(SPOILER WARNING!!! This article does contain spoilers, if you haven’t seen the movie, just see the first paragraph to be informed without spoilers!!!)

John Wick can be a typical, same old hit man/revenge movie with typical Keanu Reeves acting, but the movie’s action and fighting scenes makes it entertaining to watch. Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars.

I do have a love/hate thing with Keanu Reeves. I mean he has made some memorable movies like Speed, The Matrix trilogy, and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (I remember the cereal for that movie). However almost every movie he always sounds like a surfer dude that is trying hard to act. That has always bothered me when I watched Reeves in his movies. I always said this about him, Reeves is one of the worst actors that gets good movie roles. Some worked, but others go horribly wrong like A Walk in the Clouds and 47 Ronin. It looks like now he is coming back from a hiatus and starting to come back to action movies where he really does best. Let’s see if John Wick is a start of things to come. I will start with what I liked, to the so so, to what I didn’t like.

What I like, let me start with these new directors of this movie with David Leitch and Chad Stahelski. They really directed a visually stunning masterpiece. The way they showed how New York City shined at night, the way they used the black light to give a nice visual shine, and the way they choreographed the fight and action sequence. They made the most from a weak script, and I give them a lot of credit. I believe we’ll be hearing from these guys again in the near future. What really blew me away was the action, it was down to Earth, but painfully effective. My favorite scene is the whole action scene at the club, the way the directors used the black light effectively to really show the action and what is going down during the scenes. It wasn’t to dark where you can’t see what’s going on, and it was a pleasurable view for your eyes to watch. They didn’t even use the overdone slow motion to make the action effective. It was effective in it’s own way. I also liked the angle of how they have a hotel called The Continental, which is used as a safe haven for all hit men to stay and do their business. What was interesting to me that they have a strict set of rules that protects the hit men that stays there. It made me say at the beginning, “What if they do break the rules at the hotel?” Then the movie showed why when Ms. Perkins, played by Adrienne Palicki, decided to break that protocol and try to kill John Wick, played by Keanu Reeves while he is resting at his room. Once the owner, Winston played by Ian McShane, found out, he killed her. So that answers my question. I liked the hotel’s concierge, Charon played by Lance Reddick, in his jargon of helping these hit men become comfortable. The hotel angle was real interesting for me in how it plays out. There must be many needed hit men in New York I guess to have a hotel for them. I also enjoyed how they use the subtitles in the movie. Instead of a plain white lettering at the bottom of the screen. It was designed at different parts of the screen and colorful at times. A cool trick that will probably be overdone in future movies.

The so so, Keanu Reeves as John Wick was what I expected. Reeves acting like a surfer dude who is trying to act, but his John Wick character was a cool character to get to know. John Wick was a powerful hit men who decided to retire after meeting a girl named Helen, played by Bridget Moynahan who becomes his wife, but she eventually dies of a terminal disease. You can tell that their relationship runs deep, because you see how her death really affected John Wick emotionally. As soon as he is trying to regroup himself, he becomes a victim of a senseless robbery taking his vintage Mustang. The thug, Iosev Taranov played by Alfie Allen, who is nothing but a punk really thinking he could do whatever he wants because he is the son of a Russian crime boss, Viggo Tarasov played by Michael Nyqvist, who actually was John Wick’s former boss before he retired. So Iosev thought he beat up a nobody, but instead messed with the most feared assassin of New York and rekindled his skill of violence vowing revenge on him. Viggo, who was the main villain of this film, really wasn’t a smart villain. He knew how dangerous John Wick is and yet he still sends teams of hit men to kill John Wick knowing he will be unsuccessful. I understand you do anything for your son, but it was a dead end road for him. He could’ve walked away, but instead he pushes John Wick’s buttons some more which lead to his death. He is definitely not a memorable villain. Like Ian McShane playing Winston, there were a lot of good actors with very minor roles. Like John Leguizamo playing a chop shop owner who was there for like 3 minutes of the movie. Such little time for a respected actor. Also, Willem Defoe played another hit man named Marcus who played a minor twist in the movie where you thought he was really going to kill John Wick for $2 Million from Viggo, but he was really protecting him on his revenge scheme. That lead to him getting killed off by Viggo after being snitched on by Ms. Perkins which lead to John Wick killing Viggo. Which leads me to believe that Viggo is a real dummy, especially when he had him tied up and could’ve killed him quickly, which lead to a decent acting point by Keanu Reeves, but in a usual cliched moment he just talks and let’s his thugs kill him which they failed.

What I didn’t like, the story in general was a cliched hit men/revenge movie. Nothing new, and the action really saved this movie. If not, this movie would be dead in the water. One scene which really got me sad is when Iosev was robbing John Wick and they killed his puppy which was the last gift his wife gave him when she died to help mend his loneliness. I hate seeing animals get killed, cuz that dog was so cute and innocent and she was just scared of what’s going on. Then she just gets stomped on. That moment leads to John Wick’s revenge but it shows how close he got with his dog and why it is important to him, cuz it’s his last real memory of his wife.

Overall, if you’re watching this movie for a unique storyline, don’t bother, but if you’re watching it for the action, you’re in for a treat. The action really saved this movie, and made it enjoyable to watch. However, Keanu Reeves still acts like a surfer dude trying to act. Final Rating 3.5 out of 5 Stars.

(Sidenote: The Fault in Our Stars- I know what I’m bout to say, girls will hate me, so here goes. This movie was a chick flick at it’s finest, which are not my type of movies. It is a teenage love story involving two teens who find a relation with their terminal illnesses. I like how the movie shows the different terminal illnesses that people have to deal with and how it could affect their families. It was greatly acted by Shailene Woodley as Hazel Grace Lancaster who plays a girl with thyroid cancer who falls in love with a boy named Augustus Waters, played by Ansel Elgort, who is suffering from bone cancer. One of my favorite parts in this movie is when they go to Amsterdam to meet Hazel Grace’s favorite author, Peter van Houten played by Willem Defoe, but ends up to be a complete jerk to them. Just shows that whoever you consider your true heroes, are probably not as great as you think they are. The movie did have a lot of emotion, especially when Augustus dies, but it just didn’t do it for me. Other movies made it more emotional for me, but not this one. (Now I will run away from a group of angry girls.) Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars.)