John Wick: Chapter 4 continues a franchise that began with a simple premise: a grieving man’s dog is murdered, and as an ex-hitman, he goes on a murder spree to get revenge. Since John Wick (2014), the franchise’s mythology has deepened as a whole contract killer underworld has been explored in the subsequent movies. John Wick: Chapter 4 exposes even more of that mythology with few attempts to catch up new viewers, but the essential story is just as simple: a powerful villain called the Marquis (Bill Skarsgård) hires two hitmen, Caine (Donnie Yen) and Nobody a.k.a. Tracker (Shamier Anderson), to kill John Wick (Keanu Reeves). The film is expertly directed by Chad Stahelski who helmed the three other Wick films.
There is no current action franchise better than the John Wick franchise. For pure action, only the Mission Impossible franchise could rival what the creative team behind this production has been able to accomplish. Audiences have come to expect thrilling action sequences, and nothing in John Wick Chapter 4 will disappoint. Some of the sequences in this film are absolutely breathtaking. There’s a level of technical and physical skill that these performers, particularly Yen and Reeves, are able to bring to their roles that is unmatched by almost any other ongoing American action franchise.
In Chapter 4, there are two sequences in Paris that are technical marvels. One is shot overhead, as John Wick goes through multiple rooms, encountering faceless villains along the way, and another sequence in the roundabout near the Arc de Triomphe is absolutely breathtaking.
The John Wick films benefit from the fact that Reeves is able to do so many of the stunts in camera. Too many American action films are cut to ribbons because the main actors can’t believably or seamlessly perform the stunts, but Reeves can. And the supporting players, especially the star of many Hong Kong action spectacles, Donnie Yen, rise to Reeves’s example.
However, baked into the DNA of this film is the idea that audiences must gain entertainment from watching somebody go on a literal mass murder spree. Wick murders approximately 100 people per movie, and while that kind of violence is expected and normalized in these kinds of movies, I nevertheless have misgivings about these depictions of violence in media and the degree to which the John Wick movies glorify violent acts. That the violence is so beautifully choreographed and that John Wick Chapter 4 is essentially tough guy ballet makes the matter more disturbing, not less.
Despite the fact that the conversation about violence in media is necessary, most audiences will be caught up in all that John Wick Chapter 4 has to offer. The film’s technical merits are unparalleled, so there is a lot to enjoy.
