Certificate – 15
Directed By – Chad Stahelski
Starring – Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Laurence Fishburne, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Lance Reddick, Rina Sawayama, Scott Adkins, Ian McShane
Running Time – 169 Minutes (2 Hours 49 Minutes)
I’m going straight to the point. John Wick Chapter 4 is a fucking awesome movie, and you need to own it right away!
Picking up from the events of Chapter 3, John Wick (Reeves) takes on his most lethal adversaries yet in this fourth instalment of the series. With the price over his head ever increasing, Wick goes global to take his fight to the powerful High Table.
It’s incredible how Stahelski and writers Shay Hatten and Michael Finch continue to build on the lore and world of this franchise. Whilst keeping it a personal story of John’s journey back to some sort of normality and there are moments of humour injected throughout.
For the longest film yet in the series, I never felt bored or that it could’ve been shorter. This is due to the writing and impact of placing the action scenes perfectly.
I’m trying not to sound too gushing about it, but from the moment the fight scenes in Osaka Continental to the end of the film were all incredible for different reasons. In Osaka, we, for the first time, see Wick getting tired and looking a bit world-weary, but the injection of Sawayama breathes new energy and for the small role she had, she left a massive impression.
The British-Japanese singer/actress has such fantastic on-screen presents that I can see her character return in Chapter 5 (hopefully) and a spin-off of her own.
Quickly staying in Japan, the moment we witness Yen and Sanada fight, it felt like two masters of their craft battling it out. It somehow had A New Hope feel when we saw Obi-Wan and Darth Vader fight.
Then there’s the brutal fight between Wick and Adkins, who is wearing some incredible make-up that would rival Colin Farrell’s Penguin in The Batman. Then comes everything in Paris.
One particular fight scene has stayed in my mind more due to the seamless camera angles when it moves above, and it looks like a video game.
As for the cast, Reeves carries the film like a true leader. Yen’s character isn’t a villain, the writers made him far too sympathetic, and I’ve mentioned above how much I loved Sawayama.
Away from the good guys, this series has continuously made villains so wonderfully punishable you want to see them get their just deserts, and Skaragård is the best villain so far. He is such a cunt from the moment you meet him. He does something interesting to the lore as well, it’s built on the old ways, but he brings the new generation to the High Table.
Finally, the score Tyler Bates and Joel J. Richard create is banging.
Does The Blu-Ray Have Bonus Features?
Yes, over an hour’s worth of goodness. Including featurettes like Chad and Keanu: Through Wick and Thing, Train Like a Killer, Making a Killer and Killing at the Speed of Traffic, to name but a few.
Verdict
In every aspect, this movie is fucking incredible and you should all rush out to buy it!
The Bear Cave 