MOVIE REVIEW: “John Wick: Chapter 4” takes a shot at the box office

The highly anticipated film, “John Wick: Chapter 4”, hit theaters on March 24. Described as an American neo-noir, the series is an action thriller-style film. It continues exactly where the previous film, “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum”, left off. John Wick is trying to exact revenge against the High Table organization and does so by moving in the shadows. The movie throws viewers directly into the action that fans of the franchise have come to expect.

Fighting fire with fire

The star-studded cast in “John Wick: Chapter 4” did not disappoint; it elevated the film franchise to a whole other level. Keanu Reeves plays John Wick and has since the franchise began. Some of the stars acting alongside him are Donnie Yen,  Bill Skarsgård, Laurence Fishburne, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Lance Reddick, Rina Sawayama, Scott Adkins and Ian McShane. On top of being outstanding actors and actresses, many of these names are legends in the martial arts film community. That detail lends greatly to this film’s combat sequences.

The film’s cinematography is absolutely stunning. The setup for each frame and scene is near perfect. Additionally, the lighting design enhanced the ambiance of each scene. As per usual, the fight choreography was top-notch and second to none. The film clocks in at 2 hours and 40 minutes long, but it never dragged on.

Well worth the wait

“John Wick: Chapter 4” was originally set to release on May 21, 2021. However, due to COVID-19 safety concerns, it faced delays.

Critics gave the movie overall positive reviews and praised it for its production values, cinematography, visual style, musical score, action sequences and performances. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 95%, AV Club grades the film at a B- and Metacritic hands out a respectable 78 out of 100. Fans are coming in with a 95% review as well through Rotten Tomatoes. The film was also able to gross $73.5 million on its opening weekend, breaking the franchise’s record.

The film is easily a must-see for fans of martial arts and gun-fu-style films. Production quality alone is a reason to go see it, because it offers a dark, grungy feel, but is still full of well-choreographed action scenes.