Disclaimer: This movie review is a loose transcription from our podcast where we do all our movie reviews – link is at the bottom of this page to listen in!
James:
Overall thoughts. What do you think?
Nayan:
I thought it was a fantastic film. Overall, each John Wick film always supersedes the others but I feel that this one got very close to superseding John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. I thought it was fantastic and a really great action film. Just overall, like we get action films nowadays and it’s not creative enough and you know what to expect when you go see it but with John Wick you know what you’re gonna get but you still come out of the cinema blown away. I thought, with Keanu Reeves, his performance as John Wick was pretty much exactly the same as the other films. It’s usually that stoic and deadpan sort of line delivery. The real acting is in the physicality of his performance. You know, the quick reloads and the tactical shooting, stuff like that. The screenplay was really good. Yeah, it’s basically John Wick just trying to get back at the table and wanting his freedom back. I’m not gonna spoil anything here but I think the way it ended just ties the films nicely together. Visually, this film is fucking fantastic. I don’t understand how none of the John Wick films get any nominations for Oscars like cinematography or anything. There was a shot in the film which was like a solid 4-5 minutes where it’s a one-shot take but from a bird’s eye view of just John Wick just going insane – just absolutely fantastic. You got club scenes as well where it has the classic neon lighting that John Wick is really known for. The score is just fantastic as well, similar to every other John Wick film – you got like that synth bass in there that is impactful. It nicely accompanies what’s happening on screen.
James:
Fair enough. I’m pretty much mostly in agreement with you about it. You know, I found Keanu Reeves to be a little slow and on a physical level. I think the movies are outpacing his age, I guess and it is understandable. I thought the story was probably one of the weakest elements of the film and definitely not as strong as what I’ve seen from the previous John Wick movies. I think it’s quite basic in its story but in terms of dialogue and building tension and providing stakes, or an emotional piece of the movie that I can connect too, I think it failed to deliver that. I wasn’t really rooting for John Wick in the way that I have done in the past films. I always felt like there’s a sense of urgency for him but for this one, not really. I think that’s why it is not the best John Wick movie for me, but it is definitely up there. But you know, it’s really competing with really high-caliber action films. In saying that, John Wick Chapter Four is one of the best action films of the past decade – the stunt choreography and cinematography – it’s simply breathtaking.
The visual effects are minimal, and they’re used effectively and I wouldn’t have thought this is a $90 million budget movie, which I believe it is. The action is visceral and it’s brutal at times. I just really love the style of it and the realism that it puts into its action such as stunt actors and Keanu Reeves actually punching people. We see Donnie Yen’s character, who’s blind in the film and he doesn’t just fight like a normal person who’s blind and he’s just like, really good at it. He fights like a blind person but he does it in a way that is so stylistic, it’s really well done and the film never forgets that he is blind. It’s really clever stuff. Also, I think when it comes to you know, female fighting in it, it doesn’t where it doesn’t do it in a way that’s like, she punches 150 kg guy and it goes flying like five meters, they’re flexible and agile that uses their weight and strength against them. It’s the little stuff like that. It’s just all these different blends of action really coming together. Okay so out of 10. What are you going to give John Wick: Chapter 4?
Nayan:
Out of 10, I will give John Wick: Chapter 4 an 8.7 out of 10. What would you give John Wick: Chapter 4 out of 10?
James:
I’m gonna match you and I’ll give it an 8.7 out of 10 as well.
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