I am sure you would not need to avenge a stolen '69
Mustang but when someone dares to touch your little beagle, whether or not its
the last gift from your dying wife, there is only one person to call upon to
avenge you - John Wick. A film that has death
breathing down life’s neck from its start to finish, it proves that sometimes
stories can take the back seat when scintillating action choreography is
driving stick like a charging mustang.
The pleasure of watching Keanu Reeves where he belongs,
as a master assassin with an almost Zen like calm in the middle of knockout
punches, assault rifles, expert killers and their ilk is almost overwhelming as
it comes rushing back. It is almost as if at 50 years of age, Keanu just like
John, is pulled back into the action where he belongs and has thrived. He looks
lean, fit and dapper in the dark suits he wears in spite of the impossible
action frames he is a part of. The cast that surround him are by themselves no
strangers to the drama action genre - Michael Nyqvist, Kevin Bacon, Ian
McShane, John Leguizamo and others lend visual flair and sharp company to
Reeves.
The story behind all the action is not very uncommon -
expert assassin retires for his wife’s sake, wife is stricken down and presents
something in her memory to the husband. In this case its a beagle that’s the
definition of cute and something ugly happens to it that brings back the
ugliness in the assassin sending him on a last kill or be killed spree. What
makes John Wick stand out apart from Keanu Reeves’ cold and athletic delivery
of violence is the sleek and stylized mien of the entire movie. The movie will not work if the antagonists do
not antagonize too much and boy, do they. Iosef(played by Alfie Allen) is the son
of notorious Russian mobster Viggo(Michael Nyqvist). What he does made me want
to squeeze the life out of his snotty self, indicating he's played his part
well. Michael Nyqvist threatens with his cold gray eyes and manages to convince
us that his bare hands are practically all he needs to keep us cowering in our
seats.
The helmers of this bloody revenge story - Chad Stahelski
and David Leitch are no strangers to stunts, Stahelski in particular having
served as stunt double to Keanu when he channeled Neo Anderson so effectively
in 'The Matrix'. Leitch apparently has
body doubled for Brad Pitt in 'The Fight Club' and for Matt Damon in at least
one of the Bourne movies. Their experience is evident in the fluid and shattering
violence depicted on screen. There is almost no weird and juddery camera moves
to convey action, rather the camera handled by Jonathan Sela presents each shot
in neat and calculated precision without subjecting us to motion blur. The
story is presented in a tightly edited(Elisabet Ronalds) package, almost as
neat as Ian McShanes little cocktail club.
It would also be remiss not to mention the production
values that take us to an entirely different dimension of New York city. People
familiar with the graphic novel version of 'Wanted' would recognise the
stylised dimension of a world of crime and assassins existing parallel to the
here and now. Common law is not something that exists in their world and the
differentiation is exact and displayed in sharp contrasts. A funeral is shot in
such near sepia that it almost appears void of colour, a club that literally
gyrates in red, a cocktail bar thats all smooth green and a church thats for
reasons unknown is grey. Visually the movie easily scores top marks.
In spite of a repeated story line, there are almost no
untied strings left for us to contemplate. John Wick may return, but would he?
Three and a half stars.
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