I watched John Wick 4 last night and came away with mixed feelings. As an action movie the set pieces and the choreography of the fight scenes were some of the best I have seen but at 3 hours too long. If they had cut out 1 hour and trimmed down some of the action scenes it would have been a tighter better movie for it (IMO). The best scene without doubt was the top down view of a fight in a house. Watching Reeves move from room to room taking down bad guys was great and very video gameesque.
Storywise its pretty paper thin but John Wick movies have never been about complex, nuanced storytelling. Its a continuation of the revenge theme but then again Wicks character is built around revenge and his ongoing quest to make some meaning out of his meaningless widower life.
Wick has it trademark neo noir action which is highlighted with its sprawling gothic architecture, and splashes or red, blue, pink and green against darkness. At times the neon pallette madecmy head hurt but you know going into a John Wick its going to be a headache inducing time.
Great supporting cast and I will admit other characters from the Wickverse got a surprising amount of screentime. The few scenes with Lance Reddick were poignant because of his recent passing. Donnie Yen as the blind assassin Caine and Ian McShane as the manager had their own story arcs and think could make pretty interesting spin off movies. And lets not forget my fellow countryman Scott Adkins appearing as one of the best villains of all time.
Even though it was too long its a great action movie and well worth a trip to the cinema to watch it on the big screen.
