John Wick (8/10)
This first movie aged quite well. It had a lot going for it even though the plot is the simplest. Not just for a John Wick franchise, but movies in general. It's so simple, yet it's supporting subplots added so much depth to it.
Alfie Allen played the unfortunate poor sod that killed the puppy and took John Wick's car. And his ignorance made the plot so fun. Allen's one-dimensional performance was also the movie's strength in giving us a villain to hate. While John Wick came for his revenge, we were right there alongside him.
There was also a very nice touch in the character setup. A police officer played by Thomas Sadoski came to Wick's door after he killed 12 people, and Sadoski's character turned two blind eyes just because he was John Wick. That spoke volumes about who this character we're getting to know.
Michael Nyqvist as the main antagonist Viggo, and father to Allen's character, had the unenviable task of making written comic book lines worked when coming out of his lips. Lines that not only were difficult to be spoken, but also for someone that did not have English as his first language.
But Nyqvist had the best lines when educating his son about who John Wick was. I loved the line, "He's a man of focus, commitment, and sheer will. Something you know very little about." And this was all because of how the movie setup these characters, and got us audience to come along for the ride.
The action sequences were more realistic and believable. Here we had a reintroduction to the term "gun-fu". A technique that, in my interpretation, is not about making the amount of bullets one has last long enough until the end of the fight. But it was about eliminating the enemies no matter the amount of bullets it takes and making it an art. So even in close range, John Wick uses at least three bullets to kill - one to the leg to stagger, one to the torso to stun, and a few more to other approaching enemies, and then finally one more to the head of the first guy who is now coming to.
And the furthest we got to leaving realism for flair, was when Wick in his car ran over someone in reverse, and while the body was tumbling over the top of his car, he shot the body multiple times through the car's roof.
The only part that left me wanting more was the last fisticuff with Wick and Viggo, who was just the crime boss and not a fighter. Wick should have had an easier time with him, but just to show how badass he was, he plunged the knife that he was struggling with, back into the same wound he had earlier just to take out Viggo. I thought that was completely unnecessary.
There were also a few great supporting characters here: Willem Dafoe as Wick's ally but was too easily captured, unfortunately; Adrianne Palicki as another assassin whose ambition got the better of her and her death was almost poetic; and Ian McShane whose power was still a mystery in this movie.
And above all, the whole character of the Continental looming in the background, which will be expanded greatly in the franchise and even getting a spinoff series of its own very soon.
All these made this first movie so good.
John Wick: Chapter 2 (6/10)
The sequel opened with Peter Stormare giving us a recap to the audience as well as his main henchman, who then asked him, "Can't we just give the car back?" I was thinking the same thing. Wick has no beef with them; and if he was given his car back, I'm sure that will be it.
But no. While the first movie saw Wick killing anyone who stood in his way, here we opened up with Wick stealing his car back and having the bad guys chased him. And with more budget this time, director Chad Stahelski already spent a bit of that making Wick's car fly out of the garage.
Wick, who came to get his car back, made the whole outing pointless as he had no qualms just ramming his car into anything and wrecking it by the end of the chase - which ended back in the workshop where he drove his car out. So the opening plot with getting the car back was just an excuse to stage a whole fight sequence. Wick didn't care about his car. So why did he tell Stormare's character he was coming for it?
The integrity of the character that was established in the first movie has already come into question just 10 minutes into the movie. And the way this sequence ended with a toast with Stormare for peace, even after the wreckage he caused, he could have started with the toast. Nothing about this was consistent with anything.
And if you say it wasn't about the car but the card inside it which was what he treasured, then I would argue again, he could have just asked for it and toasted for peace.
The next part was establishing the main plot, and that was introducing the main antagonist of the movie, Santino played by Riccardo Scamarcio, who called upon Wick with a marker that he must fulfilled. Wick immediately turned him down knowing full well that he was not in a position to, also without even asking what the job was. And after Santino burned his house down, Wick went to Ian McShane's Winston for help. To which Winston said, it would be easier to do the job of the marker. Which was what I was thinking, because the alternative was to go after Santino.
This was also where we were introduced to the High Table, the entity that set all the rules and keep all the players in check.
