John Wick 4 (film): I think this series has run dry

I was quite excited when a link to this movie that I didn't manage to see in theaters popped up on torrent sites and wasn't a CAM version. I thought I was in for a wild ride and I guess, depending on how you judge your entertainment that it is. However, this series has kind of gone a bit too far as far as the story is concerned and now we are in the realm of the absurd and it may as well be another Marvel superhero movie at this point

I was entertained, kind of, while it was going on but this latest installment is IMO almost completely devoid of substance and simply relies on fight choreography for its entertainment value.

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Now before all the Keanu Reeves fanbois decide to pile up on my case know that I am one of you. I think that Reeves is one of the most iconic stars of our day even though I think that his acting has a very specific "wheelhouse" that he isn't really capable of deviating from. If you need proof of this I implore you to attempt to try to make it 20 minutes into Destinations Wedding, which very well may be one of the worst movies ever made and features an extremely out of place Keanu.

That aside, let's focus on John Wick Chapter 4. This film is start to finish action with very little in the way of dialogue; meaningful or otherwise. It features a cast of super villains that are increasingly ridiculous such as a blind guy that fights better than people with sight and an awesomely fat fuck that can do roundhouse kicks without tearing his pants or every ligament in his lower body.

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I realize that in an attempt to keep JW fresh and innovative that they had to continually up the ante in order to keep it entertaining but these particular baddies are bordering on Dick Tracy levels of silly. I for one kind of prefer John Wick being a realistic bad ass, but in this film where he takes on hundreds of people at a time, most of which have some sort of bulletproof coating on them, kind of takes away from the realism of the entire thing especially when arrows seamlessly breaks through this same bulletproof coating.

I found myself thinking fondly of the first and even second installment of this franchise and feeling as though even though those were also kind of over the top, it added a little bit of credibility to the possibility of someone being as dangerous as Wick is. In "Chapter 4" he is basically Captain Marvel levels of overpowered, and seeing as how this is a John Wick film, we already know the conclusion of all the fights anyway. I guess what I am trying to say is that this pre-determined outcome is something that I am not really a fan of in superhero films and that is why I tend to avoid them in the first place.

Wick has a more humanistic side to him in the past, in particular the first film and who could forget his motivation for revenge in the first place where he was avenging the death of his puppy. Now we instead find ourselves at the behest of a global cabal that will hunt Wick relentlessly until his death, which of course no one is capable of doing including the big baddies that are meant to be a somewhat equal match for Wick but obviously, and predictably, are not.

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I'm still a fan of the character in Wick, but like a lot of action series that have come before, or even horror series that IMO went on too long, I think that they are just throwing a ton of money at these things and relying entirely on the fight scenes to carry the movie rather than actually having a compelling story that is worth following in it.

At the cost of $100 million to make the film, I am actually kind of surprised that they were able to pull off all the scenes in the movie as well as afford the big names that were in it.

I think that most people will find this movie to be mindlessly entertaining in the same way that people continue to watch Fast and Furious films despite the fact that those are probably the most ridiculous storylines in all of cinema.

I really believe that you could have JW4 on in your living room, watch the first 10 minutes, then go mow the lawn while you leave it playing, come back after cutting the grass and just join back in whenever, and not really miss a great deal about what is going on in the story, because there isn't really one.

All you need to know is what all the Wick films other than the first one kind of have the same plot. Everyone is trying to kill Wick but he simply refuses to die because he is a super bad ass that is essentially unkillable even when he does things like fall three stories onto the cement below. He is completely unphased by this actually and stands straight back up and continues fighting a couple dozen people afterwards.

I just think that it has gone too far in its absurdity and it is no longer fun. Also, I think that a great deal of the fight choreography has become almost slapstick with people getting shot in the behind or end up getting used as a "knife ladder" so someone can climb a wall. It's gory I guess, but there is also a distinct lack of blood in many of the scenes where hundreds of people die.

Maybe I am on the outside here but for the most part I think that, unfortunately, this is one of those movies that is designed as a global cash grab rather than actually attempting to be a good film. Hollywood is notorious for seriously being interested in turning a profit rather than making something that is genuinely good, and Reeves is the perfect candidate for films like this as well.

Should I watch it?

Well i think that for most people it goes without saying that you are going to do so regardless of what anyone tells you to do. I was excited to finally get this at my home cinema despite mixed reports I had heard from people who saw it in the theaters. It is clearly designed to be enjoyed on the big screen and I guess that a lot of people will enjoy it on the sofa as well.

For me, and I think a lot of people like me, this is just another Hollywood action-fest starring everyone's favorite "nice guy" who happens to have an absolutely amazing publicist.

It took me 2 sittings to get through the entire film and for anyone out there looking for some sort of compelling storyline, this movie is not going to contain that. If you want to switch your brain off for a couple of hours and just enjoy basically a never-ending fight that requires very little of your attention to understand, then sure, this is fine.

It just isn't exceptional and I hope that they don't make any more of them. However, seeing as how they already made $330 million profit on this one before marketing costs, it wouldn't surprise me if they made more even tough there is one major part of the plot that is kind of getting in the way of that happening. Not gonna spoil that because it is basically the only thing in the movie that you couldn't see coming from 20 miles away.

I would watch this movie if you have nothing else to do but I wouldn't go out of your way to see it because there isn't really anything particularly innovative about it.