Ephemeris of the Mind (Film Review) John Wick: Chapter 4
Time to read: 2 min read
Movie Poster
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Past John Wick film reviews:
Review
Keanu Reeves is back one more time as John Wick, an assassin being hunted by the global underground organization the High Table. This time, the High Table sends the Marquis de Gramont (Bill Skarsgård), a French crime boss, to hunt down Wick. This film introduces many new characters such as the Harbinger (Clancy Brown), a High Table emissary who arbitrates disputes, Caine (Donnie Yen), a blind assassin, the Tracker (Shamier Anderson), an assassin who hunts with a German Shepherd, and Koji (Hiroyuki Sanada), the manager of the Osaka Continental as well as his daughter Akira (Rina Sawayama).
As with the previous two films, this one dives more into the lore of the criminal underworld, such as introducing more characters and factions, such as the Myrmidons lead by Chidi (Marko Zaror) and the Ruska Romas lead by Katia (Natalia Tena). The character designs in this film were over-the-top, featuring a fat German crime lord with gold teeth (Scott Adkins, yes the superfit martial artist) and Klaus, a laconic member of the Ruska Romas (Sven Marquardt, legendary bouncer of Berghain). While this film has the same characteristic snappy action sequences as the previous films, I found it a bit bland. Maybe it’s because I watched this right after watching the first three, but this film felt like an extended cut with too many scenes, and some characters (such as the Tracker) which were not impactful to the plot. I feel that, instead of being a John Wick film, the movie tries to establish plotlines for future films of the franchise, and it took away from Wick’s plot. There are some cool plot features, such as the Parisian radio station, but overall the film feels stale.
Reeves is still good as Wick, Ian McShane is a witty Winston, and Laurence Fishburne plays an overly dramatic Bowery King. Skarsgård is a mediocre antagonist while Yen’s Caine is good at times but corny at others.
Conclusion
Too much filler, which obfuscated the main story.