Certain
movies exceed our expectations of their commercial viability/sustainability at
the box office and develop into franchises.
The ‘Transformers,’ ‘Fast & Furious’ and low-rent “jump scare”
horror movies such as those from Lionsgate, Blumhouse Productions or Ghost House Pictures
are just a few examples. Now we can add
‘John Wick’ to the list. What started
out as a one-off, stand-alone revenge B-movie about an assassin who was
reluctantly brought out of retirement because his puppy was killed by the
punk-ass son of a Russian mobster has inexplicably evolved into a genuine
worldwide box office phenomenon.
Don’t
get me wrong, I’m a bonafide fan of this R-rated “assassins-gone-amok”
franchise reminiscent of those stylishly choreographed John Wu “Gun Fu” movies
starring Chow-Yun Fat, which just confirmed a third sequel because JW3 has
toppled ‘Avengers: Endgame’ (albeit in the latter’s fourth weekend) on its way
to the top of the weekend box office.
After violating the most sacred edict of “The Hitman’s Code” in JW2 by
killing within the protective sanctuary of the embassy, I mean Continental
Hotel in New York City, John Wick is on the run for his life with a $14 million
bounty on his head and every hitman and hitwoman within spitting distance gunning
for him. But seriously, don’t feel sorry
for him. Pity those other poor souls who
thought they actually had a chance of taking him down instead.
Once
again, Keanu Reeves lived up to his acting chops and delivered his lines in classic
deadpan seriousness, but that’s perfectly fine because he’s simply being in
character. In fact, the grizzled John
Wick is so cool and mellow in the face of life-threatening danger and hopeless
situations in this bizarro world where assassins rule and can ply their trade
without worrying about law enforcement that he might as well be the robotic
“Terminator” played by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
And like the Terminator, he is a killing machine without peer, racking
up an impressive and blood-soaked bodycount that would even make other one-man
armies like John Rambo, super spies James Bond/Ethan Hunt/Jason Bourne and John
McClane hang their heads in shame.
Grade: B+
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