Mike's Review: Its good to see Keanu Reeves make it all the way through a movie. That was the one thing that ticked me off the most in 47 Ronin, but happily he makes it in the end. Over all the story was good but the action was better. I liked the idea of the hit man hotel and the ideas of the gold coins and clean up crews and doctors. I don't see much of a sequel for this movie in the future, but if there was one I would go see it in a minute.
Best Scene: The action.
Mike's Rating: Worth the price of the Ticket. Just two things kept it from being a must see. First killing the puppy, and second making Adrianne Palicki a "bad guy"...such a waist of talent.
Best Scene: The action.
Mike's Rating: Worth the price of the Ticket. Just two things kept it from being a must see. First killing the puppy, and second making Adrianne Palicki a "bad guy"...such a waist of talent.
John Wick, played by Keenu Reeves, is a retired assassin, at one time employed by a Russian mafia boss,
Viggo Tarasov, played quite well by Michael
Nyqvist. Wick comes out of “retirement” when Tarasov’s son makes the
deadly mistake of stealing Wick’s nifty Mustang, beating Wick up and
killing Wick’s beagle puppy, Daisy,
left to Wick by his recently dead wife. Wick, a/k/a, the “Boogeyman”,
is relentless in his pursuit of Tarasov’s son.
I absolutely did not like the
killing of the puppy. I enjoyed the “secret society” back drop of the
storyline, much like a James Bond movie. Willem Dafoe plays an ally of
Wick, which association does not end well. I
wish that Dafoe’s part was expanded, as I enjoy watching Dafoe. The
fight scenes are quite extensive, but for the most part follow the
storyline. However, Wick’s fight with Ms. Perkins, played by Adrianne
Palicki, was a bit ridiculous, as Wick, could have
much more easily subdued her.
It was fun to see Dean
Winters, a/k/a the “Mayhem Guy” from commercials, in a very mayhemic
situation. The muscle cars were also a nice touch and seemed to make
the movie edgier.
The ending was satisfying,
almost making up for the emotional beginning, especially when Wick
received Daisy, although, Wick should have chosen a different breed of
dog. The ending also allows for a sequel.
Best scene: when Wick is captured by Tarasov and is being tortured and Wick tells Tarasov that his son took Wick’s hope
Bean’s Rating: Full price ticket
JOHN WICK was in a way a throw back to the some of the violent action movies of the 1980's where gun play ran rampant and it was pretty fun. Wick racks up a bodycount (according to someone on the internet who claimed to have made a count) of about 95 as he tears his way through NYC on his vendetta. It was kind of funny that dozens of bad gus died and didn't even know why. The whole Hit Man hotel was kind of interesting with its rules and payments in gold coins. My favorite scene was the night club massacre of henchmen.
ReplyDeleteOnly a couple things didn't add up for me. First was the director putting comic book font for subtitles every now and then. I assume John Wick might be based on a graphic novel? And second was the classic James Bond villain monologing...where when Bond as at a disadvantage they don't simply kill hill but leave him alive presuming a henchman will take care of business. Same here with Wick. All the bad guy had to do is pull the trigger but I guess the movie would be over.
Nice to see Dafoe as a "good guy" instead of the usual villain. And it was intersting to see the symbolism that once Wick returned to the gritty life when he replaced the sweet beagle it was with a nasty looking brutish pit bull.
I'd be up for a sequel.