeves reprising his role as the Baba Yaga once more is always great to see as I always felt that Keanu Reeves was great as John Wick. The choreography and stunt coordination was good due to the fact that unmatched gunplay and combat skills of John Wick and other Assassins on his level were extremely put together and they were an absolute delight to watch.

The camera work is one of the best ones in the franchise, in John Wick: Chapter 4.

Every fight, every moment was easy to digest and in some moments even had me feel like I was part of the action and was there with John Wick. It was engrossing and all around very innovative and ambitious, which really helped sold it to be more realistic and not just characters remembering their steps and positioning.

If you are a big fan of action movies, this is definitely one you would want to see. It is violent, it is loud and it just goes absolutely bananas with some of the things that happen in this movie. For those looking for deeper plot-lines and character growth there are definitely some moments of those to be had here, more so when compared to previous entries in the franchise but ultimately action is king in this film and that’s one component that they got extremely right.

John Wick: Chapter 4 is now showing in all cinemas Malaysia-wide.