John Wick: Chapter 4
If you want to get needlessly deep about the “John Wick” films, the four films are about how modern society insists complete fealty to the capitalist system, at the expense of our lives and loves, from the time we enter the workforce until the day we die. I don’t think that has been the thematic draw to the filmmakers towards this quartet of films at all, but it’s hard not to see the High Table as a collection of corporate overlords whom look down on the common man who makes them wealthy, and demand that their lives be at the service of making the people at the top money. Even when one thinks they are out, those at the top can find another loophole to exploit to pull them back in to the game. That very much is something we see in “John Wick: Chapter 4.”
After he burst on to the international stage with “A Better Tomorrow,” “The Killer” and “Hard-Boiled,” John Woo’s influence could be felt as filmmakers tried to ape his style towards their own action films, but what people ignored was the dramatic weight simple ideas like loyalty, brotherhood and friendship played in those films. The writers of the “John Wick” films remembered, and with director Chad Stahelski providing the style, and Keanu Reeves the same stoic cool as Chow Yun Fat, this franchise is the closest any American filmmakers have come to finding that unique alchemy Woo has had over the years, and “Chapter 4” most of all. This is an action film worthy of comparison to those Hong Kong masterpieces of Woo’s.
One of the smartest things this franchise has done over the years is to basically pick up moments after the last one ended. I may have given “Parabellum” crap for that because the time of day, and weather, dramatically shifts from what it was at the end of “Chapter 2,” but in keeping this as a continuous sense of narrative building, we truly feel as though John (Reeves) is being put through the gauntlet by the High Table. Does it feel like there are more assassins than any city knows what to do with, as a result? Absolutely, but it’s one of those things where our suspension of disbelief just goes for the ride once the action starts. Each film has added to the mythology of the film’s criminal underworld (if you can even call it that, as every major city seems to have a Continental, and business is conducted very much in plain sight of the public), and Stahelski and his collaborators have raised the bar for the film’s action sequences. “Chapter 4,” running at nearly three hours, has three sustained sequences of action and brutality of the scope and style of the hospital finale in “Hard-Boiled”; each one feels like another step Wick makes to meet his destiny, as the High Table has sent the Marquis (Bill Skarsgård) to punish Wick and Winston (Ian McShane), the Continental New York’s manager, for their rouse in “Parabellum.”
If one has watched the “John Wick” movies, and wishes the films had stayed small, and maintained emotional stakes like the first one did, I completely respect that, because the 2014 film has been the best because of the way fate stepped in, and forced Wick back into action as the last vestige of his life away from death was taken from him. In “Chapter 4,” I think that has been brought back in Shay Hatten and Michael Finch’s screenplay, as Wick must face a truly personal loss yet again, done to force his hand to comply with the High Table which, in this case, only means death. This time, there are more characters who have things to lose. Winston and Charon (the late Lance Reddick) have something to lose, as does Caine (Donnie Yen), another assassin who stepped away from the High Table for family, and has been forced back in. The film’s 169-minute running times gives us much time to learn about these characters, and the dynamic between Caine and Wick allows for that sense of brotherhood and loyalty Woo often highlighted into the story, even as they try to take the other out. There’s also a third central assassin in the film, known as the Tracker (Shamier Anderson); he is in it for the hunt (and the money), but as the Marquis seems to break the rules to win, we can see him start to play favorites with how he directs his energies.
In this film, Stahelski and co. build the structure out of the action sequences, with moments around them providing story. That proves to be a great way to approach things here, because it allows the film to go all-out with sustained moments and unreal energy. This might be one of the greatest cases to be made for a Best Stunt Coordination Oscar from a major film we’ve seen yet, and since the film lets each sequence play out like a mini-film in their own right, it feels like we get four films for the price of one. Each one is excellent in its own way, with ebbs and flows in the action that carry them forward, but the one people have been pointing to is the final one, and especially a scene that is inspired by one of the great stylistic moments of “Minority Report,” but stands on its own because of the complicated nature of the film’s stunt choreography. This film is a masterpiece of action filmmaking.
I hadn’t even seen a film in this franchise prior to 2019; now, it might be the best series of pure action films Hollywood has put out in decades. (Yes, I’m aware “Mission: Impossible” exists, but those are more in the James Bond vein than the blood and bullets genre that gave us this.) “John Wick” isn’t out to reinvent the wheel, but push the boundaries of where it can go. With Reeves and Stahelski at its center, I’m curious if they might have more in them going forward.
