Wick, John

January was a rather slow month for movies. Nevertheless, yesterday marked the release of John Wick Chapter 2, The Lego Batman Movie, and all the shades of everyone’s favorite color. So tonight we take a look at John Wick, the surprising hit of an action flick from a couple years ago.

            Keanu Reeves will always be known for The Matrix, and this movie reunites him with his stunt double from those films who takes a shot in the director's chair. The film basically has 2 directors (and one is scheduled to direct Deadpool 2 so there’s that), and since both come from a background of doing stunts from dozens of your favorite action movies, this film gets boiled down to its essence. They aren’t going to try wowing you with a special plot; no, they’re going to deliver high-octane action. And really it’s quite successful.

            Keanu did some major training for the highly choreographed scenes and performs most of his own stunts, and the result pays off. Expect a high body count, and expect many of them to have some really cool kill shots. This film knows its goal is to entertain with cool, quick action, and that’s exactly what it does.

            I will say, however, one of the best and worst parts comes from the beginning. The film honestly almost takes an Up approach of giving the audience all the exposition it needs in a small time without much dialogue at all. And I love that. But it—along with just a few action moments—gets heavy-handed. Like at one point Keanu is grabbing all his guns and gearing up, and the movie blares a rocking song about guns and killing and it feels a bit too obvious.

            I wasn’t going to talk about the plot because, well, who cares for this film, but it leads to my other critique. The film gets a nice supporting role from Willem Dafoe and gives way too little screen time to John Leguizamo, but the plot gets going after a mob boss’s son steals from John Wick and leaves him for dead. This son, Iosef, is annoyingly stereotypical. He’s brash, arrogant, and above all else, completely inept. He fits the bill of all the stereotypes, and it just makes you wonder how long it will take John Keanu Reeves Wick to hunt him down.

            It’s been awhile since an action film has had this much style to it. It overcomes typical shortcomings by thoroughly delivering in well-executed action scenes. And it really makes me want to go to the theaters and watch the sequel. If you do go to the movies, just please don’t see the darker shades of grey. Like why would you do that to yourself?