John Wick 4: A Loving Action Hero
John Wick is the only movie series that I’ve finished watching so far. From the first to the final chapter, my enthusiasm and love towards the characters and filmmaking increased.
I was asking for recommendations for action movies in 2021 when my cousin’s brother, Raghotham, suggested that I watch the three parts of John Wick, released by then, and the fourth one was filming. I watched all three of them in a month and was totally in admiration mode after watching the third part.
Aside from dark comedies, I like stylised action movies and have been yearning for them in Indian cinema for a long time now. With the first three parts of the JW, my heart was full, and I was looking forward to watching the Fourth Part in Prasads Multiplex, Hyderabad, from the time of its release announcement.
From the first shot to the final shot of the movie, even after the credits (Yes, there’s a post-credits scene), I was completely immersed in the world of John Wick and was mesmerised multiple times throughout the movie.
I’ll discuss the points that I liked in the movie here. And I’m not totally confident that it would come out in a proper structure.
Disclaimer: This blog post contains spoilers. Please watch the movie before reading this. John Wick will be referred to as JW from hereon in this post.
The film starts with the JW punching the bag (the camera only shows the punching bag with his blood stains and left hand punching it), and we slowly start whistling and screaming by looking at the glimpses of Baba Yaga.
The Bowery King asks him, “Are you ready, John?”
The camera slowly turns towards John, revealing his face, and he responds with the same answer we all are waiting for, “YEAH!”
He then goes to the Desert and starts his hunt after asking for the ring he gave as fealty (Part 3).
At the same time, the Table gives Marchese all powers to kill John Wick. To begin with, he demolishes the New York Continental in front of Winston and Charon and kills Charon, Winston’s Concierge at the New York Continental.
What follows is the action spectacle that beholds your breath and makes you root for John Wick.
Characters
Coming to the characters, this chapter introduces us to some remarkable characters -
Caine, a skilled blind man who offers his eyes as fealty and is obliged to be of service as he wants his daughter alive.
Mr Nobody, a young assassin who wants to bag a big reward for killing JW, takes the help of his loving dog, his emotional support.
Shimazu, the manager of the Osaka Continental, sacrifices his life for his friend, John Wick.
Akira, the daughter of Shimazu and the concierge of Osaka Continental doesn’t want his family affected by going against the table.
Marchese, the head of the Table, takes the position on the promise of killing John Wick and utilises all Table resources.
I loved the writing of the film in such a way that the characters find it hard to kill each other.
Caine doesn’t wishfully kill any of the Osaka Continental members unless necessary. Though he’s blind, it doesn’t make him less effective. He savours noodles while other members of the Table are finding it hard to fight back the Osaka members, and he drinks the last bit of the soup and then takes charge.
Even in the climax, Caine wants to have a duel with JW, and he doesn’t want JW to die before the duel. Thorough gentleman in action as he fights the assassins who try to kill JW and stop him from reaching the Church.
Shimazu wants to protect his daughter, but he doesn’t divulge the information about JW’s location. Caine, in turn, kills him but doesn’t want Akira to take the sword to have combat with Caine, as he knows the outcome. The emotion is the same; he wants Akira to live as he wishes for his daughter.
Mr Nobody waits until he strikes a deal with Marchese for 40 million USD to kill John Wick when Caine warns him not to take the deal.
There’s a similarity between John Wick and Nobody. Both love dogs and both owe each other. Had John Wick not joined the Table as a communicado at a young age, he’d have led a peaceful life with his loving wife. Caine and John Wick, hence, want Nobody to stay out of this and have a good life.
Mr Nobody is us, the audience, watching the climax of John Wick: Chapter 4 and feeling emotional for the Baba Yaga, Jonathan Wick.
Speaking of Marchese, he’s menacing and doesn’t want John Wick to live. When the old man asks if it was necessary for the damage to happen at Osaka Continental, his response shows how desperate he is to have John Wick dead. He wants the idea of John Wick to die and ensures that everything the idea touches is sabotaged, like the New York Continental and Osaka Continental.
