JOHN WICK - Tuesday 4th November 2014.

Saw 'JOHN WICK' earlier in the week, and it is good to see Keanu Reeves back to doing what he does best in this solid story of present day revenge and retribution. This film is pretty relentless action from start to finish, it is violent and bloody, has a strong underlying story to move it along, good casting and all the elements that set this a notch above other similar movies in the genre, and those that often go straight to DVD. In their Directorial debut this was helmed by David Leitch and Chad Stahleski and shot in New York for a budget of about US$25M. For such a modest budget, great things have been achieved with the action sequences (of which there are many) and the look and feel of the film generally, which again all help to elevate this above more mainstream fare of the same ilk.

The storyline is fairly simple but is delivered well. John Wick (Keanu Reeves) has been happily married to Helen (Bridget Moynahan) for five or so years - no children, but a beautiful home with clearly all the trappings of success. We only ever see Helen in flashback or on John's smart phone screen when he plays back a video clip of her. Helen has recently died of some long term illness that they have both seen coming for some time. The opening five minutes see her passing in the hospital with John by her side, and then at the funeral as she is buried with other guests gathered round - one of which is Marcus (Willem Dafoe) standing in the distance looking on waiting for the proceedings to finish before approaching John - they shake hands and clearly there is a connection here from the past.

As the days progress John is schmooching around his home, coming to terms with the still raw emotions of his recent loss. A knock on the door, and a puppy is delivered with a note from Helen - a posthumous gift to ease the pain he is feeling and to give him some renewed focus. The next day John takes the puppy out in his vintage 1969 Mustang, and needs to refuel. In doing so another car rocks up to the petrol station and out jump three guys conversing and joking in Russian. Instantly one of these - Iosef Tarasov (Alfie Allen) takes a liking to the Mustang and offers to buy it from John on the spot. Some dialogue ensues, John says thanks but no thanks and sits back behind the wheel ready to leave. Iosef leans in and mutters some derogatory remark in Russian - to which John responds - in Russian! Iosef is not amused and looks on in anger as John exits the forecourt.

This sets the scene for the film as later that night Iosef and his two other henchmen break in to John's house, beat him up, kill the puppy and make off with the Mustang. Nursing his wounds John buries the dog in the back garden under a tree. Now he is pissed off for a whole bunch of reasons. John does some initial investigations and we soon learn that in his former life John Wick was an assassin for the mob - he is a weapons expert, handles a car well, can hold his own in a fist fight, and is respected beyond question by just about everybody he knows. This includes the Mob; former colleagues including Marcus; the Police who come knocking on his door one night after he has dispensed with12 henchmen who tried to take him out, and upon seeing dead bodies strewn on John's floor, simply ask if everything is OK, turn around and walk away; and the 'Cleaners' who arrive after a single phone call to clean up John's house in this aftermath. This sets the tone of the film and now we have the mark of the man. He has been retired for five years having turned his back on his former life for a better one with Helen - but now everything has been taken away from him!

Learning that Iosef is the son of local Russian Kingpin Viggo Tarasov (Michael Nyqvist) John is now hell bent on revenge and will take down anything that stands in the way of him and Iosef. What follows before Iosef finally buys the farm is several action set pieces in which a determined John relentlessly and mercilessly takes on the might of the local Russian mob headed up by Viggo. John is a weapons expert and he takes out his foes clinically and cleanly with usually two efficiently delivered bullets to the head. And the bullets fly, and the body count in the film is massive before the final pay off comes. In particular, is one very impressively delivered action set piece in an exclusive nightclub that sees countless henchmen buying it as party goers all around try to make their escape. John is also pretty handy behind the wheel of a car too, and we see his talents utilised well towards the end especially.

The storyline is also peppered with other sub-plots involving a bounty on John's head to take him out, the secret cadre of hit-men and women who live by their own set of rules within almost an exclusive assassins community (enter Ian McShane as Winston), the money making illegal business activities of Viggo that spread far & wide throughout the city and the history that binds John and all the other players together.

Needless to say it doesn't end well for the Ruskies, and in John we see too that he is but human and can get shot, stabbed and beaten up like the next man . . . and he does. But, he retains his humour and keeps getting up, because that's what's he's been doing for years. What sets this apart from others in the genre is that it is brisk, relentless, well played, well crafted, well written, and in John Wick we have a trusted, respected yet fractured character doing what he does best that you can almost believe in!



-Steve, at Odeon Online-