“John Wick” is a pretty simple movie to sell. Keanu Reeves plays a retired hitman who is drawn back into the fray after some Russian mobsters steal from him. On paper, it sounds like a simple setup and, for the most part, it is a relatively straightforward revenge story. However, the most impressive pieces of “John Wick” have virtually nothing to do with the pedestrian plot. In fact, what really stood out to me after leaving the theater, aside from the astoundingly high headshot count, was the storytelling potential of the universe that the film had created.
The film begins with Reeves’s character grieving the loss of his wife. The day after she dies, a puppy is delivered to his doorstep with a final goodbye letter from his ailing wife. He cherishes everything he has left of her, including the dog. So when a couple of young Russian thugs break into his house and take the only reminders of his wife he had left, he decides to get back into the underworld game and track down those who wronged him.
This simple setup is handled with a surprising amount of grace and restraint, turning what could have been a quick, generic setup for an action film into something emotionally resonant. Reeves shows off an emotional intensity that he’s never really shown before, and by the time the action starts, viewers are already invested in seeing Wick exact revenge upon the young Russians. Reeves sells the character of Wick like no one else could, and it is invigorating to see him back in action hero mode. Watching Reeves perform a majority of his own stunts is exhilarating, and it only further proves his dedication as an actor.
Now, no action film would be worth mentioning if the actual action of the film was subpar. Thankfully, the action scenes in “John Wick” are some of the best choreographed action sequences of the year. The actors move with such a kinetic grace that the action scenes can sometimes feel like a choreographed dance with firearms and bullets. The handheld camera technique – which has become far too prevalent in action films these days – is thankfully nonexistent in this film.
Instead, the filmmakers opt to allow the audience to actually see the action happening on-screen, rather than letting the audience just assume a scene is intense because the cameraman can’t figure out what to focus on.
When the action slows down, the film shifts into world-building mode. Rules exist within the underground world, and the film does a great job letting the exposition be delivered organically, in favor of awkwardly shoehorning dialogue about the rules and boundaries of this world.
The film doesn’t play down to audiences. It assumes the audience is smart enough to figure out how the world works after showing it on screen, instead of hand-feeding the rules to the audience through unnecessary exposition. This keeps the film’s pacing on beat. The universe it creates is quite interesting as well, and I already want to know more about the world that all these characters operate in.
In the end, though, I really have to hand it to Reeves. He sold his character with conviction, and ended up showing off an impressive acting range that almost never shows up in any of his previous films. There are scenes in this film where his rage is palpable, but there are also scenes in which Reeves is truly able to sell his character’s vulnerability. The performances in “Wick” are way more impressive than I ever expected from an action film, much less an action film starring Keanu Reeves. Reeves has said that he wishes he could have been cast as a superhero in the past, but I think I like him better as John Wick.
