First things first, Chad Stahelski’s “John Wick: Chapter 4” is too damn long. It’s akin to the first three films on steroids. There is no reason for it to be nearly 3 hours, especially since the plot is pretty thin and the characters underdeveloped.
Now, the good news, somewhere inside these 165 minutes lies a great movie. This fourth chapter can be too much, a relentless assault on the senses. We’ll just have to settle for a good movie.
Stahelski’s film plays like a game of chess. John Wick is back, uncovering a path to defeating the High Table, and striving to earn his freedom back, he’s still a marked man. At the same time, old friends turn into foes. Well, you know the drill.
It’s impossible to count the number of bad guys Wick has killed over these four movies. It’s definitely in the hundreds. What should be said is that Keanu Reeves (as playful as ever) is back, playing a Wick full of wrath who wants to destroy the system that cuddled him for years.
New characters show up to further the ‘Wick’ mythology. There’s Mr. Nobody (Shamier Anderson), a tracker following Wick’s bounties head until the price is high enough to kill him. Or how about Wick’s former friend, Caine (Donnie Yen), bringing his martial arts skills as a blind assassin forced to hunt our man down.
Wick’s nemesis here, and head of the table, is the Marquis de Gramont, played Bill Skarsgard, they will eventually have their face-off at sunrise in front of the Sacre Coeur Basilica in Paris. Skarsgard overdoes his role, but that’s precisely why it works, he knows the movie he’s in us essentially a bloody cartoon.
This fourth ‘John Wick’ has a little more plot than the others, but not by much. It’s all about letting yourself go to Stahelski’s expertly choreographed bullet ballet.
The first hour or so is business as usual, Wick goes through an army of men trying to kill him, they, obviously fail at every turn. Wick barely gets a scratch. It’s all very predictable, but never dull.
Thank the heavens for the final 80 or so minutes, which ups the game in preposterously brilliant fashion. Stahelski’s camera finally feels invigorated, the shots become more inventive and the stakes get upped. There’s an inventive overhead shot of Wick booming the baddies with what can only be described as a fire-bred shotgun.
Then there’s the spectacular climax, which takes place on a 222-step stairway that leads to a Basilica showdown. The stairs are inventively used here, with bodies, including Wick’s own, rolling down the endless flight of stairs.
The film eventually, and unexpectedly, turns into some kind of twisted Spaghetti Western showdown. All the main characters amass for a gun duel that feels both ludicrous and tense beyond belief.
Yen proves his worth here. He has the charisma and likability to pull off his conflicted antagonist. Ditto Anderson, calm, cool and collected throughout, even when he has to gun his way through indescribably situations. I reckon, if a spin-off ever happens, his side character might be at its center.
The film globetrots from Japan to New York to Paris — the latter features an incredible car chase sequence set in the Arc de Triomphe. Kudos to cinematographer Dan Laustsen for bringing the cinematic out of this chaos, his neon-lit lenses are effervescently ingrained in every frame.
There are no pretensions here, it’s all about checking your brain at the door and reveling in the “kills.” This sense of repetitiveness drained the third film into the same old same old, but the fact that this latest one ups its game with dazzling dare makes it’s a unique addition to the Wick cannon. [B/B+]