I remember the last time I had a movie night. It was just me and a few friends, and we were all still up at midnight talking shit about Pacific Rim. It was fun.
It was fun because Pacific Rim is one of those movies you can just make fun of. On top of being a good action movie (it's about robots fighting aliens, what's not to like) it's just so ridiculous as a premise that you can't help but laugh at it.
And that brings me onto the movie I watched tonight: John Wick.
Okay, so the basic premise: Keanu Reeves is John Wick, an ex-gangster who got out and got married. When his wife dies he is surprised to find she has left him a gift: a puppy, to make sure he doesn't have to grieve alone. From the few scenes we get with the dog, it could well have been a light-hearted comedy about a widower learning how to be happy again with the help of his canine companion had it chosen that direction. From this premise, it could've been a bizarre rom-com. But the introduction of some Russian gangsters sends it spiralling into an over-the-top revenge flick, as the mob steals his car and kills his dog. Now out for blood, John is on a mission to kill the man who killed his dog, who also happens to be the son of the mob boss.
The premise alone is a little thin on the ground, and the speed with which the film dispenses with the story leaves little room for emotion on behalf of the dead we should care about. But the story gives way to savage action sequences, and Reeves really shines during the fights. The action is fast and clean thanks to good cinematography, and the tension builds in between through quiet set pieces. The physical side of the movie is spot-on, people get thrown around, stabbed, shot, you really see John Wick as a force to be reckoned with.
Which is what makes it so ridiculous. I just can't see Keanu Reeves as this unstoppable force: he's got these puppy-dog eyes and a blank expression, he really doesn't fit in when the likes of Willem Dafoe and Ian McShane make up the rest of the mob. There are few times throughout the movie where he comes off as the crazed killer he's shown to be, although props to his physical acting, he really sells in the beginning. He just looks too clean to be with these grizzled old men he's supposed to have worked with and known all his life. This effect stacks, of course, with the ridiculous premise. And the movie can't decide on a tone: much of the time, it's played completely straight, but the sheer hilarity of the plot sees slips in the mask of seriousness; a lot of the scenes are simply funny because of the situation. The mob elite, including boss Viggo, are ridiculous characters, they're not exactly stereotypes but they're not very serious at all, and the Colonial Hotel and its clientele (strictly mob and ex-mob, both staff and guests) are ridiculous and more than a little campy. It doesn't help that Iosef, the lad who killed Wick's dog, is little more than a petulant teenager. The good news is, he's dealt with relatively quickly.
That's part of the fun, too: the revenge keeps escalating. Wick's dog was killed, so he kills Iosef. In return, Viggo kills one of Wick's friends on the mob. And so it goes; each revenge is switched out with another, and then another, and so the story goes. It wouldn't surprise me if they made a sequel with someone trying to get even more revenge on John.
So John Wick is a ridiculous movie. I think we can all agree on that. But what makes it fun is the gentlemanly way everyone goes about their business. There's a certain classiness to all of the actions taken, and Keanu Reeves' laconic manner helps keep everything understated, along with minimalist sets and shooting. Everything is very clean, very polite, very professional - the mob mechanics are played completely straight, so when things begin to spiral and we end with a rain-drenched fight at a helipad involving a lot of guns and some very messy car fu, there's such a contrast.
It's a weird movie to review - there's very little substance to it, but the action is very good and there's more character and story to it than you'd expect. It's well-shot, good-looking and it's not flashy. I'd have to say, it's as understated as the gangsters it emulates, and that's perhaps not a good thing. It's ridiculous, but it's forgettable. It's something you can put on and laugh at with your friends on film night.
Adieu!
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