John Wick

So I saw John Wick, and it was pretty much one of the best action movies I’ve ever seen! The story is pretty basic: After his wife dies, retired hit man John Wick (Keanu Reeves) finds solace in the world’s cutest puppy that his departed wife gave him as a gift. This is spoiled when the son of a Russian mob boss (Alfie Allen, who you might know as Theon from Game of Thrones, and playing a similarly hateable guy) steals John’s car and kills the dog. Naturally revenge is required. This revenge takes John back into the hidden world of organized crime in New York and results in like a thousand dudes getting shot in the face. While that’s all pretty basic, there are two things that really make this movie great.

The first is the action. The gunplay in this movie is brutal and stylish and incredibly fun, certainly matching up to any other action movie I can think of, be Equilibrium, Heat, or one of John Woo’s magnum opuses.  Keanu Reeves really gives a master class in one guy shooting the hell out of a bunch of other guys, while bullets are flying everywhere. Several times he even does one of my favorite moves, where you grab one bad guy that close by, shoot a few other bad guys that are further away, then finish off the guy you shot earlier. He always double taps, and everyone gets shot in the face. It’s pretty awesome.

The second thing is the world-building. The filmmakers effectively create a whole criminal underworld that is as intriguing and mysterious as anything I’ve seen since the Matrix. It’s a world of secret clubs and backrooms, all powered by gold coins unspoken codes. One of the best parts of the movie is early on Theon tries to sell John Wick’s car to a chop shop and the owner (John Lequizamo) says no. Later, when the Mob boss calls him to see why he disrespected his son, he just says “because he stole John Wick’s car” and the mob boss just says “Oh.” It’s an intriguing setting I would love to see more of.

I really enjoyed the movie and heartily suggest it if you like a violent action movie. Everyone should check it out! I want John Wick sequels! I want John Wick PREQUELS!