2023 has a bunch of sequels already in full swing in the respective franchises: Insidious 5, Fast X, and Mission: Impossible 7. And right out of the first quarter, we got John Wick: Chapter 4. Movies that have more than just one sequel tend to run the risk of being lesser quality with less star power and less of an imagination with each sequel. Once you pass three, the rate of diminishing returns tends to accelerate.
But that was the sequel trends of yester year. In more modern times, it seems franchises have learned to break free of the unspoken rules of what is allowed and not allowed for succeeding films. And that’s you don’t have to have any thread to the previous films if you don’t want to and you’re allowed to aim higher with a bigger budget and bigger stars
I recently watched John Wick 1, 2, and 3 in anticipation and preparation for Chapter 4. I’m a little embarrassed to say that I never got around to watching any of these films. I love Keanu Reeves, but I viewed John Wick as those recycled bordering on ridiculous, middle of the way action films that long in the tooth actors like Keanu Reeves unfortunately gets stuck in. It’s probably not bad, but it’s not going to be exciting the way Speed and The Matrix are. I was definitely proven wrong. I was one of those people who bought their tickets ahead of time and were ready for a nearly three-hour John Wick show down.
It’s pretty clear that the team behind John Wick is going for broke each time they come back to the theatres with yet another chapter of the expert assassin that is named John Wick. After the special guest turns from Halle Berry and Angelica Huston and the introduction of a pair of fighting dogs, how do you think the fourth John Wick can top that?
The introduction of a memorable super villain
The first 3 John Wick movies relied more on the journey and struggle of John Wick himself, so a strong villain wasn’t necessarily necessary. But in John Wick 4, we now have a proper bad guy who John Wick has to contend with. And who else to bring on board than the It clown himself, Bill Skarsgard as the French Marquis.
The Marquis is laser focused on eliminating John Wick. He knows the place to start to find John Wick is by going after the handful of people who are known to be friends of John Wick. He starts his path of destruction by killing the beloved Continental concierge of New York City (rest in peace, Lance Reddick). He also wraps up his visit to the manager of the New York Continental, Winston (Ian McShane), by blowing up his hotel just to drive home his message.
The foil to John Wick: A blind assassin named Caine who upstages everyone
The Marquis isn’t going to be the one travelling around the world hunting for John Wick. He’s forced a retired assassin named Caine (Donnie Yen) who is blind and was friends with John Wick, to get back into the game. If he chooses not to, then his daughter (a musician in Paris) will be killed.
A reluctant Caine does what he has to do, but he’s not going to be killing any more than he needs to. A first one it seems for the plethora of killers in John Wick. The body count becomes almost comical as everyone dies without a second thought. But Caine actually stops and thinks about it. His being blind has nothing to do with why Caine is almost if not maybe more lovable than John Wick in Chapter 4.
Unlike John Wick, who doesn’t really express any emotions or thoughts or feelings, Caine does. I think it was the Marquis who described Caine as being capable to go up against John Wick because he has someone to Live, Die, and Kill for. Caine tried his best not to kill his friend Koji (Hiroyuki Sanada), the manager of the Osaka Continental Hotel as they both have daughters in common. Caine ultimately had to do what he needed to do as Koji refused to give up John Wick, but Caine allowed his daughter Akira (Rina Sawayama) to escape. If it were John Wick, everyone would’ve been killed with no words exchanged because John Wick is a man of action and not words (Keanu Reeves only has 380 words of dialogue in John Wick 4).
John Wick’s wife, dog, and home are all gone. All he’s doing right now is just trying to stay alive for himself and that’s all we really know and need to know about John. If there is any sentimentality with John Wick, any signs that he is the good assassin here, is that he doesn’t cross the red line of killing dogs and children. In John Wick 3: Parabellum, John stopped from attacking Zero when a line of school kids came between him and Zero.
Caine also has more flare and personality than John. He more than makes up for his lack of sight with his personality. There’s a mix of hesitation, focus, humor, and apathy with Caine. Even though he’s presented to us as the main antagonist against John Wick, you just knew he was going to turn into a good guy somehow. I would’ve revolted if Caine remained on the side of the Marquis.
Now, John Wick movies are not known for their really in-depth and complicated story lines. This isn’t exactly a criticism. Watching a John Wick movie is like being a passenger on a ride and you only really understand what is going on right in front of you and in that moment. We don’t spend a lot of time in understanding the origins of everyone and everything and there’s no real foreshadowing of what things can eventually become. We just know John Wick is widowed and still pissed off that his dog was murdered. Caine is the first significant character in the John Wick series were he feels more like a human than a comic book character with a mix of Fast & Furious.
Mr. Nobody and his partner, a dog with no name
John Wick has more than just the Marquis and his gang of assassins looking to take him down. The bounty for John Wick has been upped to $20 million from the $14 million in Chapter 3, so every day wannabe assassins can also get in on the game if they want. As far as we can tell, Mr. Nobody answers to nobody and he only has loyalty towards his dog.
Mr. Nobody at first comes off looking like a university student with his trendy skull cap and huge backpack that most students have to haul around everywhere when in class. But make no mistake, Mr. Nobody has lethal skills that are comparable to the professional assassins. Bonus points for the double use of the backpack when Mr. Nobody used it to shield himself from bullets. Mr. Nobody also has the confidence to demand a higher bounty from the Marquis himself. $20 million isn’t enough, but he will do it for $25 million. Mr. Nobody’s personality isn’t as fleshed out as Caine. But his dedication to his dog and the way he becomes dedicated to John Wick after Wick saves his dog makes you glad that Mr. Nobody stuck around to see what happened in the final duel even though he wasn’t part of it.