The concierge of New York Continental, Charon, is killed by Marchese, and this hits hard because Charon, played by Lance, recently died. “Goodbye, Friend.”
Towards the pre-climax, Marchese says that there are three types of men who have:
Something to Live For
Something to Kill For
Something to Die For
he mentions that Caine has the reason to win the duel because he wants his daughter alive.
But was he really sure that John Wick had nothing to live for? Not even the memories of his loving wife, which could be the reason for all the above?
The final character is Chidi, who seems to be a secretary for Marchee and also a member of the Table.
This character is that one annoying character that you want the hero to kill immediately, but the annoyance reaches a level where that character gets the death it deserves.
Chidi puts a gun on Mr Nobody’s dog twice, and in the climax, the dog bites him, leaving him immovable, and Nobody shoots him. What the dog does on Chidi left us laughing out loud in that intense climax!
Cinematography
Coming to Cinematography, this film mostly has scenes happening at night or early morning during the sunrise. The cinematographers captured the morning shots by placing the camera against the Sun in the background.
They followed a similar colour pattern as used in previous films of the franchise, mostly red, blue and yellow. I saw a meme today that says all the colours used in JW movies are from the Netflix logo ribbon, lol!
The camera angles and movement have variations for each action sequence.
The first elaborate action sequence in the Osaka Continental happens at night, both indoors and outdoors, with multiple main characters. Gunshots and hand combats have the camera constantly moving without causing any disturbance to the eye.
In Berlin, an action sequence in the Night Club with Rain Dance reminds us of the first part. Here, there are a couple of slow-motion shots, not for the elevation but to make us feel the intensity of the punches by the actors. I think this is the first time in the entire series that they used slow-motion shots (unlike us, who use slow-motion to its death).
The Paris night action sequence is another elaborate one in the second half, and there’s a sequence where JW drives a car with one hand while encircling and firing bullets from the other hand. The audience was going gaga over the scene and was constantly cheering.
There’s an interior action sequence in Paris where the assassins are armed with guns with emblazing bullets. Once shot, the bullets will set the target on fire, literally. The entire fight sequence is shot from a Top Angle while JW is moving from one room to another and killing the assassins with their own weapons. The camera moves, tracking the entire fight sequence from the top angle, and in my opinion, this is one of the finest action scenes I’ve ever seen. It feels like a single-shot effort, as there wasn’t any cut throughout.
The climax action sequence, just before the duel, has low-angle shots that enhance the effect of the action by taking advantage of the stairs towards the Church. Audiences were going “Ayyo” and “Arere, please get up, big bro” when JW is hit by the assassins, and he falls and rolls over the steps as the deadline for the duel approaches.
The duel scene mostly uses wide-angle shots to show both parties, with the rising Sun at one side and the Table representatives at another side.
Music
The music mostly underplays and doesn’t try to dominate the scenes in the movie, although it tries to take us into the world of JW.
Thanks to my friend Puru Kaushik, he added the list of music sources used in the action sequences of this movie:
Osaka Sequences — Phonk and Wick in Osaka
Berlin Sequences — Wetwork and Blood code
Paris Sequences — Quite a mess you made, Hate or Glory, and Wick Rises.
Every action sequence is designed perfectly so that there is a beginning, a middle, and an end. We withhold our breaths until the end of the action sequences, and the audience was cheering towards the end of each sequence where JW relentlessly fights and wins over the assassins.
Every time I thought this was it, he killed people with a pen, a book, fought with swords, and used guns, a lot of them; in this part, he used nunchakus too!
On a lighter note, JW hopefully had a good world tour, from Arabian deserts to Japan to Berlin, New York, and finally to Paris, only in this chapter.
After watching the first part, I was wondering what good they had to offer in the second part. Similarly, after watching the third part, I wasn’t expecting the fourth chapter to be this great, raising the stakes and adding more “wow” factors.
Overall, this is one of the best closures for a legendary character, Jonathan Wick. Thank you, John. You’ll be remembered as
“A Loving Action Hero.”
Coincidentally I watched John Wick: Chapter 4 on the day of RRR’s release, in the Prasads Multiplex on Saturday, 25th March 2023.
