Lesson learned: don't get on retired legendary hit-man John Wick's bad side. In the film of the same name, he goes back into action shooting up bad guys in a city where it seems that the cops have all simultaneously taken a vacation. Played by surprisingly youthful quinquagenarian Keanu Reeves, John Wick's style of shooting baddies is reminiscent of my days playing Whac-A-Mole, Duck Hunt, or any of those arcade games with the plastic guns. Wick is a vengeant superman, and this is the basis of the entire movie. Although he doesn't have a clear weakness that can be exploited like most heroes, Wick does get into enough trouble for the audience to be sincerely worried about him.
If you're planning on seeing John Wick because you like movies with clever or meaningful story lines, then you're going to be disappointed. If you are looking for raw well- choreographed action and machismo, then look no further. House Greyjoy's Alfie Allen stands out as villainous Russian mafia brat Iosef Tarasov, and Michael Nyqvist (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) plays Viggo, his mob boss father. Adrianne Palicki, Willem Dafoe, Ian McShane and Dean Winters round out a strong supporting cast.
Overall, I enjoyed John Wick as a pure action film. It doesn't have a storyline like The Matrix or Speed, but it was visually entertaining and the simplicity of the story allowed for appreciation of the action. This movie is manly and primitive, and proves that at the age of 50, Keanu Reeves can still mix it up as an action star.
