John Wick (2014)
Keanu Reeves is one of those actors whose career always seems to be on a slow downward spiral until some shit hot action film reignites his Hollywood flame. Point Break (91), Speed (94) and The Matrix (99) all brought him back from the verge of acting obscurity and John Wick is the latest example.
Sliding slowly away following the release of final Matrix film Revolutions, suddenly he's back tearing up the screen in a masterclass of bullet strewn violence.
There's not much in the way of plot - Some Russians he used to work for kill his dog, so Wick kills them, and that's it basically, yet somehow it works where the plot heavy Man from U.N.C.L.E. for example, didn't.
The film is an assault on the senses from start to finish. Turn up the volume and let the sub woofer throw you from your couch as the bullets scream, cars roar, neon lights tear at your eyeballs and Marilyn Manson's excellent Killing Strangers brutally pounds your eardrums to mush. John Wick isn't a film for sensitive souls, nor for next door neighbours.
I look forward to 2017 and John Wick: Chapter Two. As for Keanu? Can't wait to see him staring meaningfully into the distance in Refn's forthcoming The Neon Demon. |