More movies should begin with as dramatic of a bang as John Wick: Chapter 4. No expository narration or inexplicable poorly-edited chase scene here. Instead, the camera cuts back and forth between a fist loudly punching a plank of wood and Laurence Fishburne’s The Bowery King walking through smoke-filled green-tinted tunnels. As he makes his way to his destination, The Bowery King bellows phrases from a passage of Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, which includes that immortal phrase “abandon all hope Ye who enter here.” It’s true that there is little hope for those who wander into the land of violent vengeance. But John Wick's newest trek into that terrain still provides some undeniably entertaining action movie cinema within John Wick: Chapter 4.
After that bombastic prologue, John Wick: Chapter 4 picks up shortly after the events of its predecessor, which ended with Wick (Keanu Reeves) hankering for some revenge against The High Table, an organization ruling over this world of assassins. As Wick begins to get revenge on the powerful people who've made his life a living nightmare, the Marquis Vincent de Gramont (Bill Skarsgård) grows nervous that this vengeful man could do some real damage. This is when he sends master assassin Caine (Donnie Yen), an old colleague of Wick's, after this loose cannon. If he wants to get out of all of this alive, and maybe even find some shred of closure in the process, Wick won't just need to fight off armies of henchmen. He's also planning to engage in a staple of the oldest of High Table rules and traditions: a mano-a-mano duel.
Four entries in, director Chad Stahleski knows what works in these John Wick movies. This particular production is bigger in scope than prior John Wick installments, but Chapter 4 still delivers all the bullets, lavish get-ups, and violence you’d want out of these movies. The formula and hallmarks of this franchise don’t get subverted here, they’re just expanded in scale. For some franchises, sticking to the hits would be a sign of creative stagnation. In the case of a fourth John Wick film, though that suited me just fine and I'd imagine it'll work like gangbusters for other fans of this franchise. Stahleski still gets so much mileage out of crisply-filmed action sequences draped in brightly-colored neon lighting, who can complain about getting more of a delectable dish? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, as they say.
It helps too that John Wick: Chapter 4 delivers plenty of fun set pieces that don’t just blur together with fistfights and shootouts from earlier movies. A deluge of constant skirmishes in Paris, France during the third act is especially commendable in how they dish up relentless violence without becoming hollow echoes of one another. Leaning into the unique attributes of the backdrops of these fights, even if it’s something as seemingly simple as lots of stairs, helps a bunch in this regard. It’d be one thing if John Wick was fighting people in the same grey hallway for two hours. Instead, Wick gets to dish out violence everywhere from an extravagant hotel to crowded streets to a dance floor and everywhere in between. The imagination in these fight sequences is impressive but also implemented so carefully that you may not even notice that impressive quality while watching John Wick: Chapter 4.
A decade into this franchise and it’s still as fun as ever watching Keanu Reeves slicing throats or refusing to go down no matter how many times he gets stabbed. The commanding presence of Reeves undoubtedly plays a role in why these films remain so enjoyable, but Chapter 4's thrills are also aided by the welcome presence of Donnie Yen. This action movie legend has demonstrated his gifts for physicality and stuntwork plenty of times before, but John Wick: Chapter 4 offers him a chance to flex his comedic and acting muscles too. Some action stars are impressive in throwing a punch but struggle a bit in just acting like ordinary humans, but not Donnie Yen. He's just as compelling dropping well-timed one-liners or exhibiting vulnerability as he is beating the heck out of people. In a cast crammed with enjoyably theatrical performances, Donnie Yen handily stands out as the MVP.
John Wick: Chapter 4's extensive runtime of 169 minutes offer audiences plenty of chances to appreciate the skills of Yen and the other artists putting in so much effort to realize all this action-packed mayhem. The second act runs a little too long for sure, but more often than not, the expansive scope of Chapter 4 is much more of a blessing than a curse. We've come so far from the original John Wick all the way back in 2014, which seemed, conceptually, like something meant to mimic a typical low-budget Liam Neeson or Jason Statham vehicle. Nearly a decade later and John Wick: Chapter 4 is more reminiscent of the most recent Mission: Impossible movies than anything else. Thankfully, going big hasn't erased the charms and craft that put this franchise on the map in the first place. In other words, do not "abandon all hope" ye who choose to see John Wick: Chapter 4.
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