While all the John Wick movies have some sense of self-awareness for just how over-the-top they are, the first entry easily plays that factor up much more than the others. The title character, played by Keanu Reeves, is something akin to an urban legend in the world of this movie, and the film treats him as notoriously as if he was a supernatural entity rather than a human being. The way in which antagonist Viggo Tarasov, played by Michael Nyqvist, explains the nature of the character to his son Iosef (Alfie Allen) after the latter infamously murders Wick’s dog is borderline comical for how gloriously campy Nyqvist’s delivery is.
Viggo’s bombastic telling of John Wick’s backstory is the perfect kick-off to what then becomes 90 minutes of total off-the-wall action. John kicks, punches, stabs, and shoots his way through an army of baddies as he goes after Iosef for revenge. He gets a little help along the way from his friend Marcus (Willem Dafoe) while also primarily dealing with an assassin from his past known as Ms. Perkins (Adrianne Palicki), who was contracted out by Viggo.
John is an unstoppable force in this movie, and it’s highlighted just how easily he can get himself out of a bind. An early scene shows him taking out a few initial assassins with little ease and having a professional “cleaner” dispose of all the evidence within minutes of the damage being done. Despite coming off like such a peaceful, laid-back person in the film’s opening moments, he takes on this other-worldly presence throughout the rest of the movie, never stopping once he sets his sights on a person of interest.
And once he goes after someone, the movie treats its audience to some truly stylish action. Direcotrs Chad Stahelski and David Leitch mention that the film was heavily influenced by anime and martial arts films, and their love for those sorts of genres is constantly injected all throughout each fight scene. The movie contains the intensity of other revenge movies like Man on Fire but with the fighting style of Enter the Dragon. Titled “Gun Fu,” the movie will switch it up between close-quarters gun fights and hand-to-hand combat in a rapid-fire matter, that will leave audiences amazed, asking, “did they really just do that?”
And the answer is they did. One of the most impressive aspects about this film, and those that followed, is that all the actors did their own stunts. Because of this, it gives the movie a less polished feel, even with actors still moving in smooth, quick succession. It adds a nice layer of brutality with each punch or kick that lands that will make any action junkie’s heart sing. Seeing Keanu Reeves get down and dirty with the rest of the supporting cast in these fight scenes is especially fun to watch, as this proves how highly underrated of a physical actor he is.
And even in the film’s set pieces that don’t involve fighting, it’s still glorious to look at, with the anime influences running rampant. The Continental Hotel in particular can easily remind one of the bathhouse that was the setting of Hayo Miyazaki’s Spirited Away. A multitude of seedy, mysterious, and even treacherous beings inhabit the mysterious hotel used as a safe haven for assassins, just as how the bathhouse in Spirited Away introduces a wide array of colorful, mysterious characters who assist that film’s protagonist, Chihiro.
Though despite Wick becoming something of a killing machine for most of this movie, he still retains a heart, and that’s what makes this movie so emotionally satisfying to watch. While the movie is filled with hyper-stylized violence, there’s still room for some solid character moments. Keanu Reeves rarely gets the chance to show off his true acting chops, and here he gets to shine, especially the way in which he reminisces over his wife. While the franchise’s infamous joke is that that this all started over a dog, the way in which John relates it to his deceased wife is one of the more emotional moments in the movie, and Reeves’ delivery here is truly on point.
The rest of the cast gets in some solid moments here, with Nyqvist being the standout with his over-the-top delivery making some really funny moments. The banter between him and Dean Winters as his lawyer also make for some nice subtly funny moments that give the film a sense of charm. Well-rounded villains are just as important as the protagonists, so it’s refreshing to see some antagonists who would probably carry their own film with ease. Alfie Allen also has some nice campy moments of his own. He gets laughs that are both intentional - for his childlike spoiled brat persona - and unintentional, being his Russian accent not always hitting effectively.
Ian McShane is at his most commanding here as Winston, the mysterious head of the Continental. He has a calm demeanor, but each time he speaks, he delivers each line with such force, that it’s easy to feel that he can be a real threat if he wishes. Less effectively used are Dafoe and Palicki, who both felt more like stock characters at times. While Dafoe has a natural screen persona that makes him entertaining to watch even when he’s at his most restrained, he feels somewhat underused here, only sporadically making appearances as the “best friend” stock character, and only adds so much to the plot. Palicki, too, wasn’t bad, but her character felt kind of robotic at times. It was almost like the antithesis of John’s character. Both are supposed to be killing machines, while one still retained their humanity and the other didn’t, but there wasn’t much to her beyond that to make her an engaging character to watch.
Despite some minor character issues, John Wick is a bloody good time and the kick-off to one of the best action franchises in recent memory. Keanu Reeves gets to showcase both his acting skills and his physical prowess here in what’s easily his best role that makes for a nice personal story in addition to being a great action movie. The tone is dark, but still retains an element of campy, over-the-top fun, thanks to some solid supporting performances and constant homages to the many action genres that influenced it. Like the character himself, John Wick is a movie not to be messed with.
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