John Wick: Chapter 4 | Review, 5 things I liked and disliked about it

Prologue:

With the price on his head ever increasing, John Wick uncovers a path of defeating The High Table. But before he can earn his freedom, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the glove and forces that turn old friends into foes.

IMDB: 8.3
Rotten Tomatoes: 94%

Trailer Review

Plot:

John Wick 4 starts sometime after the last part of the movie. As we saw last time, John Wick (Keanu Reeves) was shot by Winston (Ian McShane) on the roof of his hotel The Continental, from which he fell and was brought to Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) by his people. From there, Bowery King helped John heal and train himself to get his revenge. From here we see John goes out for his revenge against the high table and on a mission to get his freedom.

“I think its time we paint him red.”
– Radio Operator

From there, we see John riding a horse and running after a few guys to kill them in desert of Morocco. The guys John runs after are the people under the Elder (previously played by Said Taghmoui, and now by George Georgiou).
In the next scene, we see a strange old bearded man, Harbinger (Clancy Brown) who arrives at the Continental and asks Winston and Charon (Lance Reddick) to empty the hotel because they helped and took sides with John Wick in the previous movie. From there we see Winston and Charon meet Marquis (Bill Skarsgard), who is a member of the High Table destroys the Continental Hotel, and later kills Charon. In the next few minutes in Paris, we see Marquis who forces Caine (Donnie Yen), a blind assassin to work for him to kill John Wick.
From here, the chase begins where Marquis’ members along with Caine chase John Wick to kill him. Where John Wick is trying to get his freedom and wants to end the bounty on his head forever.

“A new day is dawning. New ideas, new rules, new management.”
-Marquis de Gramont

5 things I liked about John Wick 4:

5 points are just not enough to describe how good the movie and its experience was. Yes, John Wick movies are famous for their action sequences, but even the other aspects that revolve around making of a movie was nailed perfectly by the makers. Let’s get on with the things I liked and disliked about John Wick 4.

1. The attention to detail from the makers was fantastic. Everything in the movie, whether it was acting, direction, makeup, character introductions, or even any other small detail was nailed to perfection.
2. As someone who has watched Donnie Yen in many movies since childhood, like the IP Man movie series, I was excited to see him in one of the best action movie series made in the last few decades. Playing a challenging role of a blind assassin, Donnie Yen reminded everyone of Charlie Cox‘s Daredevil. Now it is difficult for Daredevil fans to rate which blind fighter was better. Caine did everything that Matt Murdock did, but somehow he was better and cooler than Murdock.
3. The cinematography of this movie is something that the audience is going to remember for a long time. The entire movie had a Cyberpunk feel to it, in which Keanu Reeves himself played a character. We saw neon color grading throughout the movie which made every scene look elegant. Secondly, the music of the movie suited every scene that was going on at that time. Nothing felt off track, and every music piece had a purpose to play in the scene.
4. And now, the highlight action sequence in the movie, which was similar to the game – Hotline Miami. The entire sequence was shot from the top and gave a bird-eye view. John grabs onto a dragon’s breath shotgun and slays throughout the sequence. Every room in the scene had a different style of flooring giving the viewers a better idea of different rooms. The entire sequence feels like it was shot in one go, which made the audience applaud the makers even more.
5. The makeup of Killa (Scott Adkins), turning a lean guy into a fat man was beautifully done. His buildup again drew the audience to remember Wilson Fisk or Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) from Daredevil. Scott did a great job by not only with his action scenes, but also making the poker scene more intense where John, Caine, and Tracker (Shamier Anderson) worry for their lives. And the fight sequence where John Wick fights the big, strong, and fat guy who doesn’t die and gets hurt easily was fantastic to watch.
   • The fight sequence in Japan was really entertaining to watch. The High Table members getting engaged in a tussle and brawl with the hotel owner, Shimazu (Hiroyuki Sanada) and his daughter Akira (Rina Sawayama). Shimazu gives his life to protect John Wick has he might have had a past with John. The entire sequence was elegant and then later we see Caine fighting against Shimazu’s crew was one of the best fights in the movie.
   • The fight sequence at Arc de Triomphe, where John Wick drives a muscle car and shoots people after his life was fantastically choreographed. The traffic rushing and crusing through while John fights so many people, uses the traffic to his advantage and even sometimes gets hit by a few cars was amazing to watch.
   • The stairwell scene at Montmarte stairs in Paris was the hilarious scene. In order to reach the place of final battle, John had to climb 220 steps, but the stairs were filled with the crew of Marquis, who were waiting to kill John Wick. After nearly reaching the top 3 times, John was thrown down the stairs again and again even after killing many people. Then later, Caine arrives and helps John reach the place of final battle, even though Caine was the one who was going to face John one-on-one for the fight of John’s freedom and death.

“You come here, thinking there is a way out of this world for you, Mr. Wick. There is not.”
-Marquis de Gramont

5 things I disliked about John Wick 4:

There was not much for me to complain about the movie. Everything was handled professionally by the makers who gave a wonderful experience to their audience. Although the movie was a spectacle to watch, here are a few things that I disliked about John Wick 4.

1. The dialogues scenes were a bit too lengthy and felt boring in an action packed movie. It’s been from the first part of John Wick movies that once an action sequence starts, the makers take their time to make it the best, and same goes for the scenes where dialogues start. But in a movie like this, dialogue starts to feel a bit boring as the action scenes make audience demand for more.
2. The open-ended ending of the movie felt a bit weird. If the makers wanted to end the story arc, they should have showed us the death of John Wick, but they show us the grave of John Wick which had a quote of ‘A Loving Husband’, which was asked by John himself from Winston and Bowery King. But now, the question will be that how the makers will connect the part 4 to John Wick 5, as the movie is already confirmed by the Lionsgate Studios and the director, Chad Stahelski.
3. Donnie Yen shines again with the skills to perform action scenes. He was effortlessly brilliant throughout the movie and has even beaten Daredevil in the list of blind fighters. Although we saw Caine in the post-credit scene where something happens to him or his daughter as act of revenge from Akira. The audience wants to know more about the past of Caine, how he met John Wick and if they both worked together, and also how Caine got blind and still was so good at killing his enemies.

Yes, that’s it. There is nothing more I could find about the things I disliked in John Wick 4. Go watch the movie, and enjoy the movie the entire team has built.

“Those who cling to death live. Those who cling to life die.”
-John Wick and Caine

It’s Review Time
rating of John Wick 4
8/10