Reinventing the action genre isn’t easy. Ask Chad Stahelski, the stuntman-turned-filmmaker who took big hits as Keanu Reeves’ body double in The Matrix. And now creates them for the fourth time, in the myth-making John Wick franchise.
Antihero John Wick - named after the writer’s granddad - was quietly grieving his wife and cherishing the puppy she left him. A break-in left Wick beaten, and the puppy killed. Turning the tables on the bad hats was the stuff of JW 1. But the Table – the guild of assassins – was angsty at Wick’s return. Especially when, in JW 2, he offed a lynchpin on the sacrosanct premises of The Continental, the hotel for assassins.
So in JW 3 Parabellum – or The Table Strikes Back – war was waged on Wick. But war’s what Wick does best. And so to JW 4, where our hero, cool as cucumber, decides to dismantle the Table once and for all. Even if that means challenging its Marquis (Bill Skarsgard) to a duel. But hundreds of henchmen stand in his way. No problem.
At nearly three hours, John Wick 4 aims for epic. Knowingly so when a blown-out match cuts to a widescreen sunrise, nodding to David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia, complete with a shimmering figure riding toward the screen. Cheeky maybe. But Stahelski revels not just in his well-earned budget, but in his own visual palette. Lean and mean in the first movie, the kaleidoscopic colours have increasingly burnished the screen with each outing.
Globetrotting locations from
Best of all, Stahelski brings in Donnie Yen, probably the best martial artist on the planet. He’s also the beating heart of the film. As Caine, Yen is a blind assassin who must kill Wick or the Table will kill Caine’s daughter. Pained but resolute, Yen breathes believability into every moment. Donnie’s involvement – and his performance – is a kiss from the kung fu cinema gods.
No wonder. The choreography is intricate and Reeves does his own fights. A multi-lane car melee at the Arc de Triomphe is mesmerising and daft, so too the Sisyphean fight up the steps of Sacre Coeur – Reeves slugging his way upwards, only to be pitched down again. Cred to the stuntman who took the fall. It’s an homage to silent movie stars and to Laurel and Hardy’s The Music Box. But Stahelski’s nifty trick is to keep the sequence, and the film, fresh. Stick around post-credits too.
Ably supported by his Matrix-mate Laurence Fishburne and the dependable Ian McShane, Keanu Reeves is iconic as Wick. The world’s second-best movie martial artist - Scott Adkins - hams it up under layers of prosthetic, Sutton Coldfield’s answer to the legendary Sammo Hung.
If this is the end of the JW films, it’s a fitting conclusion. Cinematic it certainly is. And you can add Stahelski’s name to the pantheon of influential action directors. He’s earned it.