What made John Wick so special in the first movie was nowhere to be found in this sequel. He was the Baba Yaga, the Boogeyman. Laurence Fishburne's Bowery King called him, "The Man, the Myth, the Legend." And yet, once the contract of $7 million was put out, every Tom, Dick and Harry out there all rushed out to try to claim the prize. I understand that is a lot of money, but when you don't even stand a chance, what's the point.
The movie tried to do too much. Wick traveled to Rome and there we saw another version of the Continental. But how small is Rome when every corner he took there was an assassin waiting?
Certain script just drove me up the wall. Santino went to Lance Riddick's Charon and asked if the manager, Winston, was in; to which Charon replied the manager was always in. But the next time we saw Winston, he was outside! And he's actually outside quite a bit!
There were no good supporting cast this time. Ruby Rose played a terrible mute. Common was very forgettable. And there wasn't even a showdown this time between the protagonist and antagonist.
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (7/10)
Rules and consequences. This time John Wick is going after the Hight Table. However, because of his one decision, others are getting killed - not because they helped him, but because they didn't kill him. This was part of the script that seemed a bit extreme.
The Continental universe also keeps getting smaller and smaller with each instalment. The story opened with a contract of $14 million contract. Again, I ask, how small is this city? Even a random taxi driver is part of the control of the Table? Every where John Wick was, there's bound to be an assassin waiting. This got ridiculous really fast.
However, the movie also opened with a great action sequence. One against a big guy in the library where Wick took him out with a book. Next, it was against the Chinese group in a weapon museum of some sort. And then ended with horse back-kicking some Italians. Those were really fun to watch and certainly up the ante from the second one.
But with higher stakes in the action sequences, also came the visible limitations of Keanu Reeves, as well as Halle Berry this time around. There were a lot of stunt team members in the midst of their action choreography that they had to pause and do nothing while Reeves and Berry did their choreography.
Also, weirdly, a bullet to the head usually would mean death. But the heroes this time decided to put at least two bullets into the head, a bit of an overkill.
Adding in the pair of dogs that belonged to Berry's character, that particular combo I was not a fan of. In the heat of the moment I was more afraid for the dogs themselves as they leaped into the fray at the sound of a command, but then they ended up tugging at a limb nonstop even after the bad guy was long dead from a bullet to the head. Rather than looked cool, it really slowed down the choreography more than anything else.
But there were better actors added this time around. Anjelica Houston's character was very interesting, and I do hope to see more of her in the future. Berry's history with Wick also made for very interesting topics in conversation, as with their chemistry. Asia Kate Dillon also played a very menacing Adjudicator.
And this time we also get Mark Dacasocos as the main threat - a martial artist himself to make the action look more believable; though I will say his humour needs work. But what confused a little was that he's playing a Japanese, yet none of his henchmen were Japanese - Not just referring to the Indonesians from the raid but even the non Raid members didn't look Japanese.
The war inside the Continental was a bit silly. First, after the desecration was announced, I'm surprised there were still staff willing to stay even though they knew what was coming. Secondly, Charon knew about the bulletproof getup the High Table assassins would be wearing. Yet he had his team out in the open getting slaughtered while not doing anything helpful. To make things even sillier, Charon and Wick - after the first shoot out - came back into the weapons room to get even more powerful guns, which they should have used those in the first place.
But the best fight scene wasn't with Dacascos. It was with the Raid duo - Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Rahman. Everything got good when they beat Wick in the first round and showed professed their reverence and respect, but also teasing that he got slow after retirement. And it was nice to hear some authentic sentences, not like the Chinese earlier on just throwing out Cantonese words that no real Chinese would say in that situation.
The duo are so good at what they do that they made their fight sequences believable. Even though they clearly were better at fighting, but they made their defeat looked so real. And the way Wick defeated them was believable because he pulled them in close and taking the advantage of the size difference. Best part was they are still alive in this universe and I do hope to see them again.
But after that, it was two older men trying to make action scenes look fast and failing at it. I will say, Dacascos still has an impressive reverse back kick that reached higher than Reeves' head.
That ending though. I remember watching that scene the first time, that fall Wick survived is still as fantastical as it is the second watch. Even in that bullet proof lining of a suit, it's just silly the way he survived.
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