John Wick: Chapter 4

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne, Bill Skasgard, Donnie Yen, Lance Reddick, Clancy Brown, Shamier Anderson, Hiroyuki Sanada, Marko Zaror, Aimee Kwan, Rina Sawayama, Scott Adkins
Directed by: Chad Stahelski
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Thriller
2023

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: John Wick (Keanu Reeves) faces one last, nearly insurmountable challenge against the High Table to forever be free of their system.

Review:

Tim: This is a challenging review for me to write. I'm torn on my thoughts on John Wick: Chapter 4. It features some insane action sequences- you could argue they put together multiple of the greatest action scenes ever filmed. However, the weight of the mythology, the bloated story, the narrative in general feels like it holds the movie back. I recognize this film got some of the best reviews of the franchise and made the highest box office tally, but I think it's the weakest film yet. It's still good and it's within a razor-thin margin of the other movies, but I think I have to go with that.

What's really making that score difficult for me is that some of the action sequences at the end of the movie are unlike anything I'd ever seen. The Arc de Triomphe cars scene was absolutely stunning. I think Wick gets hit by like 5 cars during that lengthy battle scene. Then, there's the top-down gunfight with the explosive ammunition, which again, is unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Then, you have the staircase fight, which is utter madness. When I think about those three sequences, it gives me pause- isn't this film as good as any of the others? The problem is that before those scenes, we have so many other action scenes that start to make everything feel numb. It's odd for me to complain about too much action, but Chad Stahelski throws everything into this movie and it's actually too much. The earlier fight scenes aren't as epic as these final ones, but they are incredibly lengthy. They're too drawn out, with not enough consequence. We get several long fights that don't even involve John and they aren't nearly as exciting. If anyone can do these superhuman fight sequences, they lose some of their luster when Wick does them. This contributes to the bloat in the film. I honestly cannot fathom why this movie is 2 hours and 49 minutes long. It's a straightforward action movie. Sure, they spend a ton of time on the mythology of this world, but it's the unnecessarily long action sequences early in the film that really hurt the movie's quality. I remember getting to the 1 hour, 45 minute mark and feeling stunned that I still had 1 hour to go. The last hour is the best, but the early scenes just batter our senses too much. This movie would have been far better by cutting multiple fight scenes in the first 2/3 of the movie.

This movie also tried to introduce too many new characters to the mix. Donnie Yen's blind assassin is beyond ridiculous, but his stunningly excellent performance more than makes up for it. I'm not sure I've ever seen Yen so good- he seems to be having a total blast as Caine. Caine emerges as one of the best characters of the film- the momentum of the movie picks up every time he's on screen. He made for a wonderful foil for John and their friendship made their fights fraught with drama and intensity. I loved Yen in this movie. On the other side, the character of Tracker severely slows the film down. I really like Shamier Anderson and I think he gives a strong performance. But, Tracker was totally unnecessary in the grander context of the film. He adds very little, besides saving John randomly here and there. I found his character not nearly as interesting as the film suggests he is. I'm not sure if they were trying to set him up for a spinoff, but the movie wastes way too much time with his character. It saddles the film with unnecessary baggage and slows the movie down. This would have been a far better film had all of his scenes been cut. I feel bad for Anderson, because he's good- it's just that there's too much in the film and his role was not needed.

I also disliked how the women characters were really pushed out of this film. Rina Sawayama makes perhaps the biggest impact, and her character is only marginally used, earlier in the film. I thought she gave a good performance, though. Very impressive. I loved the pairing of her with Hiroyuki Sanada. I have to say, I simply adore Sanada and any movie with him immediately becomes better. He gives such a good supporting performance, I desperately wish he had more screen time.

It's always great to see Ian McShane and I loved his performance, as in all these movies. He's just so good as Winston. Lance Reddick was too limited in his role, but I always love seeing him. It's sad that he died shortly after filming this. A real tragedy. Bill Skarsgard made for a good antagonist. It's an odd performance, but he really embraces the strangeness of that character. Seeing Clancy Brown here was definitely a treat. I hated Scott Adkins' stupid character. Laurence Fishburne always make me happy and although his role was so small, he makes the movie better by being here.

That brings me to Keanu Reeves. I can only sigh here. I know Reeves isn't a good actor, but his performance felt terrible here. I was thinking about this- I think even under the best conditions, he's a bad actor. But, I think the problem here is how he plays Wick. He only says a few lines at a time, always very short, clipped. It comes across forced, like speaking is painful to him. His voice seems to crack at the wrong times. It makes him look far worse than maybe he actually is. I think my problem is how Reeves plays Wick, not just that he's an incapable actor. I really like Reeves and it's fun seeing him in this tremendous action role. I just wish I didn't cringe with every line of dialogue he uttered. It seems even more apparent when he's acting opposite a strong talent like McShane or Fishburne. It just makes him look worse.

There's still a part of me, while writing this, that feels like I've been unfair to this film. You cannot doubt that Stahelski leaves everything on the table here. He throws so much into this film- I can't think of another film that even gets remotely close to the sheer quantity of action sequences here. They are all extended, lengthy, beyond anything we'd expect. This film also delivers 3 of the best action sequences I've ever seen towards the end. Maybe I'm being too harsh on this. However, I noticed that the length of the film really wore on me and I think it limits the film's effectiveness. Stahelski crafts an epic action movie, but it's too much. The film would have been better had it been more focused. I don't think it would have lost anything to cut 45 minutes out of the first two hours. That's... not good.

I still really liked John Wick: Chapter 4 and there were parts of it that I absolutely loved. However, I feel like the issues here were too obvious and predictable. In trying to do too much, Stahelski made this film less effective than it could have been.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: John Wick, John Wick: Chapter 2, John Wick: Chapter 3- Parabellum, Bullet Train