You have to crawl before you can walk, or so I´ve heard of the franchise. I have only seen the first John Wick movie and I´ve heard it only gets better from here or so you would hope so. I think John Wick is an influential action movie in the modern era. It started to challenge the terrible action in the 00´s and demanded more from what we expected a good action flick to do. It dared to stay in the action, dared to not cut all the time, dared to actually have a choreography and for that you have to be grateful of this movie. Is it perfect? Not at all, it´s a pretty cookie cutter movie, but what it set in the sea for the future of action is great and overall, you have a fun concept movie that no doubt will entertain you.
After being attacked in his own home and having his life taken from him the hitman John Wick comes out of retirement to seek revenge.
What this movie does best is it´s action. The different set pieces and execution is so thrilling and brutal. It reminds me of the old Hong Kong cinema with guns now. The idea of "gun-fu" comes to mind here. The primarily way of killing is these one-shot, one kill mentality that is so satisfying to see. Top that with an incredible choreography and you have a just stunning action movie. This movie doesn't cut all the time or has a lot of shaking camera, to hide the troubles' of shooting action, but dares to stay with the characters and not move. I think you can cut in an action scene; I think you can use a less stable camera to have effective action sequences, but this movie showed us in a modern setting the satisfaction of having these still cameras and long takes to have the most satisfying action sequences. Having a movie challenge a new norm is always incredible. Coming of just watching Kick-Ass (2010) that did not have the greatest action but from a director that also is going to produce incredible action later in his carrier, really makes you appreciate a just good action sequence.
I have heard some critique about John Wick in terms of the movie going on longer than it needed to. Not really the runtime, but that John Wick the character is hyped so much up to be this unstoppable killing machine that it´s insane he gets' some stormtrooper aim and get´s overpowered a lot. The movie explains it away with him being rusty, but I also like the explanation that not all hitmen are specialized in everything. I see Wick as a close combat fighter and whenever he misses his target in the middle of the movie, they are always moving and further away, we see his more up close and personal with knifes and guns and having a character showing a different skill, Marcus, makes me think there is some merit to it, this theory is a bit botched later in the movie though but I still like to think there is some truth to it, maybe later movies are going to prove me wrong.
The other aspect this movie does great is establishing lore without over explaining it. The continental and the hitman order is not overexplained and have a million lines dedicated to it, you just have to pick up context clues and build the rest of the world up yourself. The relationships and characters are all so well written because they have so much story to them without actually showing any, you can easily imagen how these people see John Wick, the hitman order, how the villain is, what happened in the past. It´s all greatly set up subtext that isn´t affecting the story in the best way possible, not wasting your time with too much chit chat and just going for a pure action experience.
Sadly, the acting isn´t the best here, it can sometimes feel like too much of a cliché action movie in the best and worst way possible. The dialogue is cringe at times and there is not really any actor pulling off their characters a 100% This really hurts the overall experience in my opinion. Top that with some really over the top scenes and effects and you have a movie trying too hard at times. Keep it low key and you got it, trying to overdramatize and you have a bit of a weaker movie.
I actually liked the score and soundtrack, even though it could be a bit on the nose and cliché at times. Overall, it works for the movie but just fades into some background noise and generic action flick music.
This story is very cookie cutter and that helps it and hurts it. The movie can feel like it´s a bit too many empty calories since it´s nothing more than a simple revenge plot, a few fun interactions in between the next action set piece. The story and characters aren´t really that important, same with the overall relationships and characteristics of the characters, which weakens the impact of the movie to me. I just needed a bit more to really make it hit home.
But overall, the impact this movie had on the action genre is great since it challenged the generic weak action slock that was dominating the 00´s. An era where you didn't have to try in terms of action, since no one really seemed to care too much. Now people expected a bit more from their action movies, they expected to go back to an era of stunts and practical care, where some sense of reality is actually a part of the movie. Sets have to be built, choreographies have to be learned and cameras have to be stable and dare to stay with the action. This is only a great thing this movie did!
