Designed to be the conclusion to the epic saga, John Wick: Chapter 4 once again stars Keanu Reeves as the titular gun-toting revenge seeker as he takes on a new foe... and about a million people.

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The John Wick saga has always been an odd one: obviously ludicrous, starting off as basically a joke (dog revenge movie? what?) but providing genuinely impressive fight sequences over and over again. Four movies in and there's still no real reason for this man to be as indestructible as he is but we all agree that it doesn't matter as long as we get to see some cool, neon-lit, increasingly wild stunts. A pastiche of action movies in general, the series always had a tongue-in-cheek tone that made the sillier aspects of the movies (bullet-proof suits!) a lot more palatable.

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In this fourth chapter, John Wick takes on the "High Table", those who are truly in charge of the hitman organization he was a part of. Specifically, the main foe here is the Marquis (Bill Skarsgård) who makes it his mission to bring down the one-man machine once and for all using every single dirty trick in the book. A top hitman, an old friend of John's, is hired to defeat the latter and is played by Donnie Yen who seems like he's having a great time here. You are made to wait for some time before he has his first fight and, after an excellent build-up, he delivers the goods in style. Seeing Yen take on Hiroyuki Sanada in a fight to the death is easily one of the best parts of this movie. Both legendary actors certainly bring some class to an often cartoonish film in an intense, almost Tarantino-like chapter in it.

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The fight scenes in this movie are either very good or flat-out phenomenal. Even when the film leads itself astray as we spend a heck of a lot of time with Scott Adkins' character, who takes on John Wick, it still delivers some fantastic choreography and stunt work. One scene in Paris with John Wick spinning his doorless car around in speeding traffic is a treat, the stairs sequence towards the end is iconic and the various duels are all rewarding, except perhaps for the last one but that's somewhat by design. The first half of the movie is a lot stronger than its second half but, even then, you'll find some thoroughly entertaining moments.

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As the ante is upped, Keanu Reeves' line deliveries appear to decline with the actor forcing each groan-inducing one-liner in a way that no human being would ever speak. It's like he thinks John Wick is actually an alien, which might make sense considering he gets run over by at least 4 cars going at full speed in this movie. Still, his work in the fight scenes is so good that he somehow totally pulls this off, again. All the new characters are pretty good too, as the supporting cast delivers - even if the scenes with Ian McShane drag the film to a grinding halt. The pacing is certainly not the best thing about this movie but the action scenes are so fun that they always win you back.

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While it may not have the raw simplicity of the original, John Wick: Chapter 4 is the best sequel in the series delivering lots of fresh ideas but also paying tribute to what came before by giving fans a best-of encore. It's absolutely absurd from start to finish but delightfully so: it wants to be the most fun movie it can be and it got very, very close!

 

One of the best action films in recent years.

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See it on the big screen.

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