*It’s Johnathan Wick…

IMDB Synopsis

With the price on his head ever increasing, legendary hit man John Wick takes his fight against the High Table global as he seeks out the most powerful players in the underworld, from New York to Paris to Japan to Berlin.

“How you do anything is how you do everything.”

Who would have thought this little basically independent movie that came out in 2014, would have turned into the greatest action franchise of all time? Terminator what? Mission Impossible Who? Transporter how? Die Hard, Fast and Furious none of them compare to the John Wick movies in my opinion. And that is because the action is just so raw and so real that you cannot take your eyes off the screen for a second or you might miss the most incredible stunt you have ever seen.

The plot of this installment, like the last one has John Wick on the run from the high council, trying to find a way to be free. To do this of course, he has to kill every single person in his path. What I always find great though about that is these movies show how tired Wick gets fighting all these people and the fact that he has to reload all the time. These seem like basic things, but most action movies never let their hero show weakness. Of course, some of it is still unrealistic, but it is a movie at the end of the day, and it is entertaining as hell.

The greatness of these movies has always come from the fact that the director Chad Stahelski was a stuntman himself. So he knows fight choreography and stunts as good as anyone. There is nothing in this movie on the level of the Knife fight in 3, but this movie still has some incredible set pieces. And getting Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, and Hiroyuki Sanada to be in your movie never hurts as well. The action is not for nothing though, all of it informs the narrative and feels necessary as the story moves forward. And in between the action we actually get some amazing moments, especially a conversation between Donnie Yen’s Caine and John Wick in a church. It reminded me of the Avon and Stringer famous balcony scene from The Wire, where they knew they were both gonna try and kill each other but they still wanted to reminisce on their friendship.

Stock Watch

Stock Neutral – Keanu Reeves

We Simply do not deserve this man, he is a stone cold legend.

Stock Up – Bill Skarsgård

This guy simply has the perfect face for a villain, and he is absolutel leaning into it. He plays this role like a crazy bond villain and I loved it. He was so hateable and that is exactly what you want for an adversary of John Wick. His suits were all pretty clean as well.

Stock Up – Donnie Yen

He has been great for years, notably in ROGUE ONE and the IP MAN franchise, but this might be his moment. This role is so good and so different, we have never really seen anything like it. A blind asian man who uses a cane, that is able to fight like John Wick. He absolutely rules and deserves mention along the great action stars of our time.

Who’s That Guy?

Hiroyuki Sanada – 112 IMDB Acting Credits

You simply know it is absolutely going to go down when this man shows up in your movie.

*A couple other tidbits

• Laurence Fishburne still brings the heat.
• Ian McShane is a treasure and that man’s voice could soothe me to sleep.
• Seeing Lance Reddick die on screen right after he died in real life was really sad.
• Clancy Brown!

This is the best of the John Wick movies in my opinion, which is saying a lot considering it is the fourth one. But, they stripped this one down and just let Keanu cook, which is the perfect recipe for success. If this is the end then so be it, it was a hell of a ride.

Juice Rating:

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