JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4
So here we are at the end... again. In a perfect world John Wick should have put away his black suit in part three, and while that instalment certainly had it's moments it felt like filler. Which is often still the case here in a sequel that is nearly three hours long. It's appropriate in some ways since this is more of a closing storyline. But in some ways it's yet more of the same without really getting any deeper into the main character's back story or rounding out the series as a whole. Action junkies will get a thrill from many of the individual set pieces and some of the guest stars. It's not reinventing the wheel or doing anything that the previous films haven't already tried. However, beyond all the shiny visuals this often feels by the numbers in a DTV sequel kind of way.
Part of the problem beyond the bloated running time is a lack of stakes. John (Keanu Reeves) is wearing a bullet proof suit in many sequences, something that should have stayed as a fun gimmick in part two. Later he gets hit by multiple cars and walks off a fall from a third story window. Some of his opponents also feel invincible until it's their assigned story exit. There are one or two shocking moments, mainly in the first hour or so, but elsewhere serious wounds and crippling injuries are just shrugged off. This was always a larger than life series eventually characters start to feel like cartoon coyotes bouncing off windscreens and rolling down huge flights of stairs. Or in some cases they feel like video-game characters with regenerating health bars.
A lot of the dialogue seems to have depth initially, but a lot of the talk about rules and alliances just comes off as merely heavy rather than actually being meaningful. The plot still centres around John breaking a rule in part two, and the likes of Winston (Ian McShane) and The Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) making moves to help each other or change their underworld situations as a result. There are yet more hints at John's adoptive family background but there's little substance. A series like this doesn't necessarily need more than these kinds of surface details and hints towards past tragedies. But something more at this stage would be nice. They don't even explain why John was once feared as 'Baba Yaga', a witch featured in Slavic folklore and the Hellboy series, which might have been useful.
Without this kind of nuance in an overly long narrative it's up to the visual style and fight choreography to carry the film. Which, taken on a scene by scene basis, it does deliver enough of. These are often far too long as well, but there's enough variety overall. Blind swordsman Caine (Donnie Yen) has a few moments to shine, including a sequence involving improvised audio aides. The nameless Tracker (Shamier Anderson) brings a dog on his bounty hunting missions, repeating the pet theme which has been in all the prior movies. Hotel manager Shimazu Koji (Hiroyuki Sanada) has a ninja entourage using a typical selection of weapons when things go awry in Osaka. There are still too many faceless goons protected by body armour (until they aren't) but there's always quantity, if not quality.
The real stand out set piece takes us to Berlin to meet High Table member Killa Harkan, (Scott Adkins) as part of a convoluted plot surrounding John's prior excommunication. In a shorter film this would be the central highlight, with Adkins showing again that he's a master of outrageous accents and brutal kicks. He gets a far better share of the running time after the disappointingly brief (but great) sequence in Day Shift last year. When will he be given a big mainstream feature of his own? There are card tricks, there's scenery chewing, and there's a bone crunching showdown in a night club water feature. The shiny enamels might be subtle next to Ian McShane's new teeth but it's an all round great character and sequence. Particularly when big bad 'The Marquis' (Bill Skarsgård) is such a boring weasel.
Ultimately this finishes the story in a straightforward fashion; though there are spin-offs already planned. It's just a revenge plot even if things never feel that personal. There isn't even much bad blood between the main players, which is odd considering how part three ended. The most dramatic it ever gets is John's meeting with his adoptive sister Katia (Natalia Tena) and even this is quite brisk. Early talk about this film involved a fifth part being made back-to-back, which was not the case in the end, perhaps accounting for the over-stuffed action fare and lack of dramatic bookends. A lot of the cast are too stoic and come across as tired, instead of leaning into blood thirsty overacting or overwrought melodrama. It's another stylish mixture of modern neon and classical stone, with another great score by Tyler Bates and Joel J. Richard. But it should have been far tighter and more ruthless.
3/5
BONUS REVIEW
65 (2023)
On the subject of films without enough stakes or original ideas, here's 65 (Million Years Ago). It could have been another Crawl since Sam Raimi is on the list of producers. A simple but fun thrill ride about people being trapped in a tense situation, with a little father-daughter bonding along the way. What better situation than a spaceman crash landing on prehistoric Earth? But the reptile adjacent family drama here seems to be cribbed from Interstellar without the characterisation to lend it any impact. Mills (Adam Driver) is a survivor on a doomed voyage and Koa (Arian Greenblatt) is his surrogate child. She doesn't speak English (or whatever language they speak back home) which gives it a feeling of the adoptive daughter relationship in Logan. But again there's no real depth and the situation is strangely dull.
For a child that doesn't understand anything Koa seems to follow certain instructions when it matters. Which is just one of many odd choices in what should be a simple adventure plot. Mills knows that certain plants are poisonous but has no problem breathing prehistoric air or drinking from a river. He has a gun and a few simple gadgets but sometimes forgets to use them. The dinosaur threat is sometimes entertaining, but often frustrating. Are they animals that hunt for food or monsters that kill for no reason? Should he feel bad for hurting them or is this meant to be total schlock? Are we supposed to feel empathy or is it best just to go along for the fun of it? If the series of mishaps they encounter was more engaging these kind of questions wouldn't have to be asked.
Instead it's often just a meandering child-in-peril drama where Koa is never in danger. There's quicksand, caves collapse, and there are creatures large and small. If only their mission to reach the last escape pod at the top of a mountain was more precise, with a sense of escalating threats. Early on it's made clear how things went with Mills and his real daughter, and its clear that Koa is the only other crash survivor. Which means that the story is devoid of suspense. They've created some good fantasy fauna, but they haven't created a fantastic series of events. Even the tools Mills has at his disposal feel underwhelming. This had the potential to be a wild ride full of sci-fi technology and outlandish monster designs. It could have even been a fish out of water story blended into an action spectacle. Instead it's a weird misfire that wastes a potent premise, which is a shame.
2/5
