John Wick

Finally got around to seeing this, after the movie had attained legendary status. I went in expecting one of two things: totally missing what everybody saw in it, or being wowed by it. And I definitely got the latter. But I think, for modern kick-ass revenge action movies, Nobody is better. That’s not to say this isn’t awesome. The fight choreography and camerawork is absolutely stellar. A common complaint of Marvel action movies — a complaint that has spread to many action movies nowadays — are a reliance on frequent and fast cuts to hide the fight choreography. John Wick doesn’t do that; it’s still got more cuts than, say, Predator, but it doesn’t hide the choreography at all. It works in tandem with it. Fights, both physical and with guns, have a flow to them like a dance. It is impossible not to be drawn in by how gorgeous it all is. It’s easily the slickest action movie I’ve seen in a long time, in the best possible way. Of course, Keanu is Keanu, and he is awesome. I never bought him in The Matrix, because the writing and Neo felt like edgelord junior high bullshit, but here, Keanu’s cool, detached demeanor plays right into the role. Especially at the beginning, where that cool detachment becomes a wall, not allowing John to grieve the loss of his wife. And when he is driven to his path of vengeance, it again serves the character well; he doesn’t have a death wish, or nothing left to lose. He lost a conduit to feel. He’s numb, and he wants to make the people who made him feel numb pay. But why do I say Nobody — a movie with a very similar plot, right down to Russian antagonists — is better? It comes down to relatability. John Wick is as cool as the other side of the pillow, but he isn’t very deeply drawn. Compare that to Nobody’s Hutch Mansell; also a guy who worked in a dark, deadly line of business, and got out to live a normal life. John has a perfect life, and it’s taken away from him. Hutch’s marriage is on shaky ground, he feels stuck in a dead end job, and resents having to keep a lid on who he was. He’s an average, middle-aged, suburban family man. He’s just a little more relatable, and by extension, when he’s drawn back into the world he left behind, there’s more catharsis in seeing him go to war. Again, that’s not to say John Wick is bad. It isn’t, not by any stretch. This was balls to the wall action, a thrill ride every minute and then some, and I look forward to watching 2 and 3. That it’s central character is basically a violence machine isn’t a bad thing; it just means that you’re getting one thing with this movie, and as long as you’re cool with that, watch this right away.