John Wick: Chapter 4

• Directed and Co-Produced by Chad Stahelski
• March 6, 2023 (London) / March 24, 2023 (US)
• Based on characters created by Derek Kolstad

John Wick sets out one final time for revenge on the High Table.

I would like to say from the start that I enjoyed John Wick: Chapter 4. It has style and panache and doesn’t skimp on the action, but it assuredly does skimp on the presence of John Wick. I heard Keanu Reeves had very few lines in this but I didn’t realize he also has very few scenes in a movie where he’s playing the title character. I am not saying there is a severe dearth of John Wick but at a little over two hours he spends slightly more time in his own movie than your average MCU title character.

I find that very weird. I personally would’ve done a shorter film with much more Keanu in it. Or appearing as such anyway. I appreciate that no one appeared for the sake of just appearing, but the lack of the main character left me a little wanting at times. Along with the returning Keanu, Laurence Fishburne, Lance Reddick, and Ian McShane there is Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Rina Sawayama, Scott Adkins, and Clancy Brown.

With all that Chapter 4 has quite the star-studded cast. Action stars or just good performers show up in one part or another with not a one overstaying their welcome in a movie that’s largely missing the title character. The new/additional cast fills the void created by the lack of John having dialogue or just not being there. They help propel his story without leaving him out.

The plot is John Wick trying to kill his way to freedom or complete revenge like the other films. It’s mostly a series of action scenes strung together by that idea and they are all excellently choreographed. More importantly this movie looks and feels like nothing else out there. There is nothing that happens in Chapter 4 that you would ever confuse with happening in another movie.

Given the release of Ballerina and some of what I saw preceding my viewing, this came off with all the extra characters and related dialogue like a handoff movie with no idea who they’re handing it off to. I think Ballerina more or less proves that idea. Some executive said “Let’s expand John Wick and turn it into a franchise or interconnected film universe!”

There are moments it looks like Wick’s refusal to go down is inspiring others. His friends turn against the High Table to fight alongside him for his revenge. It leads to some good stuff but how did Johnny boy turn into an inspirational figure? John Wick’s example engenders loyalty, bravery, and a bit of a revolution.

Their dialogue and interactions, such as they are, shows John as having respect and even friendship for others that is reciprocated. The supporting characters seem nicer in this. Not you go out with and/or trust to watch your dog while you’re on vacation.

Conversely to that it managed to be mostly true to the character John as first portrayed. When we do get a John is a man who is tired of the killing and just wants to end on his terms. He’s a little broken. After all this he just wants to the quiet life again, but he knows he can never have. There is a bit of resignation in the film to that end.

I went into this knowing how the movie ended but I still enjoyed watching how it got to that point. It became very creative with its characters and kills in a way thar one could draw parallels to them and classic Bond but without the humor. It is a serious film that treats whatever oddity it presents with deadly seriousness.

If there is a weakness it is that amongst the themed villains John (and others) kill a bunch of nameless characters after an announcement is made to attack. At this point he is known as being unkillable so how can there be any takers? It gets a little derivative there but like I said the action is excellent. What gets me is that his inability to be killed is very well-known and his killing spree is very well-known. Yet there’s always a large number of people willing to line up.  Are these contracts voluntary or are they required? I don’t know.

If you take a moment the whole plot is kill as many people as you can to make it to another day. That is almost nothing for a two-hour movie. Director and co-producer Chad Stahelski along with writers Shay Hatten and Michael Finch get miles upon miles of movie out of a very basic premise.

John Wick: Chapter 4 is exciting and kinetic and just never lets up. It is pure adrenaline and a nice cap to the series.