John Wick: Chapter 4 Is Another Masterpiece Entry in the Action Saga

Keanu Reeves as the title character in John Wick: Chapter 4. Murray Close/Lionsgate

John Wick is an action franchise that has grown better with each entry. Each goes further than the last—increasingly more elaborate fights, kills, and style burst from the screen. John Wick: Chapter 4 keeps this tradition alive and well. After nine years and four films, I daresay this is one of the most perfect action series ever conceived.

What makes the John Wick films so great is the delicate balance of the absurd and the cool. Characters will savage each other in a long fight with high body counts but do so with the grace of ballet, the costumes of the dapper, and the sets of a moody neo-noir. This is why Keanu Reeves fits so effortlessly into this violent world. He can gun down hordes of assassins seeking a bounty and then deliver a wicked punchline to bring down the house. At this point, he’s driven well beyond getting revenge for his murdered dog and stolen car. Now it’s all about humiliating the High Table organization of killers who think they can get away with taking everything from John.

Murray Close/Lionsgate

John’s journey becomes far more tricky in this chapter. His top opponent is the High Table’s Marquis Vincent de Gramont (Bill Skarsgård), who knows how to weave his power as a top-ranking member. He can manipulate assassins into doing his bidding, including the blind fighter Caine (Donnie Yen) and the greedy tracker Mr. Nobody (Shamier Anderson). Caine was an acquaintance of John’s with a daughter he needed to protect. Nobody’s ultimate goal is to up the price on the bounty, but he also has an attack dog, giving Wick second thoughts about placing another animal in harm’s way. It just wouldn’t be Wick without a dog involved.

Bill Skarsgård as Marquis. Murray Close/Lionsgate

It also wouldn’t be a John Wick movie without many long and intense fight scenes, and Chapter 4 continues this tradition with gusto. The variety of stunts and weapons is off the charts for this picture, going the extra mile to give more than just a high body count. One of the first big bouts takes place at the Japanese Continental, where the arsenal includes guns, swords, blades, bows, and plenty of blunt objects found in a kitchen. The grand set piece in Paris is an elaborate mad dash across the city as John fights for his life. Remember how, in Chapter 2, he got pummeled by car after car in a warehouse? That absurdity increases exponentially during the Paris sequence when he fights through oncoming traffic—where most of the drivers have the desire to kill him.

How comfortable this series has grown with its tongue-in-cheek, over-the-top nature is best showcased in the Berlin segment, where John has to go after the nightclub owner Killa, played by Scott Adkins. Adkins is nearly unrecognizable, a towering giant of gold teeth who feels like he belongs in some overblown comic book movie as a Kingpin-esque villain. He devours the role, clearly relishing his impressive character design and having a ball in his action moments, during which he punches so hard he sends John flying off the ground.

John, Caine, and Killa. Murray Close/Lionsgate

The stylish classiness of the saga hasn’t lost its charm, either. This goes beyond the returning characters Winston (Ian McShane) and Charon (the late Lance Reddick), who speak as smooth as they look in their snazzy suits. The many locations feel large and vibrant, ranging from the cultural details of the Japanese Continental to the neon blaze of the Berlin nightclub to the tour of Paris amid all the violence. These gorgeous settings are as dazzling to look at as the intricately staged fight scenes with maddening detail.

Murray Close/Lionsgate

Holding all of this together is a solid foundation fit for toppling unjust systems. This series, as mentioned, is long past John getting revenge for his dog, although he still fights for any dog that might come in harm’s way. It’s now about standing up to robust structures that feel like they can get away with anything. The members of the High Table insist that they’re playing by established rules, yet Vincent finds every way to break them conveniently. John’s mission to beat back these aggressors under their corrupt system is all in service of something as essential as freedom, which he fights for with an almost inhuman level of violence. The path to his final battle being a long flight of stairs speaks volumes about his struggle, especially when he is constantly kicked back down.

Shamier Anderson as Mr. Nobody. Murray Close/Lionsgate

John Wick: Chapter 4 has everything that makes John Wick tremendous and a little more to keep it a constant flow of brutal excitement. The playfulness of this saga has led to a high level of anticipation for each entry, and it consistently delivers on the vicious thrills. I can’t think of a single other action franchise that has had four near-perfect movies in a row, and director Chad Stahelski deserves ample credit for directing each entry with more blood-pumping action than the last. All of it is perfectly punctuated by Laurence Fishburne’s returning character, the Bowery King, exclaiming with glee at the legendary nature of the film’s protagonist while still delivering such lines as “I know a guy who knows a guy who shot another guy.”