A crazed triumph of the kind of simple, brutal action movie that seems to be going extinct in this age of lengthy sagas pre-planned across the next twenty-seven years. John Wick has only three concerns: being stylish, depicting nearly every character as a swaggering badass and putting multiple bullets into every dirtbag on screen. It’s got no motive, no moral and it barely brings a plot, God bless it. If there’s any message here it’s simply that you should never steal a man’s restored 1969 Mustang and kill his dog because, you never know, that guy MIGHT be the world’s greatest hitman, now retired but willing to come out of it to murder you and any other several dozen people who might be protecting you under orders from your Russian mobster fatcat father. That covers it, I think. Keanu Reeves is the hitman and director/producers Chad Stahelski and David Leitch (Stahelski was Reeves’s stunt double in The Matrix!) play within the actor’s limited range, asking him to do little more than sneer, glare and brood while he guns down nearly everyone else in the cast. He’s never looked more cool and dangerous in a film. The world around him is similarly vibrant with aggressive color schemes that are as simple as the story itself. The big city exteriors are a pulsating green while the interiors are a mix of screaming blues and even louder reds. Twenty years from now, when the look of 2014 will be considered hip and retro, this film is assured a place as a quintessential eyeful of our present era.
A modest hit in its theatrical release, this has strong potential as a future cult film. In some ways, it’s reminiscent of another great New York City action cult classic, The Warriors Both are threadbare plots set in outlaw worlds. Everyone here with speaking role is either a criminal or someone who knowingly provides services and safe haven for the underworld. They even have their own currency, in the form of shiny gold coins. The casting of Warriors notable David Patrick Kelly in a small part further seals the deal.
There’s a sequel on the way. Hope it doesn’t suck.