John Wick

2015 • 101 minutes

About this movie

Keanu Reeves stars in this stylish tale of revenge and redemption set in a brilliantly imagined New York City. After his wife's sudden death, John Wick treasures her last loving gift to him, a beagle puppy named Daisy. But John's mourning is interrupted when his 1969 Boss Mustang catches the eye of sadistic thug Iosef Tarasov. After John refuses to sell the car, Iosef and his men break into his home, beat him unconscious and kill Daisy. What the gangsters don't know is that they have just reawakened one of the most brutal assassins the underworld has ever seen. In his search for his stolen vehicle, John descends into a New York that tourists never see: a supersecret criminal community where he was once the baddest guy of all. As word spreads that John is gunning for Iosef, who is the only son of vicious Russian crime boss Viggo Tarasov, John finds a generous bounty on his head and a veritable army on his tail.

Ratings and reviews

Somehow Keanu isn't quite as wooden in this one, and has a few great talking scenes. But the story, the ideas and the execution are hilarious, and unintentional. The worst/best example is when a traitor is executed by four men standing around then in a circle. Anyone think about the 'line of fire'? :-D Would have worked better as a comedy.

Many will probably say it's not that spectacular, mainly because of just how simple the premise of the story is, but often the best or most enjoyable films tend to follow simple narratives/ideas, avoiding excessive amounts of exposition-spewing monologues & too many convoluted twists that try to be clever. Keanu Reeves has been slated a number of times for his performances over the years, but he is really very good in this, making it one of his very best performances. He is a much more accessible character than the many 'lone wolf' super-assassin types we've been given in recent years, many of whom have rather limited range in terms of their personality. This isn't something that Reeves is lumbered with, he get's enough to do allowing him to stretch beyond just being a guy with a chip on his shoulder. A straightforward revenge film that has been superbly executed, with shades of 'Collateral' & 'The Raid' for good measure.

This film, though it has a well known actor the pacing of the scenes where a bit sleepy and boring. Gun action scenes are basic and common with a lot of movie mistakes. It's easy to end the life of Wick with one shot to the head but no hench man decides to do that. And strait from the off set of the boss bad guys intro, imposed that John wick was already someone not mess around with. But thinking about it maybe he would of killed his own wife eventually so she died anyway because of him. Watch it again if you didn't catch it. Business Shyco-man afraid of getting hurt but likes to hurt others. I think Google deleted some of the stuff I wrote, its not offensive FYI. John Wick 3 need to be about the wife!!!