The German interlude: Harkan and a game of cards
We’re not done with the would-be assassins after John Wick. Although Harkan (Scott Adkins) isn’t technically physically out looking for John Wick, lucky for him, John Wick goes to him instead. This brief stop in Berlin, Germany was due to John Wick having to kill Harkan in exchange for getting assistance from his adoptive family. Harkan is like a Las Vegas pit boss as he tries to make a deal with John Wick and his coterie of assassins, Caine and Mr. Nobody, who happened to also end up in Berlin and at this poker table.
We all know the poker game’s rigged, yet John, Mr. Nobody, and Caine insist on playing the cards. I nearly died of laughing when Caine called Harkan a prick in Chinese and so did John Wick. After Harkan “wins”, John, Mr. Nobody, and Caine are forced to fight together against Harkan and his guys. But John Wick is not distracted. He keeps his eye on Harkan who manages to escape amongst the crowd of the crowded German disco. I have to say the way Harkan died seemed quite cruel. I get everyone dies in John Wick movies, but the way John Wick stalked Harkan who basically was helpless. It just seemed a bit over the top Scorcese messy murder like when Harkan is finally finished. I actually felt sorry for Harkan.
A masterclass in epic fight scenes: weapons, choreography, scenery
When I finally got around watching John Wick like a few weeks ago, I couldn’t believe how long the fight sequences were. Usually fight scenes are done in a few minutes with one climatic sequence and we’re done. I always thought the bank robbery scene in Heat was the longest fight scene I’d ever seen or remember in a movie, but John Wick takes the crown. In John Wick, we’re fighting and fighting until the job is 100% done. The reason why this John Wick is almost three hours is because we’re battling all over the world and especially all over Paris.
Guns aren’t the only weapons used in this John Wick. We got some nunchucks. Guns that also act like torches that light people on fire. Samurai swords. Axes. Even a dog gets to fight.
The action also doesn’t happen in one kind of location either. John Wick is fighting on a flight of stairs, the Arc de Triomphe, a disco with indoor waterfalls, the rooftop of a hotel, and the Sacré-Cœur. There's no use in trying to describe these fight scenes as you just have to see it for yourself.
As we have a dog and a blind man, we also get different types of fighting incorporated into the fight scenes. At the start of Caine’s journey to find John Wick, he cleverly places mobile doorbells all over a restaurant kitchen in order to hear when people are coming. The dog is also down to fight in the roundabout at the Arc de Triomphe, leaping from the roof tops of the cars. These fight scenes are so beyond impossible and incredible that you gotta at some points laugh and cheer because it’s just too crazy.
And let’s face it, the reason why John Wick, a nearly 3-hour rated R movie opened at #1 with $73.5 million on its opening weekend is because of the fight scenes. We’re not looking for completely realistic fight scenes. But we’re also not looking for completely pretend movie fight scenes like Fast & Furious. We’re looking for something that’s like a cross between Collateral and Avengers: Endgame. And John Wick: Chapter 4 does not disappoint. Yes, John Wick flies out of a high building and lands on the ground one too many times without dying, but we’re conditioned at this point to understand that the only way to kill John Wick is with a bullet.
Not enough time for everyone
One issue I have with the movie is that even with almost three hours, there didn’t seem to be enough time to get to everyone in the movie. I know from watching the previously John Wick movies that even big names like Halle Berry will only really be a glorified cameo. The title of the movie is John Wick for a reason and that’s because we’re only really going to see John Wick for the bulk of the movie and everyone else is just a supporting character.
But I was disappointed that many of the great new characters like Akira, Koji, Harkan, Marquis and even return characters like Winston, Charon, and the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne), aren’t on the screen long enough. I missed most of the Bowery King’s big scene when he presented John Wick with his new suit as I had to run to the far away bathrooms in the movie theatre. And I was very disappointed that Charon was killed off right at the start of the film. It was very eerie and a little disturbing to have to see the grave of Charon the character knowing that Lance Reddick has also passed.
Will there be a John Wick 5? There better be!
I’ve seen too many movies and TV shows where a character dies and they come back later on that I did not for a second believe John Wick is dead and buried in the ground. After the sunrise duel against Caine in which Marquis was the one who ended up shot dead in the head, John Wick is on the steps of the basilica and he suddenly slumps to his side. The scene cuts to Winston at the graves of John Wick and his wife and yet I wasn’t panicked or shedding tears because John Wick is definitely not dead. Even Winston couldn’t say exactly where John Wick has gone to. That’s because John Wick isn’t dead.
So I was shocked to read how movie executives are now saying John Wick 5 is “back on the table.” That was a spoiler. I totally thought John Wick was NOT dead. So they’re saying he IS dead because a part 5 was not being considered? Whether or not there is a John Wick: Chapter 5, we do know from the final end credit that it looks like Akira is seeking revenge against Caine, even though Caine no longer is part of the assassin game.
A Chapter 5 seems like a nice round number to finish off the John Wick storyline. Also, I expected from the ending of Chapter 3, that Chapter 4 would be about John Wick getting his revenge on the High Table. So I was a little confused that that wasn’t the case in Chapter 4. We also don’t really know who is behind this infamous High Table. It would be incredible if there would be a showdown between John Wick, Caine, the Bowery King, Mr. Nobody, Akira, the dog…against the High Table. In case the chapter is closed on John Wick, better get out there and go see it in theatres now!
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