Film review: John Wick Chapter 4

It may be ridiculously indulgent and epically pretentious, but the final instalment in the John Wick series is also very much aware of its own absurdity, writes Alistair Harkness

Keanu Reeves in John Wick: Chapter 4

John Wick Chapter 4 (15) ***

Directed by: Chad Stahelski

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne

Over the course of three previous films, the John Wick movies have evolved from a gloriously simple revenge thriller into an expansive, globe-trotting action franchise, replete with elaborately orchestrated set-pieces and an increasingly dense and deranged mythology. As such, you can perhaps forgive John Wick director Chad Stahelski and star Keanu Reeves for throwing everything at this last hurrah for the eponymous assassin.

At nearly three hours, John Wick: Chapter 4 is ridiculously indulgent and epically pretentious, even kicking off with Reeves on horseback chasing bad guys through the desert like a suited-and-booted Lawrence of Arabia. Yet it’s also very much aware of its own absurdity and, unusually for an action movie, it understands its own heritage: this is a film that finds inventive ways to pay tribute to samurai epics and spaghetti westerns, Hong Kong action movies and Hollywood car-chase thrillers, even Walter Hill’s gangland punk classic The Warriors, weaving them all into its own kill-crazy universe.

Having been betrayed and left for dead last time out, Reeves’ Wick begins the new film adrift in a world where the High Table, the sinister overlords who run things via a global network of super-assassins, want him and anyone who associates with him dead. That’s bad news for Wick, but worse news for anyone who comes after him, among them the High Table’s new Marquis, a snivelling French nobleman (played by Bill Skarsgård) who doesn’t respect the traditions of the past.

Though Wick lacks the clear motivation that made the first film such a blast (you may have forgotten this all started with a murdered puppy), after almost a decade in the role, even the genetically blessed Reeves is starting to look a little ragged around the edges, which gives the character a visible weariness that makes it easy to believe Wick really just wants to find an honourable way out. Although at times the film is a slog to sit through, the finale is suitably bizarre and the ever-watchable Reeves is also brilliantly complimented by Donnie Yen as a Zatoichi-esque blind assassin who’s both friend and foe and particularly handy with a blade.