John Wick: Chapter 4 is an endurance test as Keanu Reeves’ assassin faces off with the High Table! The film clocks in at two hours and 49 minutes which is the longest in the series. The length is kept a steady momentum with the stunning action scenes with series director, Chad Stahelski. It is written by Derek Kolstad who also worked on the series and Shay Hatten who co-wrote John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellem (2019). The other writer is Michael Finch who also wrote the action movie, Blood Brother (2018). The beginning has a closeup of bloody wrappings around a post and a fist. This is New York where we left John Wick recovering from the last movie where he was shot and took a painful fall. Then, there is the figure of the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) walking in a subway tunnel. Fishburne was finishing the role of Pops in the comedy series, Black-ish. He enters through large doors and brings the suit for John Wick (Reeves). One of the recent films for Reeves was reprising the role of Neo in The Matrix: Resurrections (2021).
We get a sunrise and out of it emerge four horsemen riding in a desert. Three of the riders have white horses while they are pursed by a black horse and its rider, John Wick! One by one, the others riders are shot by him, a man in black robes watches the chase from above on a cliff. The last horseman is killed and next to his body is the man in the robes, The Elder (George Georgiou). John is there only for one thing, his wedding ring which he gave along with his finger to the previous Elder to prove his fealty. The Elder says the ring is gone and is shot by John. At the New York Contiental Hotel, a bearded man in a black trench coat and a missing finger (!), Harbinger (Clancy Brown) asks the concierge, Charon (Lance Reddick), for the manager. Brown was in the thriller movie, Last Looks (2021). Harbinger is the mysterious representative of the High Table. This is Reddick’s last film having also appeared in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellem. Reddick’s Charon has always been reliable and loyal to The Contiental and the manager.
They enter the office and see Winston (Ian McShane). Harbinger tells Winston that the hotel is condemned by the High Table and they have one hour. He puts down a giant hourglass with the sands running down. Winston and Charon enter the office of the Marquis de Gramont (Bill Skarsgård). The actor was in the horror film, Barbarian (2022). He is a ruthless executive, but not as deadly as the others. The Marquis states that there are rules and Winston adds that there are also second chances. He notes about John Wick, “he is the face of your failure.” The Marquis looks out of his room sized window and sees The Continental below explode! Then, he shoots Charon! Winston is there for Charon’s last words, “It has been an honor, my friend.” Very moving. The Marquis has left Winston alive as a lesson. He then says, “Bring me Caine.” At a park, Caine (Donnie Yen) looks at a gold pocket watch that has a photo of a young woman. Yen starred in the lead role for The Monkey King: The Legend Begins (2022).
The same woman in the photo, Mia (Aimée Kwan) is playing her violin. In a hallway, Caine moving with this cane, very much blind, meets with The Marquis. He states that he is retired, but warned, “You put her in danger.” In exchange for his daughter’s protection, Caine is sent after a “former associate”, John Wick! It is night at the Osaka Continental. The owner, Shimazu Koji (Hiroyuki Sanada) enters to check on the operation. Sanada was previously Oishi in 47 Ronin (2013) which also starred Reeves. A guest (Shamier Anderson) known as Tracker, wearing a heavy jacket and backpack, checks in. Anderson was previously in the action movie, Awake (2021). Tracker introduces himself as Mr. Nobody. He brings with him a Belgian Malinois, similar to Sofia (Halle Berry) in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum. I don’t know if there is a connection, his background is kept a mystery.
The concierge, Akira (Rina Sawayama) says that there is no animals. Sawayama is known as a pop singer in Japan. Tracker takes a seat with his dog in the lobby. Koji meets with Akira, his daughter, and she mentions the guest with the dog. He goes to the hotel rooftop and meets with John Wick. The rooftop has cherry blossoms, but bathed in red from a circular structure’s lights. The lighting and cinematography by Dan Lautsen is impressive. Koji pours tea for his friend at a table and says that they will never stop. Several of The Marquis’ men enter the hotel and the leader, Chidi (Marko Zaror), asks for the manager. Zaror also stars in this year’s martial arts film, Fist of the Condor. Akira meets with her father who tells her to discreetly evacuate everyone. He tells his guards to show hospitality to the new guests. They go to refrigerators that are full of weapons! John Wick meets with Caine and says, “I remember a time when you knew the meaning of brotherhood.” Koji sees Chidi who wants another Continental to shut down. Koji holds up his arm and archers loose arrows at the gunmen!
Koji retreats and then tells his two Sumo guards, "Stop them”, very cool. Akira goes to warn John and she whips off her robe to reveal her black leather armor! She also unfolds a bow that Akira uses with lethal Wick effect! They move into another room and while John takes on more Marquis men, Akira is shot in her side. She is saved by the arrival of Koji. A gunfight in the kitchen is intense, but Caine is calmly eating noodles in a side hallway. Chidi has him get into the fight. Caine slides around the kitchen and places devices that give out doorbell rings when the hotel guards pass. So Caine swiftly kills them all. John Wick has reached a room with display cases of Japanese armor and weapons. He takes on endless Marquis gunmen, uses nunchucks to bash them, and switch to his gun! Then, John Wick faces Caine, he faces his sword cane with a katana, and epic battle with swords and guns! It is broken up though by the lever action rifle of the Tracker!
John picks up a Marquis pin from one of the gunmen. Koji brings his daughter to the hotel’s garden, but has to face Caine, Hiroyuki Sanada vs. Donnie Yen! John Wick has to find a way to face The Marquis, somehow find freedom from the High Table, and the answer leads to Berlin. He has to find readmission to the Ruska Roma family led by Katia (Natalia Tena). He was exiled from the family at the cost of trying to escape New York in the last movie. John has to face the brutal Kingpin-like Killa Harkan (Scott Adkins) to rejoin the family! This is a fight that takes place in a nightclub with waterfalls. There is also an incredible battle on traffic of the Paris streets around the Arc de Triomphe! John Wick has to survive endless bounty hunters and the danger of Caine and Tracker! His is reported by a radio dj with close-up on her lips by the microphone just like The Warriors (1979)! John Wick must reach the Sacré-Cœur Basilica for a final duel! here is an end credit scene. John Wick: Chapter Four has stunning action, uneven introducing more characters and plot threads, but a welcome return to the Wick world!
Four Markers out of Five!
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