Industry legend has it that when looking for a way to tone down The Terminator's overtones , James Cameron was given two pieces of advice by the producers: "expand the romance" and "give him a dog". It is true that the electronic killer did not live to see a quadruped, but a well-known lover of them - it's no secret - is a real killer of flesh and blood. The golden advice is working so well* that the box office saga has just got its fourth part.
last job
There are many indications that John Wick’s (irreplaceable Keanu Reeves ) retirement is still just a pipe dream. It’s hard to focus on weeding the gardens and sipping tea when revenge is still in your head, the oppressive system in which you’re entangled invariably wants your destruction, and the largest criminal organizations issue an arrest warrant for you. Time is running out and the price on your head is rising…
Let’s make a deal – this is not (and never was to be) a particularly ambitious cinema. Both the construction of the plot and the psychology of the characters remain as simple as the construction of the proverbial flail. This, however, Keanu defends, no objection – there is unpretentious honesty and elegance in this simplicity. Indeed, if the flail in question were to go into motion, the creators would probably find more than one way to bring, apart from bloody destruction, also aesthetic fulfillment. Chad Stahelski – the director of the series – has found his niche and sticks to it, consistently delivering a cinema devoid of any sense or logic, but loaded to the brim with pure fun.
Keanu Reeves as John Wick in John Wick 4. Photo Credit: Murray Close
Sometimes with a gun, sometimes with a club
Considering the necessarily tragic story of the title character, it would not be difficult to add a bloated, sad pathos. Wick is not alone in this suffering. Both his enemies, who, mindful of their own interests, have found a way to cool symbiosis with the mysterious Council, and his friends are entangled in the oppressive system. The latter often, like the blind Caine (the wonderful Donnie Yen) or the honorable Shimazu (Hiroyuki Sanada), live under the heel of the organization, reluctantly and reluctantly fulfilling its whims. Fortunately, the stylized, bloody bubble is pierced here and there by humor – also self-conscious. The ubiquitous excess balances on the thin line of self-parody – whether in the characters of caricatured exaggerated villains, or Wick himself breaking through gangs of gangs “on one life”.
This time the strings are pulled by the Marquis personified by Bill Skarsgård – a pompous and pretentious royalist with the appearance of a 19th-century dandy, reverently spitting out more platitudes and platitudes (malicious people could say that it is his love of details and slow, irreverently sluggish pace of speech that extend the length of the film to nearly three hours). However, the viewers will have to wait for the clash of the elements – before Wick, motivated by the desire for freedom, stands face to face with a representative of the system that smothers him and his few trusted friends, a number of more or less necessary side missions await him. These may expand the mythological map of the world controlled by the all-powerful Council, but in at least a few cases they seem completely unnecessary. The pace of the story also suffers
Laurence Fishburne as Bowery King, Keanu Reeves as John Wick, and Ian McShane as Winston in John Wick 4. Photo Credit: Murray Close
Neon Demon
I suspect that most of those who choose the next part of any series know exactly what to expect from a given screening. It is no different in this case – John Wick still stands above all with action, pulsating to the rhythm of a well-chosen soundtrack, spectacular choreography and framing of duels bathed in neon light and particles of broken glass. Not very sophisticated, I hear? Perhaps – but how effective!
*The odds that the creators of John Wick received the same advice during development are low, but not zero.
