During the trailers for John Wick 4, there was a trailer for the latest derivation of John Wick’s revolutionary formula. Sisu featured a retired Finnish general going to report his gold, but has to go kill Nazis. A premise that I’m honestly surprised we haven’t seen several more times already, but it stills reaches a point I’ve come to with regards to these movies that so desperately want to be John Wick. They all miss so many of the key things that make the John Wick series so good, all of which are perfectly encapsulated in John Wick 4.
John Wick 4 presents the 4th installation of John Wick’s journey to get back out of the killing game and the High Table’s reach. John has burned almost all his bridges and now it seems like his only option is to go straight for the High Tables throat. Or in this case Marquis de Gramont (Bill Skarsgard) the man the High Table basically just gave a blank check to and said “Please kill John Wick, We’re sick of him being alive.” John Wick 4’s first strength in its cast. In what is perhaps the single best distillation of my images of people that should be in a John Wick film, we got all of them. Hiroyuki Sanada joins the fray for the foray into Japan, while Donnie Yen joins as the man who really just doesn’t want to be there but has to. Ian McShane returns as Winston and is just as conniving and manipulative as ever. Lance Reddick returns and his presence is always appreciated. And of course we can’t forget Keanu Reeves who gets me fully invested from his first “Yeah.” Everyone is in perfect harmony and it makes the almost three hour runtime fly by. And all these characters are placed in some of the series best action scenes the John Wick team has to offer.
While seeing this in a theater, I was reminded of the sheer joy that comes from hearing almost a hundred people all collectively go “Ooooo” everytime John Wick or someone gets hit in an extra brutal way. And John Wick 4 is jam packed with these, but also some really great physical comedy because of these same situations. Then we return to the main setpieces that have never felt quite so good as they are here. One of the main things John Wick has over all its copies is that these films are lit and shot so incredibly well. There were several shots where the lighting and shot just left me in awe. And Chad Stahelski is able to carry that awe into the setpieces where we get to watch John Wick massacre every person who stands in his way. His godlike physique carried him through some of the most visually enjoyable setpieces that were clearly the whole team just operating at peak capacity. And all of this is paired with the most intense and gripping score yet.
I didn’t fully know that John Wick had his own theme, but once it played I felt a surge in my soul that was bracing itself for the scene to deploy every tool in its arsenal. There were several tracks in the score for this film where I felt a fire in my soul, but was also just jamming out to the music itself. It’s another example of John Wick 4 being the culmination of everything the team has been working with since day one.
John Wick 4 is a razor sharp blade that distills every ounce of passion, shot composition, character, score, action, and every other piece of the puzzle into the best possible shape it can be. The first film may be a tighter film that inspired a whole new genre of film, but John Wick 4 is the most John Wick a John Wick film can be. Everything is dialed to 11 and it makes John Wick 4 an absolute blast to watch from start to finish.
Polar Halves 