John Wick: Chapter Four

Keanu Reeves (or “The Nanu”, as my old boss calls him) has always copped it a bit for his perceived wooden acting and robotic information processing skills when in character. Roles requiring him to do British accents (alongside castmates who also couldn’t pull them off) didn’t help, but he seemed to find his calling in the action genre. By the late 90s, the Wachowskis figured out that what Keanu lacked in nuanced delivery, he more than made up for in physicality and badassery, casting him in the role that would propel him towards superstardom and worldwide admiration. Partnering with Chad Stahelski, his stunt coordinator from the Matrix films, The Nanu struck gold with 2014’s John Wick - a stylistic revenge story that appealed to the dog lover in all of us and the ultra masculine bloodlust in the rest. Three films later and the pair serve us John Wick: Chapter 4, a welcome assault on the senses that, while somewhat narratively messy and out of sync with the rest of the franchise, gives its audience an experience to which all action films should aspire.

ICYMI

At the end of John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, Nanu was inexplicably thrown from a building by an aged Ian McShane and retrieved by Laurence Fishburne to live life underground as a grown-up ninja turtle until his inevitable return to the fray. His adopted pitbull remains nameless and under the care of The Bowery King (Fishburne), his finger has not grown back since he willingly sacrificed it to “serve and be of service”, and he seems to yearn for the grave plot next to his dear departed wife Helen. 

John Wick always makes time for (killing people in) church. [image courtesy StudioCanal]

PRESENT DAY

We pick up on Wick’s training - staining a roped pillar red between Kung Fu punches - seemingly hours after his multiple storey fall and before long, he’s back to breaking The High Table’s rules and dealing out death on consecrated ground. With each naughty misstep, Wick’s bounty grows and attracts more attention from (mostly) inferior hitmen hoping to cash in. One such assassin who does not fall under this category is Caine (Donnie Yen), a blind swordsman who’s been roped into pursuing his old friend in return for the safety of his daughter. Wick’s journey will see him cross paths with other genuine threats like Shamier Anderson’s Tracker, a self-described ‘nobody’ who spends most of the film waiting until Wick’s bounty is above $25 mil USD and whose German shepherd is a very good girl indeed, and less gutsy villains like ​​Bill Skarsgård’s Marquis, the new emissary of The Table who is apparently French, but his accent begs to differ. The story is frenetic, the fights are visceral and the stairs lead to a beautifully old school way of settling a feud, closing the book on a very satisfying note.

That Chapter 4 feels starkly different from the other films is slightly confusing considering that Stahelski has been at the helm for all of them. The comedy in the John Wick series has been ramping up with each entry since the desaturated but slick first film, and I’ve been so-so on its efficacy. It’s oddly prevalent in this film, and while I understand the reasoning (Chapter 4 marks a return of the melancholy established in the original), there are moments that feel a little tight in the crotch. This one is decidedly louder (both audibly and visually, especially in its use of hyper realistic CGI in parts); a suitable tonal companion piece to the previous three films might’ve instead been 2021’s Nobody, whose script came from original John Wick screenwriter Derek Kolstad. Kolstad’s screenplay for the first Wick, according to Stahelski, was “very spare” and a lot more grounded than he’d have liked. It makes sense, then, that the most sensory overloading entry in the franchise is the one on which Kolstad does not feature. This is not to say that Chapter 4 isn’t a barrel of fun and excitement - it absolutely is - but it’s the first time I’ve regretted bingeing a franchise’s previous instalments immediately before seeing the new film. 

Donnie Yen just being cool as hell as Caine. [image courtesy StudioCanal]

Personal fuck-ups and preconceptions aside, Chapter 4 is indisputably a remarkable achievement. Front and centre is its confident handle on the incredible fight choreography and stunts. This is high octane, physically felt cinema to be sure, even if it doesn’t totally nail the tone or narrative cleanliness I might’ve wanted. Major highlights include Donnie Yen’s Caine and Hiroyuki Sanada’s Shimazu, the owner of the Osaka Continental who has his own daughter to protect and is about to call time on his inconvenient acquaintance with Wick. It’s enough of a treat to see Sanada onscreen but to pit him against Yen and then throw them into some of the best, most impactful and beautifully shot fight sequences of the film is truly awe inspiring. These two characters in particular are well fleshed-out and totally believable for the lived-in world; so too is their chemistry with Wick as old friends turned reluctant foe and protector respectively. Yen claims that he “saw Caine as a mix between Steve McQueen and Bruce Lee,” and this comes across perfectly in his performance. When he and Wick face each other, the viewer, for the first time in this series, has mixed feelings about who they want to win. If the filmmakers wish to expand this franchise in different directions (and it’s very clear that they do), Caine’s and Shimuzu’s are backstories I would gladly watch.

