Director: Chad Stahelski
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Bridget Moynahan, Alfie Allen
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In an intriguing cinematic twist, Keanu Reeves's Matrix stunt double Chad Stahelski becomes his director on John Wick, a visceral revenge thriller that marks a confident, muscular debut.
After a marked absence from the genre, Reeves resoundingly returns with an effortless, kinetic style that positions the film extremely well for sequels.
With much of the marketplace distracted at this time of the year by awards contenders and the seasonal onslaught of horror offerings, John Wick may find an opening to start building some seriously sustained momentum with both male and female Reeves fans.
Following the untimely death of his wife Helen (Bridget Moynahan), retired Russian mob assassin Wick (Reeves) is shuffling around in a fog of grief before latching onto his only remaining connection to her – a beagle puppy, Daisy.
As he struggles to regain any sense of normality, the dog and fond memories of his marriage give Wick hope for the future – but this proves short-lived when petulant young gangster Iosef (Alfie Allen) tries to intimidate him into selling his classic 1969 black Mustang.
When that doesn’t work, Iosef and his crew break into Wick’s home to steal the car, and Iosef kills Daisy.
Wick instantly snaps back into cold-blooded killer mode, even after five years on the sidelines, as he’s deprived of his only remaining solace, and sets out to hunt Iosef down.
He discovers his target to be the son of his former gang boss Viggo (Michael Nyqvist). Although angered by his son’s actions, Viggo is obligated to protect his son’s life and places a US$2million price on Wick.
Derek Kolstad’s admirably lean script propels the film’s galvanising action with only the barest narrative essentials, quickly dispensing with the series of improbable coincidences necessitated by the initial set-up. With rarely more than 15 minutes between dynamically staged set pieces, there’s little time to wonder whether Wick has more on his mind than just elemental revenge.
Whatever his real motivations, Wick isn’t one to clearly articulate them, which makes the character a natural fit with Reeves’s typically taciturn demeanour. He’s in excellent form throughout the film, whether battling his way through imaginatively staged fight sequences or handling an impressive array of firearms and lethal blades.
Distilling a couple of decades of stunt work and second-unit directing experience into 96 minutes of runtime, Stahelski and Leitch expertly deliver one action highlight after another in a near-non-stop thrill ride.
With a tendency to favour skilfully framed master shots over quick cuts from multiple angles, they immerse viewers in dynamic on-screen clashes that recall director John Woo’s classic bullet ballets with an overlay of emotional intensity, a style that has immensely influenced Stahelski.
