A flaw common to the first three John Wick movies is that their scripts are all a couple drafts short of the sweet spot.
That’s especially true of Chapter 3, which dropped the ball on numerous levels.
The main complaint you hear about part 3 is that it was unnecessary. None of the promises made in the first two films are kept, and nothing is resolved.
Judging by John Wick: Chapter 4, the franchise’s creators seem to agree with that assessment.
I’m just gonna say it now: Those who haven’t seen it, or who want a cohesive trilogy experience, can skip John Wick: Chapter 3.
Because Chapter 4 gives audiences the delayed payoff that the first two movies promised.
It’s also chock full of pop culture references.
So many references …
But we’ll get to those later.
For now, here’s my review of John Wick: Chapter 4; as spoiler-free as I can make it.
While the third film is the only one with a subtitle (another clue it’s the series’ black sheep) we wouldn’t be remiss to call this one John Wick: Chapter 4 – The Apology.
Because part 4 hits the ground running with a sequence whose sole purpose is to dump the baggage part 3 saddled it with.
After the soft reset, we pick up the narrative thread from part 2. This is as it should be.
Then, like a good sequel should, part 4 gives us pretty much the same story as its predecessors, but with dramatically raised stakes.
John is still trying to kill his way out of the mess he made. Only now his transgressions against the criminal underworld are blowing back against his friends.
In fact, friendship is a major theme of this movie. And it’s pulled off quite well.
One standout scene features two of John’s oldest and dearest friends, each of whom now finds himself on opposite sides of the gangland civil war John started. One of these men of honor sweeps aside the underworld’s arcane economy of coins, medallions, and badges with the declaration that there are bonds of brotherhood which transcend mere transactions.
It’s refreshing – especially after part 3 – to see a movie portray male friendship and solidarity as a positive good. Nor does John Wick 4 ply audiences with the canard that such relationships aren’t dangerous. Because they are. Instead it takes the higher, more difficult road of showing that sometimes, dangerous men united by bonds of fellowship are needed to achieve good by defeating evil.
And I don’t use those terms lightly. While the rest of the series is morally gray, John Wick: Chapter 4 at least acknowledges the possibility – and source – of objective morals. A major selling point of this franchise has always been its willingness to embrace the kind of pop Christian symbolism once reserved for stuff like Hammer horror films. This latest installment not only sets multiple key scenes in churches, it takes Christian symbols, iconography and architecture seriously.
That last item may sound odd, but keep in mind that film is a visual medium. And if a setting element is in frame, it’s because the film makers want it there.
Even the underworld’s Latinisms take on new significance when a High Table official (played by the inimitable Clancy Brown), adjudicating a duel, dons a stole reminiscent of a priest conferring the Last Rites. And he appeals to Almighty God in Heaven’s native Latin.
So it’s also fitting that a secondary theme of this movie is reconciliation.
Every society needs agreed-upon means of casting out obdurate transgressors. But it also needs some formal way of restoring penitents to the fold. The film makers seem to recognize that the criminal society they’ve created must have the latter to be coherent. Because even though they fumbled the attempt in part 3, they at least tried.
Once again, John Wick 4 succeeds where its direct predecessor failed. This time, we see forgiveness earned at great need and through heavy trials.
Yet sin has temporal and eternal consequences. And to its great credit, John Wick 4 doesn’t flinch at showing, or at least mentioning, either.
Some aggrieved characters are not inclined to forgive. And some crimes cannot be pardoned in full until the victim is made whole.
Well-presented as John Wick 4’s themes are, the production as a whole still suffers from many of the same faults that tarnished the other three.
The writing is uneven. Dialogue in particular whipsaws from borderline profound to trite. The pacing is too choppy in Act I. Overall, the run time is too bloated.
In light of this movie’s delayed release, it’s a shame the screenwriters couldn’t have taken the time for a couple more drafts. If they had, or if the editors had given it another pass, John Wick: Chapter 4 could have been the action masterpiece everybody hoped this series had in it.
Then we have the aforementioned references …
The film makers crammed in so many, I’ll just make a bulleted list:
- The blind swordsman is a direct reference to Disney Wars and a general callback to Shaw Bros. Kung Fu cinema
- Multiple subtle Vampire: The Masquerade references, including the name Caine (note the ‘e’), and the Marquis’ uncanny resemblance to Prince Sebastian LaCroix
- Most of Act III is a near-remake of The Warriors, complete with an almost identical DJ character tipping off the local gangs
- That station’s call sign is WUXIA, the name of a Chinese martial arts genre featuring a parallel underworld on which John Wick’s was based
- Several references to Marvel Comics characters including Stick, Daredevil, and the Kingpin
- A conspicuous James Bond nod, in particular the 2006 version of Casino Royale, down to a poker-playing European villain who uses a gold inhaler
- Sidelong reference to Death Proof and Vanishing Point, only instead of a white Dodge Challenger it’s a black Plymouth Barracuda
- Too many Cowboy Bebop callbacks to name. But ex-friend gangsters, one favoring pistols and the other swords, a showdown at a church, major cameo by Spike’s Thompson Center Contender:
It should be said that most of these references are handled competently. They do get a bit self-indulgent, though.
All I’ll say about the ending is that it might retroactively qualify as a callback to Friday the 13th Part IV, but that will depend on John Wick: Chapter 5.
As it stands, John Wick: Chapter 4 is a fun if somewhat bloated actioner with heart that won’t insult you. Its creators are clearly just interested in telling a good story for its own sake. So this is one of the few products out of Hollywood I’d recommend paying to see in theaters.
For more thrilling tales of a gun-toting outlaw who might give John Wick a run for his money, read my space pirates in Hell novel:
