John Wick - Great Movie or Greatest Movie?

[Bisz]

Did a quick search and nothing came up so I'm starting this thread to discuss the movie John Wick, starring Keanu Reeves. The movie is certified Fresh with an 86% rating on RT and an 85% user rating, and let me tell you it deserves both those scores!

This is one of the best action movies ever, I don't think I have a single bad thing to say about it and a tonne of praise.

The premise is good, we are made to feel for the "hero" and we certainly empathize with him. This is all set up in a very efficient way, it is long enough to make us develop those emotions, but not at all too long to where it gets boring. And then the action starts.

There is no slow-motion in this movie, none of those super tight shots where you have no idea what is happening; the movie lets you see all of the ass-kicking in all its glory. Scratch that, its not ass kicking so much as it is braining. This is the most face-shooty movie ever, and its great. I, along with most of the audience at the screening I was at, were giddy at the action sequences. If a bad guy's brain wasn't splattered all over the wall/floor/ceiling, John makes sure to "double tap" them. If there is ever a zombie apocalypse, this is the guy you want with you.

All of the above said, the action is never over-the-top, it never crosses the line into parody. John is not infallible, and he's not the greatest hand-to-hand fighter. It is a perfect balance of bad-assitude and believability.

The movie progresses at a very good pace throughout it's entire 1h 40m or so run-time. The acting is quite good, in addition to Reeves we have Willem Dafoe, Ian McShane, John Leguizamo, and Michael Nyqvist, among others.

I highly recommend this movie.


Anyone else see it?

Anyone planning on seeing it? Stop planning and just do it!

 

[Captaindemotion]

Seems to be getting good word-of-mouth and reviews.

I'm interested in it partly because I think it'll be a good trial run for Keanu's casting as the-not-dissimilar John Rain, based on the books by Barry Eisler. Rain is a half-American, half-Japanese assassin, who makes his kills look natural. He's also a master martial artist (Eisler himself is quite proficient). The project will be Keanu's first tv role.

 

[Bisz]

Seems to be getting good word-of-mouth and reviews.

I'm interested in it partly because I think it'll be a good trial run for Keanu's casting as the-not-dissimilar John Rain, based on the books by Barry Eisler. Rain is a half-American, half-Japanese assassin, who makes his kills look natural. He's also a master martial artist (Eisler himself is quite proficient). The project will be Keanu's first tv role.

Haven't heard about that project, but if he's supposed to be an assassin, then yeah, John Wick is a great preview of what Reeves can do.

 

[Chaos Descending]

I enjoyed this flick very much.

In fact, I am a fan of John Woo / Chow Yun Fat type gunplay / action movies.

This was even better.

 

[Agent Richard07]

I knew exactly how this would end...

Spoiler: The Ending

I knew that he'd get another dog.

And another thing...

Spoiler: The Ending

Some people have suggested that this become a series of movies. It's doable I suppose. I'll miss Willem Dafoe and Adriane Palicki but we've still got Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, Bridget Regan and the clean-up crew. They're a good bunch. The movie did pretty well at making them interesting characters that you'd want to see again. A lot of long-running dramas can't even do that. That's where the heart of the movie lies.

 

[davejames]

Saw it last week and thought it was a pretty cool little action flick. I wasn't quite as blown away by it as some of the critics (and was kinda hoping to see Keanu do more in the movie than basically just shoot people in the head a lot), but for a quick and efficient, small-scale action thriller I thought it did it's job really well.

 

[Bisz]

Spoiler: The Ending

Some people have suggested that this become a series of movies. It's doable I suppose. I'll miss Willem Dafoe and Adriane Palicki but we've still got Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, Bridget Regan and the clean-up crew. They're a good bunch. The movie did pretty well at making them interesting characters that you'd want to see again. A lot of long-running dramas can't even do that. That's where the heart of the movie lies.

One word: Prequel.

And this is a case where it would make perfect sense to do a prequel. First, it remedies the problem of the characters you mention, and second, it takes us to what was apparently an awesome time for John Wick. Maybe we'd even see an assholeish version of him from before he met his wife, or we could see how he meets her an then tries to get out of the life. All territory ripe for exploitation.

 

[Bisz]

Saw it last week and thought it was a pretty cool little action flick. I wasn't quite as blown away by it as some of the critics (and was kinda hoping to see Keanu do more in the movie than basically just shoot people in the head a lot), but for a quick and efficient, small-scale action thriller I thought it did it's job really well.

I can see where you are coming from. It is a relatively short movie and Reeves doesn't necessarily get to do a tonne of different things in it, but you have to admit, the one thing he does a lot, shoot people in the head, he does really, really, really well.

 

[Agent Richard07]

One word: Prequel.

Excellent idea. It would be nice if they can make this happen. Looks like it's already become a bit of a cult hit and it's doing better than expected financially even if it's not making the big bucks.

They could do a reverse trilogy. [Spoilers ahead] The second movie would be a prequel, showing us how he met his wife and got out and the third movie could be set before that when he was just an ace hitman. I saw Man of Tai Chi last night, a Keanu Reeves movie from last year and he looked good enough without the beard and long hair to play a much younger version of John Wick. Still looked like he did in his Matrix days actually.

 

[Bisz]

They could do a reverse trilogy.

I hadn't thought it out that far, but that is a cool idea. I'm not aware of that, a reverse trilogy, being done before so this could be a first. They'd certainly get my theatre ticket money!

 

[Greg Cox]

Never seen "Old Yeller." Never going to see this.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Never seen "Old Yeller." Never going to see this.

Spoiler: Ending

Keanu gets rabies at the end and they have to put him down.

I thought this movie looked stupid from the trailers and TV clips, but the reviews and word of mouth have been fantastic, so I'll check it out after all.

 

[Bisz]

I thought this movie looked stupid from the trailers and TV clips, but the reviews and word of mouth have been fantastic, so I'll check it out after all.

Yeah, the trailer is nothing special, but it's not like the movie has some awesome hook that the trailer could use to sell us on the concept. At the end of the day it's just a really, really well done action movie that's very entertaining. And lost of people get shot in the face. And there is a cute puppy.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

I really enjoyed this movie. One thing that stuck with me was how much I enjoyed the Continental setting. I think that a hotel catering to assassins, which is hallowed ground where no business can take place is just a really neat concept that I would love to see more of if this became a series. I'm not sure what else could be done with it, I just liked it.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Is it just me, or is Keanu Reeves always playing characters named "John" or "Johnny"?

 

[Captaindemotion]

Is it just me, or is Keanu Reeves always playing characters named "John" or "Johnny"?

That's true. Off the top of my head, there's Johnny Utah, Johnny Mnemonic, John Constantine, John Wick, soon John Rain. Then there's Jonathan Harker and even Don John! It's almost like Jack Nicholson's penchant for playing characters called Jack.

 

[Bisz]

I really enjoyed this movie. One thing that stuck with me was how much I enjoyed the Continental setting. I think that a hotel catering to assassins, which is hallowed ground where no business can take place is just a really neat concept that I would love to see more of if this became a series. I'm not sure what else could be done with it, I just liked it.

And it was a nice touch that the Continental management actually came through in enforcing the punishment for breaking the rules. Just another thing this movie does to make it a notch above the average action movie where this concept would be brought up, but not followed-up on.