John Wick: Simplistic But Impressive

Houses are built with bricks, and I will admit that bricks are not the most graceful items on the planet. Nevertheless, they're a completely necessary item for the advancement of civilization. Some movies are more akin to a fresco, and others are closer to a brick wall. I'm the type of person who realizes that a fresco cannot exist without a sturdy wall, which is why I don't completely discount simple movies like John Wick. A fundamental story told well can still make for a good time and even a good learning opportunity, providing insight into what works and doesn't work about these kinds of stories.

As you'd expect me to say, not everything about John Wick clicks. The Baba Yaga can't escape some of the more heavy-handed tendencies hot on his heels, tendencies like non-stop sentimental flashbacks when just one would have sufficed. His legacy is not a subtle one either, and this is in many ways why the bombastic nature of the John Wick franchise works. The weight behind the name of John Wick is tangible, and whenever someone in this movie so much as mentions it, they say it as if it's some manner of ancient, forbidden curse. We're first shown John's life and then what he was capable of in his past, making him first a man, second a dangerous legend, and third, the type of person you should never mess with.

The action sequences of John Wick are the building blocks (bricks?) for it and for the sequels that came after, and though the action of the first installment is rudimentary when held up to the heights of balletic brutality in its subsequent sequels, it's still top-notch, wonderfully choreographed, and boldly savage. These fight sequences are occasionally closer to a dance than they are a battle, an intriguing technique. The story comes second in John Wick, and it is a highly familiar one, a minimalistic revenge fantasy about as subtle and complex as a bullet to the head. It's used less as a narrative tool and more as a vessel for an excellent command of action sequences, which I have mixed feelings about due to a virtual lack of any complexity here. This movie tends to prioritize style over substance, but I will say that its style made it famous for a reason.

John Wick stripped the very concept of the action movie down to its bare bones, focusing intently on what exactly about its genre makes it different from other genres. And while this minimalism can be problematic for the overall complexity or lack thereof, it's easy for me to see why this franchise became so popular in the first place. It's all of the pulse-pounding exchange of gunfire with none of the troublesome deep thinking, and while this limits the movie in some ways, it frees it in others, letting John Wick off the chain to be something too many movies forget to be: fun. Its action sequences are famously top-notch, and this first entry laid the groundwork for a surprise breakout franchise. It turns out you don't need to be complex to be successful.

John Wick - 7/10

Matthew 26:50-54