John Wick
Writer: Derek Kolstad
Cast: Keanu Reeves (John Wick), Michael Nyqist (Viggo Tarasov), Alfie Allen (Iosef Tarasov), Willem Dafoe (Marcus), Dean Winters (Avi), Adrianne Palicki (Ms. Perkins), Omer Barnea (Gregori), Toby Leanard Moore (Victor), Daniel Bernhardt (Kirill), Bridget Moyahan (Helen), John Leguizamo (Aurelio), Ian McShane (Winston), Bridget Regan (Abby), Lance Reddick (Hotel Manager/Charon), Keith Jardine (Kuzma), Tait Fletcher (Nicholai), Kazy Tauginas (Ivan), Alexander Frekey (Alexander), Thomas Sadoski (Jimmy), Randall Duk Kim (Continental Doctor), David Patrick Kelly (Charlie), and Clarke Peters (Harry).
The story begins with John Wick (Keanu Reeves), bloodied, struggling to get out of the SUV. He managed to crawl to the nearest wall, Breathing heavily, pulling out his phone, a recording of the past events, a picturesque moment, the last days with his wife Helen (Bridget Moyahan). His memories flood in as the present quickly becomes the past, his memories on how everything started flashed before him, the moment when memories becomes reality. John Wick getting up in the morning, putting on his suit, getting ready to go to his wife's funeral, her friends giving him condolences, even Marcus (William Dafoe) giving him his version of comfort, but John has left that part of his life when he met Helen, all that matters now is his home, and memory of his wife. Watching Helen here at the funeral reminds him of the moment in the hospital; a kiss, his best friend died, and now those emotions are inside waiting to come out, but all he can remember is the day Helen passed out, he quickly grabbed her before she fell, that day, it haunts him, that memory will always be with him.
On that very night, a delivery man arrives for John to sign papers, a small beagle. John (Reeves) finds a note from Helen, which she wrote him that he must make peace with her death, like she knew this was going to happen. The dog has a collar, a flower printed on it, John Wick (Reeves) figured out the name of the dog, Daisey. Helen loved Daises, so the dog must be it's name. The little beagle named Daisey follows John into his Mustang. Stops at a gas station, when three Russian Mobsters, one interested in John's ride, walks over, looks at the car and compliments it. Isof Tarasov (Alfie Allen) asks how much for the car, John responds with "Not for sale."
Iosef Tarasov (Alfie Allen), son of the Russian Mobster, Viggo Tarasov (Michael Nyqvist) is angry at John, he wants the ride, nobody turns down a Tarasov. Later that evening John is ready for bed, Daisey needs to go out, they both go down stairs, when two men come from the shadows, suddenly a bat hits John on the head, one of the men beats John, while the other breaks Daisey's neck. The third guy removes his mask revealing Iosef Tarasov (Alfie Allen). The actions are done, the home invaders take the Mustang, leaves John bloody, messy, his last hope of ever getting over Helen is gone, those punks made sure of that.
The three Russian mobsters go to Aurelio (John Leguizamo), a shop that deals with stolen cars, Iosef (Allen) brags about the car, but Aurelio recognizes it, quickly gets angry, so angry that he strikes young Iosef in the face. The Russian associates that came along, draw their weapons, but in the same instances, Aurelio's men all have the Russians surrounded, tells him to leave his shop, business will not be conducted here. Afterwards Viggo Tarasov (Michael Nyqvist) calls Aurelio, only to find out that his son and his stupid friends, steal, and kill John Wick's car.
Later that night after John confirms with Aurelio that the Russian punks are indeed Viggo's men, and his son Iosef Tarasov (Alfie Allen) had stolen his Mustang. Afterwards John Wick goes down to the basement, finding his sledgehammer, he begins to strike the ground, hidden beneath it is a stash of gold coins and his personal arsenal. That very night Viggo Tarasov (Michael Nyqvist) sends 12 men to kill John Wick(Reeves), his men are easily taken out. The noise, and gunfire draws law-enforcement out, the officer asks if he is back in business, they both look at each other, but no response. The clean up crew arrives, the guys that clean here are not the usual clean up crew, but these guys are different. John pays them with a gold coin, everything is back to normal... At least his house is, but the rage that begins to build within makes John continue to his next action, find and kill the son of Viggo Tarasov (Michael Nyqvist). The memories are coming in, his wife, all she stood for, the way those mobsters killed Daisey. His path is set, John Wick will come out retirement.
