John Wick: Chapter 4 - An Even Grander Action Movie than its Predecessors

My wife and I were highly anticipating this movie as we loved all the three movies before, so we were really looking forward to see it in the cinema. Unfortunately though, it was released during our holiday trip. We thought we could see it in the country where we went to, but it was scheduled to be released only after we left. So we ended up seeing this more than 10 days later, after our return to Indonesia. OK, without further ado, lets get to the movie.

Brief Story Line

After the events of Chapter 3, John Wick (Keanu Reeves - DC League of Super Pets, The Matrix Resurrections etc) went to hiding at Intercontinental hotel in Osaka, managed by his old friend Koji (Hiroyuki Sanada - Bullet Train, Mortal Kombat 2021 etc), although it was against the wish of Koji's daughter Akira (Rina Samayama).

Meanwhile the High Table had appointed Marquis Vincent de Gramont (Bill Skarsgård  - Barbarian, Castle Rock TV series etc) to take care of John Wick, where he enlisted retired assassin Caine (Donnie Yen - Sakra, Big Brother etc) to kill him. Things gotten complicated when a mysterious person with ulterior motive who called himself Mr. Nobody (Shamier Anderson - Awake, Stowaway etc) managed to track John.

So what would happen to John and those who assisted him before, like the manager of New York Intercontinental Winston (Ian McShane - Hellboy 2019, Kungfu Panda etc) and Bowery (Laurence Fishburne - All the Old Knives, Ant-man and the Wasp etc)? You could find them all in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

This movie franchise was pretty awesome. When I saw the first movie years ago, I felt it was a dark and violent action film where the character of retired assassin John Wick had to return to action because of what seemed to be a simple reason at the time. What transcended after that was something I could not have imagined back then as the story developed so much till this fourth movie. Even though it became a bit more complex with the assassins organizations managed by High Table and Hotel Intercontinental came in the picture, but it still focused on one thing that audience always came back for, which is John Wick fighting against swarm of killers.

In this fourth movie with a very long duration of 169 minutes (longest in the series), we were once again shown the fights after fights that even though sometimes defied logic of how John managed to survive that long (even after constantly beaten, thrown down, hit by car and other stuff), but still we want more. Just like in the previous movies, the fight intensity was so overwhelming that made me and my wife felt tired after watching them. And there was an added value with the new character introduced here to kill John played by Donnie Yen, a personal favorite as it would mean we got to see a showdown between these two actors highly skilled in martial arts.

Another new character that was quite interesting was the tracker Mr. Nobody with his dog that my wife really admired. Although there was no surprise of what he did, but it was still wonderful to see. In addition to them, there were familiar names like Scott Adkins (Triple Threat, Ip Man 4: The Finale etc) as Killa Harkan, Clancy Brown (Warcraft: The Beginning etc) as the Harbringer and the late Lance Reddick who reprised his role as Charon the concierge. Oh, the real villain in this movie would be the infuriating Marquis who was convincingly portrayed by Bill Skarsgård. 

Since the movie was almost 3 hours long, there was obviously more time to show the fights and it was really satisfying for fans of action film like me and my wife. Aside from one rather boring scene related to Killa Harkan before the fight, the rest were pretty interesting. Oh and this time, the story actually felt like there was an ultimate goal instead of the second and third where it seemed just fighting around with no end game. Which was probably what made this one better as there was a sense of conclusion, like when we played a game and we got to see the final boss. The climax scenes were just extraordinary that started from the very famous Arc de triomphe. It was probably the most breath taking final fights I had ever seen in an action movie. And the ending to the fight was just brilliant which also made my wife clapped her hands for satisfaction.

Once again the collaboration between Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeves proved to be truly fantastic. And let's not forget all the stunts team who have done a stellar job in making this movie entertaining with the amazing fights choreography, and the special effects team that made some scenes possible. The sound effect was absolutely superb with Dolby Atmos fully utilized and making the whole experience great. There were so many wonderful scenes to enjoy in here including one during the fights in a room were the shots were taken from the top, or that fight between John and Caine, or the fights all the way through the stairs and many many more.

Overall this was a truly well crafted action movie where the action really do speak louder than words (as you could see that John Wick did not have that many dialogues and did a lot more fighting). My wife and I were really entertained by this film as we went through John's journey to literally fight for his freedom. The action was top notch, the fights were incredible, the ending was satisfying. Oh there was a post end credit scene which was not exactly what we were hoping for but still raised our curiosity. Let's see if they would still make another John Wick movie after this as it probably would be difficult to make a grander one. If they do, hopefully with a story that does not feel too ridiculous or forced. So if you still have not seen this movie yet, then better go ahead and see it in the theater soon. This is one of those that would be better enjoyed in a large screen with great sound system.

Happy watching!

Mike's movie moments rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars