Thanks to the inventions of director Chad Stahelski and the 87eleven action team, John Wick: Chapter 4, which hits cinemas on March 24, has extremely new action, both by the standards of the John Wick franchise and for all of film.
It has not been simple for John (Keanu Reeves) to end his career as an international hit man, which is unfortunate for him but good for fans. After three movies, John has been abandoned by the High Table of killers, and even his buddies at the Continental hotel have turned against him.
Before Chapter 4 begins, John has been hiding in the Bowery King’s (Laurence Fishburne) underground lair, recovering and practicing. In the meantime, Winston, the manager of the New York Continental, is being given further punishment by his High Table superiors (Ian McShane).
Winston is demoted from his position of power by the Marquis (Bill Skarsgard), who also employs additional assassins to find John. John then devises a plan to depose the Marquis and persuade the High Table to allow him to permanently quit the assassins’ club.
John Wick: Chapter 4 introduces significant changes to the Continental mythology. The movie also embraces the mythology’s epic quality, which is always growing.
Dramatic introductions of new characters lay the groundwork for John to maneuver this time. The fourth portion of the story expertly draws viewers into the world of new characters.
As Shimazu (Hiroyuki Sanada) and his daughter Akira (Rina Sawayama), two of John’s Japanese comrades, participate in combat, one wonders that they might be in danger.When the action begins, it is just as epic and relentless as the build-up. Every action scene in John Wick: Chapter 4 could be the climax of any other movie. There is no small fight in this movie.
One battle incorporates martial arts and gunplay with vehicular traffic. There surely are special effects to blend all the elements together and make it feasible to execute such a sequence, but it looks and feels like cars and people are interacting, a quality missing from many recent movies.
A melee in a building unfolds in one seen from above in a single, uninterrupted take. John coordinates a takedown of multiple parties in different rooms, with the viewer taking in that complexity from a bird’s eye view.
The mythology also informs the choreography. John Wick: Chapter 2 established that High Table assassins wear bulletproof suits, and that changes the way characters fight.
