JOHN WICK : CHAPTER 4 - Tuesday 28th March 2023.

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'JOHN WICK : CHAPTER 4' this week, and here we have the continuing saga in the 'John Wick' franchise that is once again Directed and Co-Produced by Chad Stahelski following his earlier successes with the 2014 debut in the series 'John Wick', then 2017's 'John Wick : Chapter 2' and 2019's 'John Wick : Chapter 3 - Parabellum'. Those first three films grossed globally a total US$587M off the back of combined production budgets of US$145M. Originally set for worldwide cinematic release on 21st May 2021, 'John Wick 4' was delayed first due to the COVID-19 pandemic and then Keanu Reeves's commitments with 2021's 'The Matrix Resurrections'. This film saw its World Premier in London on 6th March and was released worldwide from last week, having garnered positive critical reviews and grossed so far US$153M off the back of a US$100M production budget. 

The film opens up with the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) returning to his underground hideaway where John Wick (Keanu Reeves who also Executive Produces here) has been recovering after being shot by Winston (Ian McShane) at the end of the last film, and is in training to get back into shape so that he is best prepared to exact his revenge on the High Table. We next see John riding horseback across the desert sands of Morocco chasing after three horsemen, whom he eventually guns down, before meeting with the Elder, who sits above the High Table, and whom he also shoots dead. 

Responding to this development, the Marquis Vincent de Gramont (Bill Skarsgard), a senior member of the High Table, summons the New York Continental Hotel Manager Winston and his concierge, Charon (Lance Reddick) to his very plush offices overlooking the city skyline and down across to the Continental. De Gramont explains to Winston that the High Table has given him unlimited resources to find and kill John Wick. He berates Winston for his failure to assassinate John when he had the chance to do so. As a consequence, De Gramont strips Winston of his duties as Manager, declares him as 'excommunicado', destroys the Continental, and shoots Charon in the chest, killing him. We next see De Gramont in Paris where he enlists Caine (Donnie Yen), a blind, retired High Table assassin, to kill his old friend John, threatening to murder his daughter if he declines, or fails to do so.

John takes refuge at the Osaka Continental Hotel, run by his long term friend Shimazu Koji (Hiroyuki Sanada). De Gramont's right-hand man Chidi (Marko Zaror), supported by many High Table assassins and Caine, arrive to investigate the hotel, looking for John. Koji's daughter Akira (Rina Sawayama), the hotel's concierge, evacuates the hotel just before Chidi announces that the High Table have 'deconsecrated' it, resulting in a battle royale between Chidi's men, Koji's men, John and Akira. 

John fights through waves of armoured assassins, and a showdown with Caine is interrupted by a bounty hunter who calls himself 'Mr. Nobody' (Shamier Anderson). He helps John's escape after determining the contract money for killing him falls short of his expectations. Caine allows a wounded Akira to flee after killing her father, but upon leaving she swears to exact her revenge on Caine, to which he responds with 'I'll be waiting'. 

John returns to a snow covered New York and meets with Winston at Charon's gravesite. Winston advises John to invoke an old High Table tradition and challenge De Gramont to a duel. Winning will free him of all obligations to the High Table. The over rider is that John can only request a duel on behalf of a crime family. And so John travels to the Berlin headquarters of Ruska Roma, with whom he had severed all ties, to request readmission. His adoptive sister Katia (Natalia Tena) allows John to rejoin in exchange for dispensing with Killa (Scott Adkins), a High Table senior who murdered her father. Although Killa sets up an ambush at his nightclub with both Caine and Nobody there too, John still manages to kill him, but not before taking a beating himself, and wins back his status within Ruska Roma.

Winston takes John's formal challenge to De Gramont, who is initially dismissive of the notion but then reluctantly accepts when he realises he has no choice. As part of the deal he asks that the New York Continental be rebuilt funded in totality by the High Table, with him being reinstated as Manager, should John win, to which De Gramont reluctantly agrees.

In Paris, John and De Gramont decide the parameters of their duel in a meeting moderated by the Harbinger (Clancy Brown), the Table's emissary. De Gramont nominates Caine to fight in his place. The duel is to take place with duelling pistols on the following sunrise just after 6:00am at Sacre-Coeur, with John and Winston being executed should either fail to appear on time. 

The Bowery King arrives in Paris and meets with Winston and John to give John a weapon and a new ballistic three piece suit.

De Gramont hatches a plan to prevent John from arriving at the duel in time by placing a US$26M bounty on his head, which leads to a frenetic sequence around the Arc de Triomphe with John fighting off hordes of assassins on his way to Sacre-Coeur, including Nobody, who negotiates a bounty increase to US$40M with De Gramont when it looks as though his plan is failing. During their confrontation, John prevents Chidi from killing Nobody's dog, and so a stunned Nobody decides to abandon his pursuit of John, and subsequently kills Chidi on the steps leading up to the Sacre-Coeur. 

