On its surface, John
Wick seems to be little more than another installment in the often mindless
generic action genre. Get a recognizable
name to hold a gun and blam, instant hit on a slow October weekend. And yet, John
Wick aspires to be more than a simple cash-grab for its studio. Oh no, John
Wick is made with a passion that is often lacking in its bullet-frenzied
brethren, and it elevates this film from being just another forgettable flick
to being a template for what future action films should aspire to replicate.
The set-up is actually rather deceptively simple: a group of
hooligans break into the home of a man who they think disrespected them, beat
him up, steal his vintage car, and kill his dog. Little did these idiots know that they just
pissed off one of the world’s greatest retired assassins, John Wick, and now
they have invoked his wrathful vengeance.
The leader of the gang is the son of a powerful Russian mobster, so John
must fight through henchmen and contract killers in order to exact his revenge.
This simple set-up works well primarily for two
reasons. First, the character of John
Wick is precisely as complex as he needs to be.
This film recognizes that it is not a form of high art, nor does it
aspire to be, but the film’s first act is spent establishing John, making him
sympathetic through a backstory involving the loss of his wife to an illness,
yet also emphasizing through a slow and methodical reveal that he is not a
person you want to fuck with. Given his
poor track record, one might be skeptical of Keanu Reeves filling the
protagonist’s shoes, but if there is one thing he is good at portraying, it is
stoic determinism, and that’s all that John needs to be effective.
The second and probably most important thing that the film
does is an astounding amount of world-building with a minimal amount of
exposition. John’s conflict with the mob
is the primary plot-driving force, but it’s clear that all the film’s characters
have a history with one another. We
don’t need the Cliff’s Notes of their lives in order to make that clear, but we
can piece together their relationships through conversation, mannerisms, or
even just by recognizing the character actors filling the roles. This is all constructed around a pseudo-fantastical
underground criminal society that operates by clear rules and etiquette that
are never bluntly explained, but are simply apparent through character behavior
and clever direction.
But even without the superb structure, writing and character
direction, this film has some really great gunfighting scenes, where Reeves
combines his martial artistry with some expert gunplay that make the fights
both engaging and intense. Sure, his
superhuman abilities are somewhat unrealistic and therefore removes some
tension from the fights, but this isn’t a film where one worries about the fate
of its hero. Rather, we’re here to watch
him kick ass and take names in a righteous cause of revenge, and as an
empowerment fantasy this not only works, but it works superbly.
In short, I really enjoyed John Wick. It has some truly
unique qualities that make it stand out in my mind as among the best in the
gunplay action subgenre, and it’s a flick that I’ll surely revisit when I just
need to sit back and enjoy something good.
But if you haven’t seen it yet, then you probably should.
Favorite Keanu Reeves flick?
Leave yours in the comments.
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