'John Wick: Chapter 4' Review: Keanu Reeves paints the town red in an eye-popping MASTERPIECE of action
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: ‘John Wick’ is back, and this time stakes are higher than ever before. The franchise, which began in 2014, has been filled with tragedy and deaths, but things have become more intense as the franchise enters its fourth installment. At the end of the third film, we saw John Wick (Keanu Reeves) almost dying after declaring war against the High Table. Everyone knew that the upcoming movie will be the film’s most exciting chapter yet, and now that the fourth chapter has finally made its way to the theatres, we can finally say that Chapter 4 is bigger, bolder, and bloodier than its predecessors.
Picking up after the events of the third film, Chapter 4 finds Wick tracking down the Elder, the only person considered to be higher than the High Table, a council of high-level crime bosses. Wick is now feeling fine and is ready to embark on a journey that might turn out to be his last. On the other hand, a senior member of the High Table named Marquis Vincent de Gramont (Bill Skarsgard) is punishing every crime boss who has helped John Wick after he decided to move away from the table. The stakes have never been more personal and Wick knows that there will be consequences for what he has done, so he needs to be aware that the entire ‘underworld’ is ready to kill him this time.
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For someone who got triggered after his puppy was shot, John Wick has undoubtedly come a long way and is now wandering the exquisite locations of Europe. This might be the only franchise in recent history where exquisite locations don’t mean anything because people are more invested in all the action that’s taking place in front of them. After the third film, a lot of people believed that the franchise has seen its peak and things can’t go better than this, but Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeves had different plans. From the very first fight sequence, you get to know that we are going to see something that we have never seen before and as the movie progresses, you are in awe of what the ‘John Wick’ team has done here.
Chapter 4 is high on everything
We are living in an era where fight sequences are pure CGI or enhanced by VFX, but ‘John Wick’ always tends to choose the traditional ways of bringing high-quality action sequences to the cinemas. It takes the action to where it belonged: hand-to-hand combat and some really hard punches. In short, we just wanted to let you know that Chapter 4 has a galore of action sequences that will make you jump out of your seats and force you to scram “HELL YEAH” in a packed theatre.
As far as acting is concerned, Reeves continues to be the soul of the movie and he is one of the biggest reasons why this franchise continues to get better with each passing chapter. He is grittier than ever and just wants revenge, but he never goes overboard with his expressions. Reeves is swift and looks better than ever. Meanwhile, Bill Skarsgard as the main antagonist is bloody amazing. He gives a vibe of a good man, who is trying to do what he has to, but there’s an evil side to him as well and that poses a lot of problems for John Wick. The actor seems to be at the peak of his career and as a fan, we would definitely want him to be the leading man of a movie that is award-worthy.
However, DONNIE YEN and HIROYUKI SANADA steal your hearts with mesmerizing performances. Yen and Sanada don’t need any introduction, they are legends and they continue to captivate our minds with extraordinary action sequences. But the best part of ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ is that they are not “just” included in the film for performing high-voltage action sequences, the script gives them a chance to showcase their acting prowess and emotions. Without any guesses, they knocked it out of the park with superlative performances and astonishing fight sequences.
Other supporting cast members such as Scott Adkins, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne, and pop star Rina Sawayama have done phenomenal jobs in their respective roles.
Chad Stahelski seems to be having a lot of fun with the series and listens to what fans want. It feels like he lurks on social media and sees what fans are talking about and then just delivers what they actually want. Brilliant filmmaking!
Is 'John Wick: Chapter 4' worth watching?
All in all, ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ is undoubtedly the best of the franchise and is perhaps one of the best action movies of the last 10 years. It is an enthralling ride and never shies away from taking a route that has never been taken before in terms of high-quality action scenes. In reality, Chapter 4 is a mesmerizing orgy of violence and piles on more of everything. Now, we don’t know when this franchise is going to end, but when it does, it will go down as one of the best action franchises of all time.
An astounding masterpiece!
***** stars for ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’.
