Just came back from an early screening for John Wick Chapter 4. Here is my non-spoiler review. In a word, if you enjoyed the previous John Wick movies, you will like this very much. I don't know how director Chad Stahelski did it, but somehow he managed to top his previous entries in the series to create even more inventive, violent, over-the-top yet throughly enjoyable action scenes. There is just this energy to the fight scenes that makes you glue to the screen.
The movie is almost a non-stop reel of Keanu Reeves shooting, punching, kicking and stabbing his way through countless disposable baddies. In a way, that structure resembles a video game in how the player has to fight through a series of villains and heavies to get to the ultimate boss. Normally comparing a movie to a video game isn't a good sign, but in this case, I am saying it as a praise.
I also like the new characters like "Caine" played by Donnie Yen. His fans may know him from his Ip Man role and his Hong Kong action films, but he hasn't really had a lot of decent Hollywood roles to allow his martial arts talent to display on screen to international audiences. Here in John Wick 4 though, Yen really delivers his powerful fighting skills we only saw a glimpse of in Rogue One. Another character is "Tracker/Mr. Nobody", played by Shamier Anderson, I like how his character developed in the movie, but I won't go into detail so as not to spoil it for you.
As for Keanu Reeves, well, he delivers his trademark Keanu style acting, saying "Yeah" a lot. His critics tend to dismiss his acting ability and I suppose this film won't win any of his critics over. But there is no question even when he is approaching 60, he is still a top action star that can do his own stunts and do it convincingly. The way he rampages on screen as Wick in this latest movie is very impressive.
So all-in-all, if you like action and martial arts movies, go see John Wick 4.