After Caine and Nobody assist John in the 220 steps that leads to Sacre-Coeur by taking out another horde of assassins and De Gramont's henchmen, they reach the summit just in time for the duel. Caine takes his place opposite John for the duel, while Nobody watches on from the sidelines with his trusted dog by his side. Each inflicts serious wounds on the other through two rounds of duelling, first at a distance of thirty paces then twenty paces. The third round at a distance of just ten paces, comes to a halt when Caine mortally wounds John with a shot to the gut. Demanding the right to administer the coup de grace, De Gramont immediately steps up and swaps places with Caine. However, as Gramont stands over John pointing the loaded pistol at him, Winston perks up with 'you idiot, he didn't fire his third bullet', with which John shoots and kills an unsuspecting De Gramont with his single pistol bullet cleanly in his forehead. 

The Harbinger grants Caine and John their freedoms from all obligations to the High Table, Winston is reinstated as the Continental Hotel Manager and the hotel will be rebuilt at the High Table's expense. John stands, and turns to Winston and asks that he takes him home. After collapsing on the staircase, John has a vision of his life and marriage before peacefully succumbing to his wounds. Later, back in New York, Winston and the Bowery King say their farewells to John at a gravesite where he is buried next to his late wife, Helen, with the tombstone reading John Wick, Loving Husband, next to his wife's which reads Helen Wick, Loving Wife. 

'John Wick : Chapter 4' certainly ups the ante on the action set pieces, the majestically choreographed fight sequences, the bullet ballet and the trademark gun fu that our titular action hero is renowned for. The body count, which must stretch well into the couple of hundred here all at the hands of one single man, is relentless and I have to say repetitive, with my mind wandering towards the end and thinking when will all this wrap up? And despite John getting thrown off high balconies, crashing through a second storey window and landing on a car roof below, getting hit by various cars and hurled against others and being thrown down 220 steps to land in a crumpled heap at the bottom, he seems to get up, dust himself down, and carry on with killing the bad guys with nary a scratch to show for it - like he's Superman - and maybe he is, until he's not! Including the credits (which you have to sit through if you want to catch the end credits scene) this film borders on three hours, which is easily thirty minutes longer than it needed to be, but that said it never leaves you wanting as it lurches from one action sequence to the next, to the next and so on right up to the satisfactory conclusion that for now at least, seems to put a lid on this franchise that has redefined the action genre and set the standard by which all other films of the ilk will be judged. 

'John Wick : Chapter 4' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 23rd March 2023.

South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organised jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas, USA. It began in 1987 and has continued to grow in both scope and size every year. The SXSW Film Festival runs for nine days, which this year ran from Friday 10th March until Sunday 19th March, simultaneously with the SXSW Film Conference, and celebrates raw innovation and emerging talent both behind and in front of the camera.

This years Opening Night film was 'Dungeon's & Dragons : Honour Among Thieves' Written and Directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, with the World Premier showcasing of 'Air' Directed by Ben Affleck chosen as the Closing Night film.

Of the two feature film award categories held - Narrative Feature Competition, which showcases eight World Premieres, eight unique ways to celebrate the art of storytelling; and Documentary Feature Competition screening eight World Premieres with eight real world stories that demonstrate innovation, energy and bold voices, the winners and also rans, are as follows :-

* Narrative Feature Competition, winner : 'Raging Grace' Written and Directed by Paris Zarcilla in this UK produced horror film. This film beat out seven other international features, all of which had their World Premiers at SXSW, these being : 'I Used To Be Funny', from Canada and Written and Directed by Ally Pankiw; 'Late Bloomers' from the US and Directed by Lisa Steen; 'Mustache' from the US and Pakistan and Written and Directed by Imran J. Khan; 'Parachute' from the US and Co-Written and Directed by Brittany Snow; 'Pure O' from the US and Written, Directed and Co-Produced by Dillon Tucker; 'Scrambled' from the US and Written and Directed by Leah McKendrick; and 'Story Ave' Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Aristotle Torres.

* Special Jury Award for Performance, presented to Courtney Eaton for her role as Riley in the US drama romance feature film 'Parachute' Co-Written and Directed by Brittany Snow. 

* Special Jury Award for Cinematography, awarded to Eric Branco for 'Story Ave', this US drama film Co-Written and Directed by Aristotle Torres.

