‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ Review: A brutal video game homage that leaves you dying for more
There are several references to the fact that the John Wick franchise now has four films under its belt within its most recent offering John Wick: Chapter 4. At one point, the owner of the New York Continental hotel, Winston, played again by the jewel-eyed Ian McShane, asks Wick, forever Keanu Reeves, “Any chance where this ends?”. While a growingly tedious franchise might cause an audience watching its fourth film to shuffle uncomfortably in their seats, John Wick: Chapter 4 suffers no such fate, and each moment of the film is utterly gripping from beginning to end.
And that’s saying something, as Chad Stahelski’s new film weighs in at what might seem like a bloated, over-gratuitous 169 minutes. But at no point does one wish that the pace would quicken. In fact, at the conclusion of one particularly lengthy martial arts sequence, I felt I could have easily watched it go on for another five or ten minutes of action. Thankfully, as with all the John Wick films, audience members never have to wait long for the next conflict to arise.
Chapter 4 opens with John Wick preparing to take on the hitherto elusive members of the High Table, who have made his life far less peaceful than he had originally been hoping for. Reeves is joined by Wick regulars McShane, Laurence Fishburne and Lance Reddick, while there are new openings for the likes of Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson and Rina Sawayama, who astonishingly makes her first acting appearance.
Skarsgård comes to proceedings as the film’s main antagonist, a powerful member of the High Table, while Yen plays Wick’s former associate and reluctant opponent. Skarsgard’s Marquis is a classic take on affluence and barbarism, while Yen is a blind assassin, and, please, just when has that ever not been one of the coolest characters in any given film?
But let’s cut to the chase; John Wick Chapter 4 is dripping in cool. The martial arts sequences are about as mesmerising as any ever previously committed to screen, and the characters are as iconic and yet as quintessential as any before them. The whole thing is completely tongue-in-cheek; even its characters are utterly aware of their ridiculousness, and yet they don’t care and nor do we.
The locations of Chapter 4 are absolutely stunning too, and each shot is nothing but utter perfection. This time, we travel from New York to Osaka to Berlin to Paris, and Stahelski has the most memorable and gorgeous offerings from each city. The franchise has always been unashamed of being nothing but an action film, and Chapter 4 certainly throws everything at the audience and still somehow leaves them wanting even more.
The movie certainly looks to be a homage to the world of video games, and a Berlin club scene, in particular, was highly reminiscent of fighting games like Street Fighter and Tekken. Take, for instance, the two characters standing facing one another on opposing sides of the screen, surrounded by dancing civilians. We could have just as easily taken action to another typical fighting game stage, like the side of a volcano, a Japanese dojo, or even the edge of infinity. Instead, we get the equally impressive Arc de Triomphe and the Osaka Continental Hotel.
Fighting games are not the only genre to be acknowledged, though. Apart from the rather obvious third-person shooter references throughout, one scene employs the inventive use of a 90-degree angle overhead camera shot, rarely seen in cinema. This nods to the isometric RPGs of old such as Chrono Trigger and the earlier Final Fantasy games, as well as the more recent fast-paced top-down shooters and roguelikes like Hotline Miami and Enter the Gungeon.
Even Soulsborne games get a humorous shoutout when Wick, at one point, loses his progress of fighting through an army of bad guys. More than a few audience members couldn’t help but call out, “No!” upon Wick’s fall, a far cry to those who have stood up and undoubtedly lost to the horrific challenges of Hidetaka Miyazaki’s most brutal FromSoftware offerings.
I liked the first John Wick film and thought it was a brainless easy watch for a hungover Sunday evening. When Chapter 2 came out, and Wick went to Rome, I realised that I absolutely love the John Wick franchise, and now that Chapters 3 and 4 have joined the fold, I’m glad there is an entire mythology to dive into. I had been worried that Chapter 4, nearly three hours long, might have been a step too far, but I was happily wrong.
In an age where there are far too many sequels, John Wick stands head and shoulders above other film franchises with its excellent cast, unashamed action and tongue-in-cheek self-referentiality. Whether Chapter 5 will ever arrive remains to be seen, and the film’s end certainly toys with the series’ future, but for now, there has been no further news for the future of the franchise.
The anxiety of the arrival of a new film when producers continue to push a franchise to its limits will always be present, but now that Stahelski has traversed a lengthier iteration of the showing, we know we will be in good hands should Wick turn up all guns blazing once again.
