GET ON WITH HIT!
Keanu Reeves returns for assassin John Wick’s latest job... and at nearly three hours long, he’s mostly killing time
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4 (15) ★★★☆☆
IT all started with an adorable beagle puppy.
Keanu Reeves’ retired hitman first bruised knuckles in 2015 when a Russian playboy and his underlings broke into Wick’s home and killed an innocent pet pooch – a present from the assassin’s late wife.
This act of senseless brutality lit the fuse on a lucrative film franchise helmed exclusively by Chad Stahelski, which has upped the action ante with each increasingly soulless instalment, drawing on the director’s extensive background as a stunt performer and co-ordinator.
Breathlessly choreographed violence bludgeons plausibility and character development to a bloody pulp in John Wick: Chapter 4.
The bloated fourth outing boasts some of the most outrageous set pieces of the series, including bone-crunching handto-hand combat in a Berlin nightclub and some frenetic fisticuffs amidst the fast-moving traffic on Place Charles de Gaulle in Paris, which encircles the Arc de Triomphe.
Wick (Reeves) still has a sizeable bounty on his head courtesy of the High Table, which controls organised crime across the globe, so the hitman lays low in New York with crime boss the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne).
The Marquis Vincent de Gramont (Bill Skarsgard) spearheads the High Table’s unfinished business with Wick and he tightens the noose by shutting down the New York Continental Hotel managed by Winston Scott (Ian Mcshane), the only safe haven in the city for hitmen and the criminal fraternity.
Flanked by right-hand thug Chidi (Marko Zaror), the Marquis blackmails blind assassin Caine (Donnie Yen) into joining the hunt for Wick, and a nameless contract killer (Shamier Anderson) answer the call.
As enemies converge, Wick learns from Winston that he can be free of the insidious High Table by challenging the Marquis to a duel.
According to tradition, a challenger must be aligned with one of the High Table’s 12 controlling families so John reaffirms his ties to the Ruska Roma through his adoptive sister Katia (Natalia Tena).
John Wick: Chapter 4 overstays its welcome by at least 40 minutes. As a showcase of slick stunt work, the fourth picture cannot be faulted, but connective tissue that binds the muscular fight choreography is disappointingly weak and Reeves’ sharp-suited title character is largely monosyllabic.
By the time Stahelski’s picture enters its third hour, we’re exhausted and wearily echo the sentiments of Killa (Scott Adkins), a corpulent member of Germany’s High Table, when he growls at the seemingly indestructible title character, “Why don’t you just die?”
Storyline and logic are secondary concerns to screenwriters Shay Hatten and Michael Finch.
They prioritise death and destruction over dialogue except for Skarsgard’s loquacious chief villain.
Stahelski gives us more and it’s simply too much.
■ In cinemas Friday