* Documentary Feature Competition, winner : 'Angel Applicant' from the US and Written, Directed and Co-Produced by Ken August Meyer. This film beat out seven other documentaries, all again having seen their World Premier screenings at this years SXSW. Those other films were : 'Another Body' from the US and Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Sophie Compton; 'Geoff McFetridge : Drawing a Life' from the US and Co-Written, Produced and Directed by Dan Covert; 'Join or Die' from the US and Written, Produced and Directed by Rebecca Davis and Pete Davis; 'Pay or Die' from the US and Directed and Produced by Rachael Dyer and Scott Ruderman; 'Queendom' from France and the US and Co-Produced and Directed by Agniia Galdanova; 'Riders of the Storm' from Austria and Produced and Directed by Jason Motlagh and Mark Oltmans; and 'You Were My First Boyfriend' from the US and Written and Directed by Cecilia Aldarondo and Sarah Enid Hagey.

* Special Jury Award for Innovation in Storytelling, presented to 'Another Body' from the US and Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Sophie Compton. 

For the other feature and short film sections, including details of 'Headliners', 'Narrative Spotlight', 'Documentary Spotlight', 'Midnighters' and 'Visions' plus the other award recipients and a whole heap of other good stuff, you can visit the official website at : https://www.sxsw.com/festivals/film/

This week we have just three new cinematic offerings coming to a big screen Odeon near you, kicking off with the fourth instalment in this fast paced action thriller franchise that sees this legendary and almost indestructible hit man taking his fight against the High Table to earn his freedom as he seeks out the most powerful players across the global underworld. This is followed by a fantasy offering in which a young intern starts work at a mysterious London firm with unconventional employers, including a CEO who wants to disrupt the ancient magical world with modern corporate practices. And closing out the week we have an Aussie romantic drama set during the summer of 1999, when an 18-year-old amateur ballroom dancer has an unexpected and intense 24-hour romance with a friend's older brother.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the three latest release new films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the coming week.

'JOHN WICK : CHAPTER 4' (Rated MA15+) - here we have the continuing saga in the 'John Wick' franchise that is once again Directed and Co-Produced by Chad Stahelski following his earlier successes with the 2014 debut in the series 'John Wick', then 2017's 'John Wick : Chapter 2' and 2019's 'John Wick : Chapter 3 - Parabellum'. Those first three films grossed globally a total US$587M off the back of combined production budgets of US$145M. Originally set for worldwide cinematic release on 21st May 2021, 'John Wick 4' was delayed first due to the COVID-19 pandemic and then Keanu Reeves's commitments with 2021's 'The Matrix Resurrections'. This film saw its World Premier in London on 6th March and is scheduled for a worldwide release from this week. 'John Wick Chapter 5' is already in development with a release date yet to be confirmed.

In this instalment, John Wick (Keanu Reeves who also Executive Produces here) uncovers a path to defeating The High Table. But before he can earn his freedom, and with the price on his head ever rising, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe and in the underworld that turn old friends into new foes, from New York to Paris to Japan and Berlin. Also starring Ian McShane, Lance Riddick, Laurence Fishburne, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgard, Hiroyuki Sanada, Scott Adkins, Clancy Brown and Natalia Tena.

'THE PORTABLE DOOR' (Rated PG) - is an Australian family friendly fantasy film Directed by Jeffrey Walker in only his third feature film outing following 'Dance Academy : The Movie' in 2017, and 'Ali's Wedding' also in 2017, although he has Directed numerous TV series to date including multiple episodes of 'Neighbours', 'Rake', 'Difficult People', 'Modern Family' and 'Young Rock' most recently. This film is adapted from 'The Portable Door', the first book in Tom Holt’s J.W. Wells & Co. series. Here then, Paul Carpenter (Patrick Gibson) and Sophie Pettingel (Sophie Wilde), are lowly, put-upon interns who begin working at the mysterious London firm J.W. Wells & Co., and become increasingly aware that their employers are anything but conventional. Charismatic villains Humphrey Wells (Christoph Waltz), the CEO of the company, and middle manager Dennis Tanner (Sam Neill) are disrupting the world of magic by bringing modern corporate strategy to ancient magical practices, and Paul and Sophie discover the true agenda of the vast corporation. The film is released in Australia from this week on Stan and in the UK on Sky Cinema and the US on MGM+ from 7th April. Also starring Miranda Otto, Rachel House, Jessica De Gouw and Damon Herriman.

'OF AN AGE' (Rated MA15+) - this Australian romantic drama film is Written and Directed by Goran Stolevski in only his second feature film after 'You Won't Be Alone' in 2022. Set during the Summer of 1999, seventeen year old Nikola 'Kol' Denic (Elias Anton), a Serbian born Australian amateur ballroom dancer enters a brief 24 hour intense romance with Adam Donegal (Thom Green), the brother of his ballroom dance partner Ebony Donegal (Hattie Hook). This film saw its World Premier screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival in early August last year, was released in the US in early February and is now released this week in Australia having garnered generally favourable reviews and collected US$557K at the Box Office. 

With three new release movie offerings this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere at your local Odeon in the week ahead.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-