REVIEW: JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4

John Wick: Chapter 4 Review.

What to expect: True Cinema

JW4 is not developing much the whole universe it spawned, it adds more
characters and continues the struggle of John against The Table.  Some people
complained about that but it was a clever move from the creators: After watching Part 3, you would start to think that the next installment would be the one too many. But it’s not, fortunately. It stills adds some
new lore of course. In 2023 all the movies are blatantly woke, this one is not.

Lance Reddick has just a small scene but his real death adds a lot to the impact it delivers.  Always great to see the like of Clancy’Kurgan’Brown, or Lawrence Fishburne.  Swedish guy Skarsgård as the French noble main villain is totally credible and quite creepy.And he makes the effort to get a french accent when speaking french.

Donnie Yen was given a real character role, which is uncommon in Hollyweird productions,as An old friend of John Wick, who’s blind.  Scott Adkins gave too a great cartoonish performance both as a martial artist and as an actor, playing a Russian mob boss with a fat suit on.  Probably
a Samo Hung homage I suppose.  Mister Nobody is another character working with his dog,
he’s only interested by money and offers some interesting third party troublemaking to spice up a little a simple story, I guess his name came from the excellent spaghetti western My Name is Nobody.  Since Chad is a Sergio Leone fan, I think that nickname comes from old western spag My Name is Nobody, directed by Tonino Valerii, a guy who worked with Leone,and his character arc as a witness who can
change the course of the story sometimes,is similar with the Nobody played by Terence Hill.
Keanu Reeves is Keanu Reeves, safe bet. Marko Zaror plays the brutal main villain’s bodyguard.
In this franchise you’ve got a lot of interesting characters with minimal screen time for development.
They’re using the old school type of writing, letting you guess a lot of things.

Some simpletons argued that there is no real camera work, I just tell them, when the sets are that beautiful, diverse and the fights so good, I’d rather chose a static shot than a shit shaky cam spoiling all the stunt work.Some people also complained about the movie’s overlong runtime, they still don’t get that 2h 49 min means 2h 37 min without end credits.And you ain’t gonna take a look at your watch.
There are cool actions scenes throughout the movie with the big piece for the last 40 minutes in Paris with fights in the middle of the traffic, or another one shot from above inside an apartment reminiscent of the Bradbury’s building apartment in Blade Runner. Talking about end credits, stay in the screening room for the post credit extra bit.A good movie don’t need to be trimmed.

This movie is smashing the garbage Shazam! Fury of the Gods as we speak in the states, with a whopping $73.5 million opening week end, there is a similarity with Top Gun Maverick, as it’s not trying to lecture the audience,they’re still craving for true Cinema using stuntwork and the most pratical effect they can (not for the blood here but it’s not a problem given the way the choreography is made.) The ending is pretty interesting and must not be spoiled.

My only complaint is that Chow Yun-Fat is not in the movie,we need him to do a cameo in that franchise, maybe in part 5 if they decide to do it.  Go pay the ticket, save true Cinema while it lasts.

• Frenchie