Rent John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)

Sadly, proof that going bigger doesn't always mean better. A bloated, overcooked mess of a film - John Wick: Chapter 4 review by TB

Unfortunately, we have now clearly reached the limit of what can be done with the John Wick film series. When the first film came out, it was an unbelievably tightly-edited, brilliantly scripted action film with a great central performance by Reeves which managed to achieve a staggering amount in terms of stunt work, given it's relatively small budget. It was of course extremely successful, which has led to multiple sequels, this one being the third. And, in a really surprising way, Chapters 2 & 3 were both great.

Whilst 2 is my favourite of the whole series, even 3 was absolutely a solid and at times brilliant movie, even with some of its choices. Sadly, Chapter 4 has shown in no uncertain terms that John Wick would do good to keep a very low profile again.

This film is a total mess. The whole mantra of the writers and director seems to be "If bigger is better, then gigantic is perfection." Whilst we have a bigger budget this time around, unfortunately this has only massively increased the problems that were only slightly visible in Chapter 3. The main one, by a country mile, is the length. This film just goes on and on and on and on. Whether it is action scenes (there is a sequence involving a long set of stairs that goes on for over 20 minutes,) or dialogue (a card game which adds nothing to the plot and is again around 15 minutes of running time,) this film just piles on a constant stream of padding.

If I had to characterise it, it is effectively like saying that when they made the first film, they HAD to get it right: the amount of effort to get a new idea off the ground/secure funding, even with an established star, would have been a monumental feat. And then when the sequels were greenlit, there was still an element of "We have to be careful and make sure we create something great." But the attitude now seems to be "We've got loads of money to play with and it doesn't matter what we do, so let's do everything: super-long action scenes, fights which never end and enough exposition to rival War and Peace." And this goes on for almost 3 hours...

Another massive failing is the characters. Whilst Keanu is still very good as Wick, and it's always great to see Ian McShane & Laurence Fishburne on screen, the new additions are mostly a let down. Front & center of this failure is Bill Skarsgård as the Marquis. Skarsgård, who has incredible presence on screen, here quite simply plays a slimy Frenchman. No, I'm not joking, that's it. There is never a hint that he has any assassin skills, which makes his position as the Head of the organisation totally ridiculous & stupid. He is also far too young to be in that position.

Donnie Yen is also wasted as Caine, an old friend of Wick's. As much as the film strains every sinew to make the idea of one of the world's greatest assassins being blind work, it just doesn't, in any way imaginable. This is unintentionally proven in one scene where if a shooter had been targeting Caine & not Wick, he would have been dead.

And that's the other problem this movie has: repeatedly changing allegiances. Characters change their motivations & loyalties at the drop of a hat. But after that has been done more than once, none of their motivations hold any water from then on. Literally, any of the characters can do anything, for any reason & the film just sets it up so that we need to accept it on face value.

It is quite sad in a way that, after 3 amazing films, this is the result of the 4th: stupid decisions, too much action, a rubbish story and a movie crying out for a decent editor to come along & actually cut it to a proper length. But unfortunately, due to the massive box office haul of this film, the chances of major changes happening is slim to none.

Great Action Even If Much The Same - John Wick: Chapter 4 review by GI

Yes it's overlong and when you boil it all down it's more of the same with the action set pieces stretching out just that bit too long. But knowing what these films are like and enjoying them for their sheer entertainment value makes this latest in the series great fun. John Wick (Keanu Reeves) discovers a way to fight back against the 'High Table', the all powerful organisation that seems to control the world, and win his freedom to live in peace. But the path is long and violent as you'd expect, so you just have to buckle up and go along for the ride. It's not the best of the series by any stretch mainly because it relies on recreating what we've all seen before and it's far too much structured like a high class game with the character of John being moved by you the viewer. The Bondian globe trotting gives some great visuals and the soundtrack is great so have the sound turned up. Good solid support cast who are for the most part underused especially Laurence Fishburne. Ian McShane is on the money as always. Overall it's what we've come to expect from a John Wick film, and something a little more original and diverse might have lifted the film but if it's pure adrenaline fuelled action you like then this is where you'll find it.

Law of diminishing returns - John Wick: Chapter 4 review by sb

FILM & REVIEW Must admit quite a fan of the first three - each one topping its predecessor but did feel the third one had taken the whole Wick thing as far it could go . But box office tills do ring so here is number 4 and for the first hour I thought this could push things along. Wick kills the Elder who is above the Table while Winston (McShane) has his hotel confiscated and blown up the Marquis (Starsgard ) as?? a consequence. Wick ends up in Japan at another Continental but the Marquis finds out and has that deconsecrated as well leading to the death of Wicks friend. He also encounters another old friend a blind assassin played by Donnie Yen. Wick swears revenge and sets up a dual with the Marquis as per the Table rules. As mentioned the first hour is really good but then it just seems to fizzle out in endless fight sequences that never seem to move things along. He is tasked with killing a German club owner which begins quite well but it just goes on and on…and then he has to be at Sacre Coure for sunrise so they resuse the old bounty call from 3 which ends like an endless shoot em up video game which never seems to end. Ok the Spaghetti Western finale is worth getting to but it’s a real slog to get to it. Reeves is the same as he was in the previous 3 films and Yen brings a morally ambiguous element to his character plus MCShane has fun but Starsgard was just terrible playing the baddie as a petulant schoolboy - the role needed a much older actor…..oh and you have a tracker and his dog that adds nothing to the story and just gets increasingly annoying. It looks fantastic with gloriously lit interiors by Dan Lausten but at 163 minutes it’s way way too long - you have have easily made sizeable cuts to quite a few of the action scenes and lost nothing - so overall 3.5/5