John Wick

John Wick

Starring Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Willem Dafoe

Directed by Chad Stahelski

Synopsis:
John Wick (Keanu Reeves) used to work for the Russian Mafia in New York before retiring to lead a normal suburban life with his new wife.  When she dies from illness, she leaves him a puppy to care for.

One day he runs into Iosef (Alfie Allen) and two other Russian thugs at a gas station, and Iosef wants to buy Wick's car.  He refuses and goes home, where Iosef and his goons invade that night, beat John up, steal his car and kills his dog.

Iosef's father, Viggo (Michael Nyqvist), is the head of the Russian Mafia, and when he finds out what his son did, he immediately fears for his life as well as his son's, because Wick was his most dangerous assassin, brought out of retirement for one purpose - to get revenge on those who killed his dog.  Wick becomes a one-man killing machine, extracting revenge against Iosef, Viggo, and the entire Russian Mafia.

Review:
"John Wick" is one of those rare films that harken back to the action films of old.  Ones where you really don't need a super thick, confusing, convoluted plot.  Instead, the plot is very simple and ageless: revenge.  Wick isn't driven by anything else but that.  There's no ulterior motive to his methods, he just wants vengeance, and that allows the film to focus on its main premise: lots and lots of blood, death, and action.

This is clearly Keanu Reeves' best film since the original "The Matrix," and he shows that, even in old age, he knows how to kick some serious butt.  The one scene in the hotel itself is one of the best choreographed action sequences I've seen in years, seamlessly flowing from start to finish with a pulse-pounding soundtrack that gets the blood flowing.

The death of the dog is the saddest thing in the film, as I am a huge animal lover and the dog was so stinking cute.  I closed my eyes for most of it but opened it at the wrong time, and I was literally crying.  Then there's a lot of human death and I didn't care in the slightest.  I think I have my priorities mixed up.  Still, if you're an animal lover, you might want to avoid that part in the film.

As I said earlier, there's absolutely no real plot, so the ending is extremely predictable.  Typically this would be a bad thing, but for "John Wick," it's just what was needed.  Everything wrapped up in a nice little package, and a very satisfactory ending to a film that draws you in from the very start.

Summary:
If you're looking for a purely action film with lots of death (the body count is over 80), then "John Wick" is for you.

My Rating: A-