John Wick (2014) | Movie Review

If you ask anyone who has already witnessed the carnage-in-motion known as John Wick to describe the plot to you in one sentence, be prepared to laugh: A retired hitman abandons his life of solitude to avenge the murder of his beloved puppy. Yep, that’s it. While that plot may seem as basic and trite as any film possibly could, I am here to tell you that summary does very little justice to the impending ass-kicking hurricane of a film you are about to endure.

Keanu Reeves stars as the titular John Wick, the aforementioned hitman whose history has become so legendary in the criminal underworld that his name still elicits shivers and gasps from any thief or murderer who hears it, much less utters it. After Wick’s wife dies of cancer, the sole reason he retired from ‘The Life’ to begin with, John retains his quiet existence and takes solace with the last gift his wife bestowed upon him: a puppy. Cue the awwwww.

Well, that awww does not last long as a Russian mobster’s moronic son, Iosef (Game of Thrones’ Alfie Allen), beats Wick to within an inch of his life, kills his dog, and steals his souped-up muscle car for no reason other than overindulgent machismo. When Iosef’s father and Wick’s former employer, Viggo Tarasov (Michael Nyqvist), discovers WHO Iosef has done this to, he realizes he must call in every asset he has his disposal for protection. John Wick is coming for his revenge.

Keanu Reeves has never been known as an acting powerhouse, nor has he felt the need to go out of his way to convince you otherwise. He is that rare actor who has had enormous success without demanding to be lauded and applauded. Yet, audiences and critics alike continue to consistently mock the actor’s ability with nary a concern or scorn from Reeves himself. With all of the acclaim for Speed and The Matrix films, Reeves quietly remains the modest underdog.

Every trailer for John Wick has featured Keanu Reeves angrily shouting the insanely meta line ‘Everyone keeps asking if I’m back! Yea, I’m thinking I’m back!’ Well, Keanu Reeves never really left. He has kept a lower profile and took a mild break from acting, but if you saw films like 47 Ronin or Man of Tai-Chi, you know that Reeves has remained primed and ready for an action-centric role like this. He just hasn’t been getting the press.

How does Reeves use this opportunity to step into the previously worn shoes of Liam Neeson or Jason Statham? He gives one of his most nuanced performances to date and the character of John Wick should now forever be linked to Reeves, just as Neo and Constantine before him. From the opening scenes highlighting a warmer, softer John; to the later scenes where Wick is no more than the great white in Jaws, an unstoppable force-of-nature hell-bent on destroying anyone who had a hand in taking away the very little he had left: Keanu Reeves owns every ounce of John Wick’s body and soul.

Reeves also manages to single-handedly keep some of the more clichéd or ridiculous aspects of the plot within the realm of reason by the actor’s own sheer will. This is Reeves’ film and he knows it. It is an even larger testament to Reeves’ commitment that he is surrounded by top-notch character actors throughout (Willem Dafoe, Ian McShane, Adrianne Palicki, John Leguizamo), yet never loses control of the screen each second he barrels through it.

The downside to Reeves’ resurgence as a marquee action star is that whenever the film parts ways with Wick himself, it grinds to a screeching halt. Films like Taken work because we stay with the hero throughout his mission, rarely stopping to check in and see how our chief villain is doing or for needless exposition from other characters. Once John Wick gets going, it has a few too many scenes revolving around characters discussing how scary Wick is, when all we want is to SEE the man in action. We have already had the build-up so there is no more need to convince us Wick is the devil, this is the time for payoff. None of this derails the movie, but a bit tighter with these scenes could have made this an instant action classic.

Derek Kolstad’s script crafts an almost Tarantinoeque-universe, where all worlds are somehow ultimately connected and hyper-violent, yet there remains one last bastion of safety: The Continental Hotel. Any person, wanted or otherwise, can stay at this thug-heavy haven in peace, as the hotel has very specific rules about what kinds of shenanigans are allowed. As basically a criminal’s version of a ‘Safe Word’, The Continental ends up also serving the audience with most of the light-hearted moments in the film. It is a world that could easily be spun off on its own, with Lance Reddick’s Hotel Manager serving any assortment of malicious guests. Not a place you want to live, but it sure seems like a fun place to visit every couple of years.

One of the smarter angles this script takes in setting the film up is building Wick to be a criminal boogeyman before we ever seen one ounce of his sadistic tendencies. Even heads of crime syndicates fear his name, sharing stories of the horrific things Wick has done with their henchmen as though they were reading bedtime stories to their children. This is so well done that when Wick finally begins his mission of revenge 30 minutes in, we the audience are already primed and fearful for the destruction and hellfire this man can rain on all involved.

The risk with this sort of build-up is that if the follow-through does not live up to story time, there will be groaning galore from everyone in the audience. Thankfully, directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelski realize this and therefore offer up ridiculously exciting set-pieces throughout. They even employ some of the most creatively brilliant fight choreography you are likely to witness this year, so when Keanu Reeves begins his full-on assault of headshots and swivel-kicks so visceral it’s as if he were dispatching his own critics, there is no doubt Wick is a man deserving to be heralded as legend.

John Wick is a fun action spectacle with a pulse-pounding score that is smart enough to cast an actor against type who is committed completely to this abusive insanity. Don’t let that simplistic plot description fool you, there is a lot to love in this bullet-riddled action ballet.

Critics keep asking if Keanu Reeves is back. Yea. I’d say he’s most definitely back!

Aaron Peterson
The Hollywood Outsider