Pay attention to the Greek mythology references.
John Wick is a really weird film, isn’t it?
Like… I really love it. It’s the best thing Reeves has made since The Devil’s Advocate. (I’m an aficionado of devil movies and Devil’s Advocate is criminally underrated. It somehow manages to be a southern gothic film that’s almost entirely set in NYC. I digress tho.)
But I can’t quite ever explain to people why I love John Wick. Because every time I try I get three sentences in and realize “I’m basically describing every single other revenge film starring a white dude with a dead wife ever made, even if this one doesn’t involve revenge BECAUSE of the dead wife.” I mean, it’s beautifully shot, and wonderfully acted, but aside from that it doesn’t sound like anything special. And I can’t articulate why I think it’s a very good movie. I just know that I think it is one.
I’m not sure it needed a sequel, tho. And the way the sequel is being marketed really gives me pause. The first one was… very restrained in many ways, it used a light touch. I’m very worried that they’ll think they needed to go bigger.
Eh. A great action movie doesn’t have to have a good story. The Raid: Redemption’s story is paper-thin, but the setting is so clearly established and the action is so amazingly done that it’s great anyway.
Indeed, I would argue there’s a lot of great action movies which are great because the story is so simple: the Seven Samurai/the Magnificent Seven, Die Hard, Mad Max: Fury Road, etc.
And I probably should have said that John Wick is great because the combat choreography is really well done in a very uncommon super-stripped down fashion.
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