Rant: "They know your coming," Viggo Tarasov. "Of course.. But it won't matter," John Wick. The good, the bad and the ugly is the focal point, and strong moral to this very well done action film. Let's start with the good. The film establishes John being tormented by the death of his wife Helen, and it's early on in the film, in fact it starts off bringing you in the world of a retired Hitman. His wife died, the actress Bridget Moynahan is in the film for about 8 seconds, she is viewed through an iphone, a video of both husband and wife, enjoying each other. Love the way Reeves acted in the scenes with him looking at the video, it was deep, his connection with his wife was strong, it was felt, not because of the video, but how he reacted. The sweet little beagle in the film, not a major character, but for a dog, that cute little bug played a huge role. The dog was the fuel for John's revenge. The bad are the Russian Mobsters, but to give them credit, it was the head-guys son who really went above and beyond and managed to piss off the wrong guy. Now if the mob would've just left the dog alone, this film would be about John and his dog going out together on hits, OK maybe that's a bit much, but it would be a cool idea. The funny thing is that dog could've been a real focal point, either way the path which lead John down that road of blood all started because of a young punk's son thinking he knew how to handle a situation, but instead it went out of control. The ugly is the circumstances throughout the film, the way everything was handle, by Viggo and John Wick. What if John would've accepted the phone call from Viggo, come to an understanding, then the film wouldn't be what is is, a revenge film.
The actors all did a wonderful job, down to the bartender at the club, and the Continental Hotel management, played by Lance Reddick. A big time actor playing that role really did it for me. Ian McShane as Winston, the part of the owner of the Continental was amazing, although his part was small, it was an important role. The Hotel was a medium, a secured, fun, place where all mobsters, hitmen, all the bad guys can relax and enjoy before their next mission, operation, or hit.
I especially loved the fight scenes, they way it was filmed, the realistic fighting scenes caught my attention, it was the way those scenes went, the punches, grabs, hits, while shooting a firearm had me at hello. Not only were the fights good, the delivery was intense as well. The changes of direction while fighting, and quickly using the guns John Wick had to his disposal, was amazing. The jujutsu fighting style, the use of head throws and arm throws make up the scenes well. The fight scene with Ms. Perkins, she uses a Brazillian Jiu-jitsu, a Kimura shoulder lock, the crucifix postion with the use of her leather jacket as a GI to perform a wing choke while fighting Wick was an example of a perfect fight scene. The filmmakers paid attention to detail, and it paid off.
The film's story may not be award winning, but it does it's job as a revenge film, at least it had Reeves as a hitman, but not a cop going on a rampage, dealing with the mob, alone. The fact that he was a true killer, with some morals did it for me. Sick and tired of the same old Hollywood, cop gets beat up by mob, so then he goes all revenge like. This film has a unique twist, it manages to not pull the punches, instead it releases energy the right way. Even the way Wick handled his guns was right. The usual, i have 14 rounds in my clip but i fired the gun 100 times without reloading is insane. The fact that he was reloading, taking the time to find cover was awesome, a level of realistic scenes that to me, made the film. The filmmakers realistic take made the film enjoyable.
All in all this film was really good, yes it has language, violence, but with that being said it is worth the time and energy to see it. In fact i liked this film so much, i could've talked about the scene in the club, where Keanu Reeves has a fever, and a temperature of 104 degrees, the cool part is he still filmed that scene. Or i could've mentioned how close he was to the beagle, Daisy in the film. The dog really won his heart, those things you don't hear about, but read about them after the film was out a bit. Really puts you in a very different place, and the trivia exposes the actors personality, and gives the film more of a lift in my opinion.
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