**Spoiler Alert**
Director(s): David Leitch and Chad Stahelski/Starring: Keanu Reeves, Willem Dafoe, John Leguizamo, Ian McShane, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen and Adrianne Pelicki
I think I've lost count but I've seen six middle-age (or post-middle age) Hollywood actors this year--including Keanu Reeves--take on the aging bad-ass action hero role, which has become all the rage in movies now. In 2014, Pierce Brosnan, Kevin Costner and Denzel Washington were welcomed into Liam Neeson's archetypal, more-mature action-hero society and now Keanu Reeves enters the fold with his latest film John Wick. I guess we should expect more of these films in the near future. Neeson's Taken 3 is due out shortly and who knows; we may see Susan Sarandon join the ranks before the year is spent.
I can't think of one film the aforementioned actors have made in this new genre that has been any good. Some of had their moments. 3 Days to Kill, with Kevin Costner, at least brought a little tongue-in-cheek lightness to the genre while The Equalizer featured one inspired scene where Denzel Washington offs some Russian bad dudes in an office. But for the most part, the movies are highly forgettable and utterly disposable, though all or most of the actors will no doubt reprise their characters in sequels.
So what does Keanu Reeves bring to the party? His youth, for one, and like the other actors, a physical appeal to attract the female demographic. He has his earned his own action hero bona fides with Speed so it isn't preposterous that his membership be validated for the Academy of Over-50 Action Stars.
What does the movie itself bring? After 100 minutes of acrobatic fighting and shoot-outs by the score, I can honestly say--not much. In fact, I found my daydreaming and disinterest almost offensive, given the violence, blood and carnage onscreen.
Keanu Reeves plays the title character; a former hit-man for a Russian mobster though his former occupation isn't revealed until the 20 minute mark or so.
Wick has just lost his beloved wife to an undisclosed illness. In the days following the tragedy, a small cage is delivered to his home and inside is a small dog with a note from his wife. The dog is supposed to be something to salve his bereaved condition and provide companionship but the fact that the canine is from his wife adds a sentimental dimension to the gift.
Wick's other love is his '69 Mustang; a beautiful muscle car that attracts the attention of a young dirt-bag at a gas station. While Wick gasses up his car, the punk admires the Mustang and then forcefully inquires about it's sale price. After Wick rejects the offer to sell, the man becomes aggressive, uttering an insult in Russian. Wick counters with some Russian of his own, which surprises the young creep.
Later that evening, while the dog rests on Wick's chest as the two slumber, his home is broken into and sometime later, Wick is assaulted and beaten. The young man from the gas station is among the three assailants who demand the key to the car. Wick refuses, which not only earns him a severe beating, but his dog is killed with a savage kick.
The young man takes the Mustang to a chop shop run by a man named Aureilo (John Leguizamo), who recognizes the car and will have nothing to do with it. We then learn that the car thief (and dog murderer) is Iosef Tarasov; the son of a Russian mobster.
Shortly thereafter, Iosef visits his father Viggo (the Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist, playing a convincing Russian), who informs his son that the car he has just stolen and the dog he's killed belonged to John Wick, his former hit-man. When Viggo explains to his son just how dangerous Wick is, the son asks him if he is the boogeyman to which his father replies, "Wick is the man you hire to kill the boogeyman." While Viggo discourses on his former associate, scenes of Wick taking a sledgehammer to a slab of concrete in his garage underscore the mobster's words. We can mostly guess what Wick is hiding beneath the concrete rubble: an impressive array of weapons and a stash of gold coins.
Rather than persuading his son to make amends, Viggo hires an army of thugs to attack Wick at his home, which results in a bloodbath. The hand to hand fighting and the shootings are so acrobatic and stylized as to be cartoonish, which is hardly a shortcoming in this kind of movie.
When Viggo learns Wick has dispatched his thugs, he hires a former friend and associate of Wick's named Marcus (Willem Dafoe), to kill his nemesis. Marcus accepts the contract.
The film does tries its hand at humor. A hotel with the stately appellation of The Continental is actually a haven for a community of assassins; many who are friendly to Wick. The desk clerk is comically accommodating to the killers; allowing all manner of violence and murder to transpire under the hotel's roof. This might have worked well in a film that took itself less seriously
Wick is captured later, after some head-scratching, reckless behavior that is highly uncharacteristic of someone so methodical and circumspect. While tied to a chair awaiting his grisly fate, he explains to Viggo why the dog means so much to him, which of course is unpersuasive. Just as Wick is to be killed, Marcus comes to his rescue, thereby breaking his contract with Viggo and earning his enmity in the process.
The rest of the film is Wick pursuing his prey and leaving bodies in his wake. Where this ends doesn't require an advanced degree in mathematics from MIT to extrapolate.
What hobbles John Wick and makes it a drag are action scenes that are technically accomplished but don't have any heat or dazzle. They are only mechanically impressive.
One of my favorite action sequences this year took place in X-Men: Days of Future Past when the character Quicksilver raced around a room at hyper-speed, deflecting bullets and projectiles while everyone else moved glacially as the song "Time in a Bottle" played on the soundtrack. It was a beautifully choreographed scene with humor and verve. That's what a movie like John Wick needs; action sequences with a fresh, haven't-seen-that-before approach.
I didn't care about Wick's quest other than wanting his dog's death avenged. I also wanted him to really want that glorious Mustang back, but that curiously never crossed his mind.
I wish Keanu Reeves had interpreted the role with less earnestness and more mischief. Many of these action movies, like John Wick, suffer from slogging self-seriousness. This film just wasn't any fun.
If aging film stars are to indulge in action film trifles, then they should remember that they aren't performing an Ibsen play but something most likely over-the-top and absurd, which calls for a little of the same from the story and cast. The makers of The Fast and Furious franchise understand this only all too well. That series is a joy to watch, with all its giddy offerings of hyperbolic nonsense.
Trying to make silly into serious begets more silliness. The creators behind John Wick might keep this in mind if they choose to foist this guy on audiences again.
