Director: Chad Stahelski
Screenplay by: Shay Hatten and Michael Finch
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Laurence Fishburne, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Lance Reddick, Rina Sawayama, Scott Adkins, Clancy Brown, and Ian McShane.
Country: USA
Running Time: 169 min
Year: 2023
The modern landscape of action cinema is beyond interesting to me. While in the 80s, we had our Stallone’s and our Schwarzenegger’s, the 2010s didn’t really offer the same calibre of “action stars”, at least not in the mainstream. In direct-to-video films, we have legends such as Scott Adkins and Tony Jaa giving us stuff like Avengement, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning and Triple Threat, but the mainstream is more focused on the Dwayne Johnson’s and Vin Diesel’s, which don’t get me wrong, can deliver fun thrill-rides from time to time, but there’s a disconnect when all of it is shot in front of a green-screen.
In 2014, after working for years as a stunt coordinator and double, friends Chad Stahelski and David Leitch decide that they’re going to make a small-scale revenge flick with Keanu Reeves, somebody who had been out of the limelight for years but deliver on the elements that audiences had been missing in action films at that time. Style, humour and in-camera action with Reeves doing the majority of his own stunts. The film did moderately well, but when it hit digital and DVD, that’s when the film really hit its stride, finding an audience and prompting Lionsgate to greenlight two sequels, both of which did incredibly well at the box office. And now in 2023, we’re at the fourth chapter of the John Wick franchise. With a budget of $100 million and a gargantuan 169 minute runtime, I was curious if this film would live up to the solid trilogy that preceded it or would end up being too big for its own boots. Thankfully, Chad Stahelski and everybody involved topped all of the previous films and delivered what I’d consider to be the greatest action film of the decade, and potentially of all time.
Chapter 4 continues right where the previous instalment left off, with John being banished from the world of contract killers and assassins. Lawrence Fishburne’s Bowery King opens the film in a grandiose way, hyping both the character of Wick and the audience up for what’s about to come in an overly-theatrical manner that gives me chills. Turning to his last friend in the world, John travels to Osaka, Japan to ask his friend Shimazu Koji for shelter. This doesn’t last though, as Bill Skarsgård’s Marquis, the most powerful member of The High Table, hires everybody at his disposal to eliminate Wick.
The previous films in the franchise had large action set-pieces, sure, some of them going on for upwards of 10 minutes at a time and after the stunning third act of Chapter 3, I was unsure on if they’d be able to go further than they had before but the first real set-piece of the film made all of my worries go away. It’s a huge sequence, that takes place in three locations and has Wick, Koji and former friend of both, Caine (Donnie Yen), massacring people with swords, guns, knives, nunchucks and a cane. It’s great fun and highlights the strengths of the cast and crew, delivering fantastic in-camera action with long takes, great choreography and stunning visuals to boot.
Chapter 4 is by far the most visually stunning film in the franchise so far, with Dan Laustsen’s cinematography delivering some of the most gorgeous shots I’ve seen in the last few years. As you’ll see in the images placed throughout this review, the way lighting is used will satisfy any fan of creative shot-composition and beautiful lighting. In fact, all of the technical aspects of this film are stellar. The production design is vast, giving you these giant locations that feel lived in and perfect for the world of John Wick. The score is great, delivering a range of electronic tracks throughout the litany of bombastic action sequences that really adds to the intensity of each scene.
Although the third act of the film is a half an hour non-stop ride of chaotic action that takes place all across Paris, including a stellar sequence at the Arc de Triomphe as well as the mesmerising Dragon’s Breath one-take scene, my favourite moment in the film has to be with Scott Adkins’ Killa, a German mob boss that John has to kill in order to get re-inducted into his assassin family, the Ruska Roma. Everything involving Wick and Killa is glorious, with Adkins donning a fat suit, an over-the-top German accent and hamming it up to a perfect degree. His entire fight with John in a Berlin nightclub is action perfection and I think it’s by far the most entertaining fight in the film, it, for lack of a better term, rules.
