John Wick 4: The Final Chapter

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Star – Keanu Reeves My Rating **** Genre – Action Run Time – 156 Minutes. Certificate – 15 Country – U.S.A = = = = = = = = = = The John Wick movies may go down as the most underrated and unseen action franchise of all time. The excellent first film dropped back in 2014, around the time Blockbusters were closing down around the world and online streaming was fairly raw and so home viewing confined to households with decent broadband. Unless you wanted to pay £12 to see it on DVD it was largely unseen at the cinema, its relatively modest budget of $30 million dollars pulling back just $100 million, looking super cool and stylish for that budget. It was a cracking movie JW2 cost $40 million and did $174 million, still not really known, and then JW3 did $327 million on a budget of $76million as star Keanu Reeves pay packet started to rise with the gross. JW4 is in cinemas now on still a relatively low budget of $100m with $350million in the bank so far. It’s missed out on a serious amount of cash over the years. The running premise of the franchise is Wick (Reeves) is a super assassin, part of a worldwide network of highly specialized and skilled killers, operating under an underworld code where the ‘High Table’ hands out the killing contracts in grand hotels around the world but where the assassins can seek sanctuary from each other. The first three films are about Wick trying to retire from this deadly world after the death of his wife and then faithful dog. But they won’t let him until he does this and that to return his honor and pay his debt which means a huge body count. ===Cast=== Keanu Reeves…John Wick Laurence Fishburne…Bowery King George Georgiou…The Elder Lance Reddick…Charon Clancy Brown…Harbinger Ian McShane…Winston Marko Zaror…Chidi Bill Skarsgård…Marquis Donnie Yen…Caine Aimée Kwan…Mia Hiroyuki Sanada…Shimazu Shamier Anderson…Tracker Rina Sawayama…Akira ===The Plot=== A rather poignant start to the movie involves recently departed - in real life - Lance Reddick, who plays the concierge to Manhattan hotel owner Winston (Ian McShane) in the movie, who runs the New York Continental. Wick has just killed a fellow assassin against the rules and earned the wraith of The Marquis (Bill Skarsgård), the top guy in the super rich echelons of the High Table, which means termination, Wick located by The Tracker (Shamier Anderson), a showdown in Osaka following as the High Table dispatch killers. Due to Winston’s complicity he faces retribution and loses his hotel and now excommunicado . But Wick does have some friends still left out there, the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) the most influential, and offer him sanctuary until he can figure a way out of his situation, and save his trusted friends in the process as his bounty rises to $20 million dollars, so finally being released from the High Table, be it through death or honor, blind super killer Caine (Donnie Yen) tasked with killing Wick. Let the super slick mayhem begin! ===Results=== The final film is outrageously over the top but great fun, It’s a bum numbing gratuitous 160 minutes long to cram in as much stylized shoot em up and martial arts as possible with Wick’s only real skill seemingly being bulletproof in a sharp suit as the insane shootouts pile up around the world. Even more absurd is Donnie Yens blind assassin character, even for popcorn action movies an incredulous first. But that’s what Wick movies are and you enjoy it for them, the stylish locations and action sequences peaking in the final film. It is supposed to be the last movie but the ending is gently ambiguous on a Wick return. If you are a Wick fan then you will love it and you can jump in at any of the four movies if you are new to the franchise as it’s not really about knowing the story or the plot. It’s just Keanu Reeves in his signature black suit being killing loads of bad guys in tight suits with impossible gunplay and stoner cool. It’s funny, frenzied and slick and in a multiplex near you now. ===RATINGS=== Imdb.com - /10.0 (k votes) Rottentomatos.com –% critic’s approval ===Trailer===