Chad Stahelski’s John Wick: Chapter 4 is profoundly excessive, not always in a good way. Still that being said, John Wick: Chapter 4 might be the best action movie of the last 10 years. Until now John Wick: Chapter 2 held that distinction, at least for me. Keanu Reeves is understated and strong as nearly indestructible assassin John Wick. World-class martial artists and mesmerizing actors Donnie Yen and Hiroyuki Sanada play badass retired assassins Caine and Koji Shimazu, who are like brothers to John. They are Bad Brothers.
Chad Stahelski composes one of the greatest movie fight scenes at the Continental Hotel in Osaka, managed by Shimazu and his daughter Akira, played by strong and beautiful Rina Sawayama. Aikra is the great love of Shimaza’s life. Chad orchestrates the elegant carnage with automatic weapons, samurai swords, Jujitsu, and Aikido.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is unexpectedly poignant in its quiet. Before his climactic battle, Keanu’s John lights a candle in a church for his late wife Helen, played by beautiful Bridget Moynahan. Sitting beside John in the church, Donnie’s Caine asks, “Do you think your wife can hear you?” John answers, “No.” Caine asks, “Then why bother?” John replies, “Maybe I’m wrong.” Helen was the great love of John’s life. Violin protégé Mia, played by innocent Aime Kwan, is Caine’s daughter, the great love of his life. Both men quit the assassin world to be with their great loves. Both are beholding to the High Table for the choices they make and for the lives of their beloved.
Caine quietly says, “We’re both damned.” John replies, “Yeah.” They are honorable men, who fight for love, albeit against each other to the death. In the IMAX theater, my friend Marc Carithers said, “That’s so raw.” Yes. John and Caine’s power reveals not so much in their warrior skills, rather in their vulnerability. Their raw humanity resonates in John Wick: Chapter 4.
When John arrives in Osaka at Shimazu’s Continental Hotel seeking sanctuary from the High Table, he says, “I’m sorry” for endangering Koji. Hiroyuki’s Koji says, “Friendship means little when it’s convenient.” You have to be willing to take a glancing blow, be inconvenienced for what’s meaningful in life. The eloquent poignancy of John Wick: Chapter 4 lies in finding one’s path, and living with honor. According to the First Noble Truth of Buddhism: There will always be suffering in life. The Fourth Noble Truth is the path to end suffering. John Wick: Chapter 4 is about John finding his path to end his suffering, the suffering over the loss of Helen.
As John Wick: Chapter 4 opens, John repeatedly strikes a chorded wooden board with his fists. That’s in stark contrast to his fighting style using an open hand. Perhaps, this is an even harder version of John. Apparently, John healed from his fall smashing into several stairwells before crashing to the pavement. That after being shot by New York Continental Hotel Manager Winston, played with stoic gravitas by Ian McShane, who is John’s best friend. The Bowery King, played with ostentatious zeal by Laurence Fishburne, who rescued John at the end of John Wick: Chapter 3, asks, “Are you ready?” John says, “Yeah.”
In the isolated desert, John tracks down his former mentor and the man who cut off his finger, The Elder, played by George Georgiou. The Elder tells John, “You will only find peace in death.” John says, “I don’t think so.” He kills him face-to-face. Consequently, John incurs the wrath of the High Table and its new leader Marquis, played with fastidious duplicity by Bill Skarsgard.
Failing to kill John, Marquis excommunicates Winston and his concierge Charon, played by the late great Lance Reddick. Marquis maliciously makes Charon a tragic martyr. Marquis asks Donnie Yen’s blind assassin Caine to kill John. If he doesn’t, Marquis will kill his daughter Mia.
In paying his respects for a dear friend, John reunites with Winston. Winston informs John that he can win his freedom, get his life back if he challenges Marquis in single combat. Apparently, John has family on the High Table which is his access. He finds Katia, played by smart strong Natalia Tena, who’s his family from the past. Before John can become family, he must kill her father’s murderer Killa, played by action star Scott Adkins in a swollen body suit. This is one of the failed narratives of Shay Hatten and Michael Finch’s screenplay. It’s a meaningless plot device for traveling to Germany for an excess violent high-tech show-out.
Another narrative fail is Shamier Anderson’s Tracker, who mysteriously knows everything about John, what he will do. Although Shamier is convincingly strong, the Tracker isn’t pivotal to the narrative. Still, he has a beautiful dog that’s the 4th fiercest fighter in John Wick: Chapter 4. Every John Wick movie must have a dog. Just saying.
Flowers to Director Chad Stahelski for the breathtaking action scene at the Arc de Triomphe. Crashing cars. Flashing gunfire. Martial arts. John throws an attacker with kotegaeshi (Aikido wristlock) into an oncoming car. Throughout Chapter 4, John gets punched, kicked, shot, stabbed, and falls down numerous flights of stairs. We get it: John is resilient. Still, WTF? That’s something you just have to roll with. Just saying.
Keanu Reeves sublimely plays John from the inside out. His John seems badder, yet profoundly sadder. John is empty of all hope and joy. Keanu’s John still grieves over the loss of his late Helen. His is the profound existential quandary: What do you die for? More importantly, what do you live for? That makes us pull for John. John deserves his measure of peace. In their stunning climatic duel, John says, “Those who cling to death; live.” Caine replies, “Those who cling to life; die.” In accepting our own mortality, we’re free to live. No one can live fearing death. Just saying.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is flawed, yet therein lies its beauty. In the Japanese aesthetic wabi-sabi: There is beauty in imperfection. Chapter 4 is imperfect in excess. Still, it’s perfectly about finding one’s path to end suffering, to find that peace within. In that John Wick: Chapter 4 is something special. Just saying.
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Photo credit: Shutterstock, modified