I could sing the praises of John Wick: Chapter 4 for hours, and believe me, I have, but I want people to experience the film for themselves without hearing me go into every single detail about each action scene and every plot-thread. It’s an experience I found to be so enthralling that I checked it out in the theatre three times (!) and revisited on UHD as soon as I had the chance to. It’s a monumental piece of cinema that starts at 10 and somehow continues to ramp it up in terms of exhilarating sequences throughout the near-three hour runtime. It’s a masterclass in action filmmaking, a breath of fresh air for modern blockbusters and probably the most fun you’ll have with an action film this year. It’s magnificent and I couldn’t recommend it enough.
Film: 
John Wick: Chapter 4 is out now via Lionsgate UK on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD and Digital. There’s an array of collector’s editions, steelbooks, limited editions and other retailer exclusive releases. I went with the 4K UHD steelbook shown below, with a lovely slipcover included. On UHD, John Wick: Chapter 4 looks mindblowing. With high bitrates, fantastic HDR implementation and near-perfect encoding, I’d say it’s one of the best films shot digitally I’ve seen on the format so far. The Dolby Atmos audio track included is a beast too, making every gunshot, every punch and fall sound like it’s happening right in front of you. On an A/V level, it’s perfect.
There’s also a selection of bonus features included:
- Chad and Keanu: Through Wick and Thin
- Train Like a Killer
- Making A Killing
- The Psychology of a Killer
- The Blind Leading the Fight
- Suit Up / Shoot Up
- Packing a Punch
- One Killer Shot
- Killing at the Speed of Traffic
- A Shot in the Dark
- In Honor of the Dead
- Theatrical Trailer 1
- Theatrical Trailer 2
Chad and Keanu: Through Wick and Thin – a short featurette speaking about director Chad Stahelski and actor Keanu Reeves’ working relationship.
Train Like a Killer – Showcasing Keanu’s rigorous training for the film. I found it fascinating that Keanu trained with nunchucks for over six months for the one scene that showcases them.
Making a Killing – The cast and crew talk about the cinematography and production design. Seeing how they created the Osaka Continental and the Berlin nightclub was super interesting. One of the more informative featurettes included.
The Psychology of a Killer – Detailing the inner psyche of John Wick and his associates Caine and Shimazu Koji.
The Blind Leading the Fight – An in-depth look at Donnie Yen’s Caine and the influences of his character. It’s great hearing how enthusiastic Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeves are when talking about working with Yen, as well as hearing Donnie himself talk about his time on set.
Suit Up / Shoot Up – A discussion about the costume design with costume designer Paco Delgado.
Packing a Punch – A love letter to the stunt team and choreography in the film.
One Killer Shot – Detailing the impressive Dragon’s Breath one-take action sequence.
Killing at the Speed of Traffic – An interesting look at the Arc de Triomphe set-piece and the intense vehicle training that Keanu undertook.
A Shot in the Dark – A short featurette talking about shooting the film at night.
In Honor of the Dead – A feature dedicated to the films that influenced John Wick: Chapter 4, such as Lawrence of Arabia, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Enter the Dragon and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Also, there’s some love shown for Scott Adkins, which was great to see.
Two theatrical trailers are also included.
The featurettes included are vast and cover an array of topics, but part of me wishes they compiled the entire hour or so of them into a feature-length documentary, as there’s some overlap in the featurettes where the same footage is used. While I enjoyed learning about all aspects of the production, given their short individual runtimes, they felt like they ended right when they began. Overall, it’s a decent selection of features, I would have loved a commentary though.
With John Wick: Chapter 4, Chad Stahelski and company deliver one of the greatest action films I’ve ever seen. It’s grand, huge in scale, jaw-dropping visually and one of the most enthralling pieces of cinema released in quite some time. You know when people say “They don’t make ‘em like this anymore?” That’s what people will say about Chapter 4 ten years from now. It’s an incredible achievement from everybody involved and Lionsgate have treated the film to a stellar home media release, with only minor complaints towards some of the more inconsistent bonus features. If you’re a fan of the John Wick franchise or action films in general, pick this one up immediately.
Disc/Packaging: 