Review: John Wick

John Wick is action cinema done right. It’s a revenge flick with a simple premise, prioritising no-nonsense dialogue and violence as Keanu Reeves’ Wick sets out to kill the man who killed the puppy Wick was given as a gift from his dying wife.

That’s about all you need to know as far as the plot goes. Of course, there’s a lot of extra detail about Wick’s murderous past and how his wife (and the dog too) represents him moving on a creating a new life beyond the world of crime. But the details don’t matter, and this film knows it. There’s a palpable and refreshing sense of directness in the early going, as the film wastes no time delivering the story as quickly as it needs to.

Soon enough, the dog has been killed by the son (played by Alfie Allen) of the mob boss (Michael Nyqvist) who Wick used to work for. He then wastes no time getting his revenge mission up and running. From there, there are multiple scenes of exhilarating combat as the ex-assassin works his way through everything thrown at him. He’s appreciably human, and the film is brutal and shocking at times as he really takes and gives a beating. You’d never believe Reeves is 50 years old with the way he moves and fights here.

He’s always been an actor with a restricted range, and John Wick plays to his strengths by requiring him to be an emotionless killing machine. That’s not to say the film isn’t entertaining because it really is. It’s even frequently funny, getting a lot of its laughs from Wick’s lack of reaction or deadpan response to the most outrageous scenarios.

The film does have a better first half than second, and some of the camera moves and pieces of choreography quickly become very familiar. But those are only the smallest complaints. This is a great and simple piece of driven and exciting action filmmaking.

John Wick opens on 10 April