Reviews

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  ★★★★ review by Sam Van Hallgren on Letterboxd

  Like if Damien Chazelle had studied murder in college instead of jazz.

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  ★★★★ review by SilentDawn on Letterboxd

  Hello everyone, take the John Wick quiz to see if It's right for you! (In all honesty, every single person on Earth should see this piece of badassery.)

  1. Do you like to watch Keanu Reeves kicking ass?

  2. Do you like to watch Keanu Reeves shooting many bad people in the face?

  3. Do you like to watch Keanu Reeves ramming his car into other cars?

  4. Do you like to watch Keanu Reeves punching bratty mob members in the genitals?

  5. Do you like moody and neo-noirish cinematography, in the vein of Drive and Only God Forgives?

  6. Do you like perfectly timed comedic moments with action sequences?

  If you answered yes to any of these questions, see this when it comes out. Please.

  Seriously, this is the meanest, most unforgiving, and most intense film to be released since The Raid 2. Except it has Keanu Reeves. I'm not kidding here, he's back in the grandest and most operatic way possible. Welcome home Keanu, we missed you.

  Overall, this is a nasty piece of moody film-making that feels like a shorter version of a spaghetti western. Except it has Keanu Reeves. This was one massive surprise, and please support this when it releases.

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  ★★★★ review by Todd Gaines on Letterboxd

  Keanu Reeves as John Wick, a grieving widower who finds comfort in a sweet puppy dog named Daisy. The comfort is short lived when a gang of thugs makes the worst mistake of their lives. The mistake? They killed the wrong badass motherfucker's dog. That critical error wakes up the sleeping killing machine inside of John Wick and he goes all Point Break Speed Matrix on the Russian Mafia and everyone else that's in his way in this action packed bullet flying adrenaline rush flick that reminds the world that Keanu Reeves is still around and he's as awesomely awesome as ever. Waves. Blood. Rain. Black umbrellas. Willem Dafoe has that "you don't won't to fuck with me" look. I don't think he's acting. I think he's for real. I wanna grow a John Wick beard. Theon Greyjoy acting all cocky and being a total dick. Daisy the Dog deserves to be in the Dog Hall of Fame right next to Gordon the Dog from Friday the 13th Part IV. She's so cute and cuddly and loves to eat cereal. John Wick screams badass. Keanu drives a Mustang like he stole it. He shoots a gun like no other, and he can fight like he's straight outta The Raid. It's like John Woo and Gareth Evans collided and made John Wick from their DNA. John Wick might be the greatest marksman ever. The way he handles a gun is action porn. John Wick gives a new meaning to dinner reservations. Trust me, you don't want him making reservations for you. What the fuck is Adrianne Palicki doing in this film? Not my first or twentieth choice for a lethal assassin. Mikael without Lisbeth and he makes an okay central baddie. The problem with the bad guys in John Wick is I liked the smaller role baddies more. Theon's pals are more interesting than Theon. Mikael who plays the Russian Mafia Boss Viggo has a bodyguard named Kirill who looks cool as fuck and is a pretty damn good fighter and a wise cracking advisor Mr. Mayhem himself Dean Winters. Both characters are a lot more interesting than their boss. But it really doesn't matter because Keanu owns John Wick. He does get some help from the always reliable Dafoe and Ian McShane's character is absolutely hilarious in a brief, but vital cameo. The plot is super simple. The action is non-stop once it gets going. The score is Rock N' Roll badass. The directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelski have a stunts background and you can tell. The action choreography is off the chain. I'm in awe of the sheer fun of John Wick. It might not be the best film of 2014, but it comes damn close to being my favorite film of the year. Do you think Johnny Utah is a badass motherfucker? If you do, please watch John Wick. You won't regret it.

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  ★★★½ review by DirkH on Letterboxd

  What do you write about a film that is exactly what it is, without pretense?

  Not too much:

  - Wick is slick.

  - Reeves has almost no lines.

  - ^ this is a good thing.

  - Reeves is 50 years old.

  - ^ WTF?

  - John Wick is the best comic book adaptation of something that was never a comic book.

  - Wick's Bitch.

  - ^ sadface

  - John Wick is the best video game adaptation of something that was never a video game.

  - ^ Apparently John Wick will become a playable character in Payday 2. Rumours say that motion capturing Reeves' face was the cheapest job ever.

  - 15 minutes less and this would have been just about perfect.

  - Michael Nyqvist is absolutely hilarious.

  - John Wick has about twenty moments of 'John Wick walking away with gritty guitar music playing in the background'.

  - This is also a good thing and would make for a great drinking game.

  Yep. That's about it.

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  ★★★★ review by Evan on Letterboxd

  Johnny Utah is back!

  Theon Greyjoy proves once again that he's a huge A-Hole.

  Keanu Reeves haters just cut it out.

  Up until about a month ago, I had never heard of this film. When I first heard about it, I had no plans to see it because I figured it was just going to be another Jack Reacher type of movie. Early reviews starting coming in, and my interest certainly grew. Well, I'm very glad that my initial perception was completely wrong.

  John Wick is right up there with The Raid 2 as the two best action films of 2014. It's no secret that I'm a big fan of action films. Give me an adequate story and bad ass action and I will be satisfied. The movie effectively makes us want Reeves to succeed and makes us really hate the person/people he's after. Although, the event that set him on his path of revenge really pissed me off. Keanu Reeves owns this role. Very glad to see him excel in a film. It's certainly been a little while, but his old 90s self is back and hopefully here to stay!

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