Similarly intriguing as a character is Harbinger, played by Highlander's Clancy Brown. Paraphrasing himself in telling Wick and Marquis that “there can be only one” when the pair decide on a way to end their disagreement, he provides a much more palatable intermediary than Asia Kate Dillon’s insufferable Adjudicator from Parabellum. If his inclusion gives weight to Stahelski’s rumoured remake of the immortal Scottish swordsman, I shall be very pleased. While it pains me to say that I didn’t feel the same about Bill Skarsgård’s Marquis - who doesn’t come across so much as a Bond baddie as an Austin Powers villain - his character’s squirmy cowardice is a necessary force in the natural progression towards the finale.

Lance Reddick and Ian McShane giving that tall friend/short friend aesthetic. We love and miss you, Lance! [image courtesy StudioCanal]

For me, Chapter 4 starts off strong, then overstays its welcome somewhere past the midway point before earning it back in full with an ingenious top-down sequence, a hugely entertaining ascent (and descent) at the penultimate moment and a fantastic, emotionally wrought ending. Leaving the theatre, I struggled with feelings of awe and frustration that were likely exacerbated by hunger. With a bag full of naughty drive-thru food, I zeroed in on my takeaways. 

Ultimately, this film is a slightly flawed but hugely impressive feat that wears its filmmaking team’s dedication proudly on its sleeve. This is by far the most fun Wick, with the highest fights-per-minute score and an unrelenting march towards the final showdown. The film features near ridiculous chase scenes (one on camel-back in the desert in pursuit of a wedding ring) and makes excellent use of its globe-spanning settings, while also featuring motifs from the previous films. Reeves’ commitment to this character and franchise is well and truly equal to that of our action Lord and Saviour Tom Cruise, throwing himself into countless physical tasks with the enthusiasm and resilience of someone likely not of this world. I’ve pondered whether my discomfort and exhaustion with the lack of breathing room between fights may come from the knowledge that a 58-year-old man has far better stamina than my three-weekly Pilates will ever afford me, and it’s entirely possible that there’s truth in that observation. Regardless, this film hints at a new stunt work standard that will be difficult for any further iterations to emulate.

With the John Wick series set to plié into the Ana de Armas-led spinoff Ballerina, there’s no end in sight to the evolution of its criminal underworld. Reeves and de Armas worked together on the hilariously absurd Knock Knock, a film whose writing is best displayed in the short clip below.

Embarrassing ventures aside, Reeves and his co-star will undoubtedly be in better hands with Shay Hatten and Emerald Fennell on script duties. Whether Underworld director Len Wiseman can match Stahelski’s stunt prowess is another story. We sincerely hope that he can.

Alex’s thoughts

“I didn’t get to rewatch the other three iterations of Wick before our screening of Chapter 4, and I feel I may have had a better experience because of it. What I did do was catch the last half of Parabellum and revisit the first afterward. Chapter 4 is a fantastic continuation of the same tightly executed gun-fu action epics, that you can always tell has been helmed by a team who has the utmost respect for the myriad of martial arts and revenge flicks from which this series owes its success. All the grit of the first has been washed away at this point - replaced by the sheen of bigger set pieces, bigger stunts and bigger characters, taking everything to the max while holding onto the superb meaty combat, which makes the most of new enemies, new allies and the glock-wielding golem that is Keanu’s John Wick. See it in cinemas and avoid sitting next to a feather-haired fucking idiot and his mate who are on their phones the entire movie.”

Well said.

With some decompression time, I’ve settled on the conclusion that Chapter 4’s assets far outweigh its flaws. Despite my mild frustration with the scatterbrained storytelling, slight (probably budget-related) misuse of CGI imagery and inconsistent tone compared to the rest of the franchise, this is a formidable achievement in action filmmaking and a wonderful example of what happens when stunt work is given the respect it deserves. I do feel that John Wick: Chapter 4 works better when the earlier films are only half remembered, allowing the viewer to fully focus on the excellent fight choreography and action set pieces. It’s very likely that, with some distance (and acceptance that the John Wick + dog formula died with Daisy the beagle), my rating will increase.

Verdict:

Laura ☆☆☆½

Alex ☆☆☆☆½

John Wick: Chapter 4 is in cinemas now and I think I’m going to revisit it soon on the largest screen with the best sound possible. You should too.