Keanu Reeves is one of the enigmas of Hollywood. He is man who is consistently working despite not being the greatest actor, and also a man who seemingly has little charisma and all the charisma in the world at the same time. I can't put my finger on him, and especially can't put my finger on why he has been an action star for as long as he has. I have never bought him as an action star at all, he seemed a little to awkward to handle the whole action star vibe. Well, I take back every reservation I had about Keanu as an action star because in John Wick (2014) he is bloody killer. This is the most fun I've had with an action film in a good while and Keanu needs to take a lot of credit for this. The film opens with the titular John Wick (2014) attending his wife's funeral. Later that day he receives a puppy as a final gift from his wife,which he uses as a way of not grieving alone. But when he gets on the wrong side of a group of young Russians at a petrol station, they break into his home, steal his car and kill his dog. What these men didn't know is that John Wick was a former hitman, and one of the most feared and skilled hitmen in the world and they have just unleashed his vengeful fury.
This is an action-revenge film of the highest order, mainly because the revenge narrative aspect of the film is kept to a minimum. The motivation for the protagonists revenge is set up ridiculously quickly, but this is a positive for the film on the whole, although I feel like the relationship with the dog could have been established a little better. I never really felt that there was any kind of real connection between John and the dog, mainly because it is dead about five minutes after it is introduced and so it wasn't allowed time for a real connection to be made. But, Keanu's performance and reaction to the dog's death sells the connection more than it deserves. His performance in this film is brilliant. He perfectly portrays a man who has lost everything and is fuelled solely by revenge. He does well in vulnerable moments, showing emotion but in a way that feels like he is attempting to hide it, which is the perfect portrayal for this type of character. But he also comes across as a bad-ass, which is something I have not been able to say about him much before. This comes a lot from his performance, but also from the performances of the supporting actors throughout the film. Every single actor is able to sell the fear that John Wick creates and this just legitimises his badassery even more. Michael Nyqvist is especially good as Viggo Tarasov, whose son it was who killed John Wick's dog. He is exceptional in selling the dangerous nature of John Wick and how much he fears him, but also his desperation and desire to save his son at all costs and he shows, through his performance, how far he is willing to go, becoming more psychopathic as the film progresses. Alfie Allen is also good as his son, Iosef, mainly because he plays a very convincing little shit, and you cannot wait to see him get his comeuppance.
The strongest point of the film is unsurprisingly its action scenes, and this is why I said the rushed motivation at the beginning of the film is a positive. It is a positive because it means the film gets into the action as soon as it can, and it almost never lets up. It is an absolute thrill ride throughout and it has some of the coolest looking and best choreographed action scenes I have ever seen. Every action sequence is so slick. The action never stops and you see everything that happens. In a lot of films the action scenes are shot and edited in a fashion where it is often hard to tell what is what and who is attacking who. We have none of that here. You are constantly aware of where characters are in the space and you see every moment and it is so satisfying as an audience member. Every action scene feels so physical and brutal, and this only adds to the badassery of the John Wick character. The most notable action scene is where John Wick goes to the club where Iosef is enjoying himself. He is protected by a small army of mercenaries, hired by his father in order to keep him safe. It is an ingenious setting to hold an action scene. The lighting and music that come hand in hand with a club setting work perfectly with a fast paced action scene. It adds so much to the physicality and superb choreography and I was just fully gripped by adrenaline throughout the entire scene. This scene was the peak of the action in the film, but it is not the only utterly superb moment of action in what is probably the most exciting action film of this decade, or at least the most exciting I have seen.
I had heard a lot of positivity surrounding John Wick before I watched it. Friends of mine absolutely raved about it, and it had received a very good critical response. But, despite all of that, it never appealed to me all that much. Boy was I wrong to wait on this one. As an action film this is absolutely top tier. Brilliantly choreographed, superbly shot and (surprisingly) perfectly cast, it is a film where I was gripped from start to finish and the adrenaline rush it gave me was one which not many films can accomplish. The narrative, like I said, is not exactly the best and seems a little rushed in order to get to the action scenes, but when you have action scenes as good as the film has I can totally forgive a weaker narrative. The third film in this franchise comes out later this year and I was not anticipating it at all, but now having seen this one you can bet it is one of my most anticipated films of this year. And I don't think there is any better way of getting excited for John Wick 3 (2019) then by watching John Wick 2 (2017), and you can bet that will be happening much sooner than later.