John Wick

This is very much my kind of movie. Straightforward, lots of good action, our hero never waivers from his path and no social or emotional nonsense. Those who have watched the movie might wonder why I claim that there is not emotional nonsense since the entire plot is driven by John Wick’s very emotional response to his wife’s death and the subsequent killing of the dog that he received as a last present from her. What I mean with “no emotional nonsense” is that John Wick is never second guessing himself, the movie never really tries to portray him as an “ordinary” guy having second thoughts about killing the bad guys and he doesn’t go into some silly “oh should I really pull the trigger” trance and drops the gun in the worst possible moments as is done in a lot of movies. Sure, there are emotions in this movie. Rage and thirst for revenge in particular with the addition of a healthy dose of fear from the bad guys…eventually that is. The plot of the movie is, as I wrote, quite straightforward and classical. Retired hit man gets wronged by idiot son of big bad guy. Hit man gets pissed off and goes on a quest for revenge. People die (a lot of them). Hit man and big bad guy have a s

I don't get why this movie has such good reviews. It simple and quite uninteresting. Lots of actions and well known faces (many from TV series), but nothing else. The same old brainless plot to justify tons of bullets.

Woof! Keanu Reeves is the John Wick of the title, a grieving one man army who gets tipped over the edge when gangsters kill his dog. Carnage ensues. The paying public do like a good revenge flick, there have been plenty this last couple of decades, and they do go down well. Once the set-up has been staged - Wick grieves at the loss of his loved one - gets some small joy via a pet - only to have that snatched away from him, then the film becomes a joyously unstoppable actioner. Wick, in good hands with a moody and beefy Reeves (face fuzz strange, though) strong in presence, cuts a swathe through the gangland eastern blockers. And that's pretty much it! Characterisations are thin on the ground, it's a bit nutty and of course preposterous, but boy is it fun. There you go, a box office winning actioner without pretensions. Enjoy. 7/10