John Wick Chapter 4

Plot

It has been some time since John promised to go to war on The High Table.

An associate of the High Table, known as The Marquis, asserts further authority on those who have assisted John – as John plans on one final showdown between himself and them.

With the comfort of The Continental gone, John heads international to get back into his old mob family, and finally get the freedom he so desperately wants.

Direction

Once again directed by Chad Stahelski. But with an extended runtime (170m, almost an hour longer than the first movie), this has a different feel about it… almost as if he felt “more is more”.

There seems to be more of a reliance on CGI, green-screens and less on practical effects. It is noticeable in certain moments (the Charles de Gaulle roundabout chase sequence and the final showdown at dawn are two examples).

The international settings are wonderful, colourful and full of wonder, you wish you were there.

There is a very solid ‘long take’ from the ‘Gods Eye’ POV where John goes through a series of rooms doing what he does best!

Cast

Returning for the fourth time are of course Keanu Reeves as wick, Ian McShane as Winston and the late great Lance Reddick as Charon.

New cast are Donnie yet as Caine, a blind assassin and friend of wick, Clancy Brown as The Harbinger (literally living up to his name), Bill Skarsgård as The Marquis, Hiroyuki Sanada as Koji (the Osaka Continental Manager), Shamier Anderson as Mr Nobody/The Tracker (an assassin who is holding off killing wick until the bounty reaches a certain amount), and Rina Sawayama as Akira – Koji’s daughter.

Scott Adkins plays Killa – the head of the German Table, who John must kill in order to win his ‘ticket back. Adkins is almost completely unrecognisable through a hilarious fat suit and golden teeth.

Breakdown

At an astonishing 170m, this is over an hour longer than the first film (and ten years as well).

Unlike #2 and #3 this starts some time after the events of the third film (with Ballerina occurring between these) – we still see John raging a war on The High Table, killing the new elder early – and discovering he has a new antagonist in the guise of The Marquis – the French associate of The High Table.

The Marquis, is played well by Skarsgård, who can do both villain and hero well – he becomes the antagonist to both John and Winston after the Continental is condemned (and blown up!) by him – and then he goes and kills Charon! All within the first half an hour of the movie! This hurts even more since this was one of Lance Reddick’s final roles (he passes away suddenly while the cast were on tour during press release for the film).

John goes international again here, this time heading to the colourful city of Osaka – where he runs into both more of his old associates (like Koji the Osaka manager), a good friend Caine, the blind assassin, who has been hired to kill Wick, and himself has sacrificed to the Table).

There are also some other new characters introduced like the tracker, Akira, Katia (who is the German head of john’s former crime gang within the table), Killa (the German head of the high table)… and more.

Some are good, such as The Tracker, (who even gets his own moment with The Marquis), and Adkins is terrific in his fat suit as Killa, who absolutely beats wick to a pulp. I also really enjoyed the fight sequence on the Osaka Continental.

Because there are so many new characters, they are also intertwined with one another – which creates tension between them (Caine and Koji/Akira is a prime example). This continues in an end of credits sequence, so stay after the credits.

The 170m run time, means the narrative, and John’s long plan to get out of the high table are padded too much. This sets up the eventual duel between John and The Marquis – which resolves with an “open ended” question lingering in regards to John’s future.

While fight sequences in the first three movies were always rooted in fantasy, they were choreographed so well, you didn’t mind. Something feels different here, with some of them being so above and beyond (the Charles de Gaulle roundabout sequence, and the Rue Foyatier staircase where it doesn’t seem like anyone can shoot straight – and everyone is happy to just… wait to get shot by Wick.

Overall

Over the top, even by John wick standards – this feels as though they wanted to do more, rather than less. A few moments go on for too long, and there is too much reliance on non practical effects that the first few films seemed to be better at – and some poor green screen is rather jarring.

Not bad by any means, but the weakest in the franchise.

3.5/5

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