John Wick is a movie I really like but will never find amazing. I think it´s impact, action and overall concept is phenomenal, but everything else lessens the impact and make the movie a bit too generic. While it´s special in so many other ways, it falls into some classic action movie traps, that lessens the impact it was supposed to have.
After being attacked in his own home and having his life taken from him the hitman John Wick comes out of retirement to seek revenge.
What this movie does best is it´s action. The different set pieces and execution is so thrilling and brutal. It reminds me of the old Hong Kong cinema with guns now. The idea of "gun-fu" comes to mind here. The primarily way of killing is these one-shot, one kill mentality that is so satisfying to see. Top that with an incredible choreography and you have a just stunning action movie. This movie doesn't cut all the time or has a lot of shaking camera, to hide the troubles' of shooting action, but dares to stay with the characters and not move. I think you can cut in an action scene; I think you can use a less stable camera to have effective action sequences, but this movie showed us in a modern setting the satisfaction of having these still cameras and long takes to have the most satisfying action sequences. Having a movie challenge a new norm is always incredible. Coming of just watching Kick-Ass (2010) that did not have the greatest action but from a director that also is going to produce incredible action later in his carrier, really makes you appreciate a just good action sequence.
I have heard some critique about John Wick in terms of the movie going on longer than it needed to. Not really the runtime, but that John Wick the character is hyped so much up to be this unstoppable killing machine that it´s insane he gets' some stormtrooper aim and get´s overpowered a lot. The movie explains it away with him being rusty, but I also like the explanation that not all hitmen are specialized in everything. I see Wick as a close combat fighter and whenever he misses his target in the middle of the movie, they are always moving and further away, we see his more up close and personal with knifes and guns and having a character showing a different skill, Marcus, makes me think there is some merit to it, this theory is a bit botched later in the movie though but I still like to think there is some truth to it, maybe later movies are going to prove me wrong.
The other aspect this movie does great is establishing lore without over explaining it. The continental and the hitman order is not overexplained and have a million lines dedicated to it, you just have to pick up context clues and build the rest of the world up yourself. The relationships and characters are all so well written because they have so much story to them without actually showing any, you can easily imagen how these people see John Wick, the hitman order, how the villain is, what happened in the past. It´s all greatly set up subtext that isn´t affecting the story in the best way possible, not wasting your time with too much chit chat and just going for a pure action experience.
Sadly, the acting isn´t the best here, it can sometimes feel like too much of a cliché action movie in the best and worst way possible. The dialogue is cringe at times and there is not really any actor pulling off their characters a 100% This really hurts the overall experience in my opinion. Top that with some really over the top scenes and effects and you have a movie trying too hard at times. Keep it low key and you got it, trying to overdramatize and you have a bit of a weaker movie.
I actually liked the score and soundtrack, even though it could be a bit on the nose and cliché at times. Overall, it works for the movie but just fades into some background noise and generic action flick music.
This story is very cookie cutter and that helps it and hurts it. The movie can feel like it´s a bit too many empty calories since it´s nothing more than a simple revenge plot, a few fun interactions in between the next action set piece. The story and characters aren´t really that important, same with the overall relationships and characteristics of the characters, which weakens the impact of the movie to me. I just needed a bit more to really make it hit home.
But overall, the impact this movie had on the action genre is great since it challenged the generic weak action slock that was dominating the 00´s. An era where you didn't have to try in terms of action, since no one really seemed to care too much. Now people expected a bit more from their action movies, they expected to go back to an era of stunts and practical care, where some sense of reality is actually a part of the movie. Sets have to be built, choreographies have to be learned and cameras have to be stable and dare to stay with the action. This is only a great thing this movie did!
John Wick is a movie I really like but will never find amazing. I think it´s impact, action and overall concept is phenomenal, but everything else lessens the impact and make the movie a bit too generic. While it´s special in so many other ways, it falls into some classic action movie traps, that lessens the impact it was supposed to have.