Final Fight

Once more into the punch-athon; 2023's John Wick: Chapter 4 is, as of now, the final installment. Like the second and third films, the plot is a thin excuse for an endless fight scene. And that's fun, particularly with Donnie Yen now playing one of the villains.

Just like in Rogue One, he plays a blind fighter. This seems to have become his specialty. If Charlie Cox ever stops being Daredevil, Marvel oughta think about Donnie Yen.

The John Wick films exist in a fantasy version of our reality in which no earthly factions or governments matter; there is only the shadowy organisation controlling lavish, criminal hotels worldwide. Now Wick (Keanu Reeves) must defeat an important nobleman (Bill Skarsgard) to settle things once and for all.

Chapter 4 was filmed on location in France, Germany, New York City, and Japan. The first portion of the film is set in Osaka though the only shot that looks like a real location shot is a rooftop dialogue scene in which the city skyline is blurry in the background.

It could be a lot of cities in Japan. Or South Korea. The rest of the segment looks like it was shot on soundstages. It's not as bad as the time Doctor Who went to Osaka but, since the segments in France and Germany feature major landmarks, it would've been nice to see a few famous locations in Osaka. Maybe the Hep Five Ferris Wheel or Osaka Castle. Umeda Station is mentioned but no recognisable part of it is ever shown (googling now, I see all the interiors were shot in Berlin and the two exteriors were shot in Tokyo).

The two Japanese characters, the manager of Osaka's Continental and his daughter (played by Hiroyuki Sanada and Rina Sawayama, respectively) are both played by people who've lived and worked outside of Japan for a long time. None of this really surprises me; it's notoriously difficult for American productions to make anything authentically Japanese in Japan. If you're curious to know more, I recommend listening to Paul Schrader's commentary track for the Criterion edition of his film Mishima, in which he talks about the slow and difficult process of working within the Japanese film industry to really make a movie feel Japanese.

Donnie Yen is so good in this last John Wick movie, all the other fight scenes seem kind of slow in comparison. Maybe they ought to be making a movie centring on his character next.

John Wick: Chapter 4 is available on Starz.

X Sonnet #1805

A cut of joy appeared as shiny knives.
The rampant dark dispersed the shopper's hell.
We build a brick retreat from rusty lives.
A knowing wink precedes the turtle shell.
Where brains were purposed back to heads
Decisive girls assembled stairs of glaze.
Inviting villains gild their golden beds.
Remember eyes were ever made to gaze.
Beyond the glass, the colours streaked across.
Dividing speed from dreams reduced the stress.
Lobotomised, the patient feels no loss.
So science bows before the angry guess.
As justice danced like wisps of smoke at night,
The bitter bot resumes its endless fight.

The Wick Stays Lit

John Wick keeps beating people up in John Wick: Chapter 3--Parabellum. As the series gradually sheds the thin pretense of a story from the first film, it becomes more and more the vicarious video game experience everyone loves.

This time, everyone's trying to kill John (Keanu Reeves), like, everyone in the world or something, but he's killing them every time they try. He's in New York, he's in North Africa, he's some other places with rain slicked streets and neon lights. There's a bald guy who speaks Japanese (Mark Dacascos).

Ian McShane and Laurence Fishburne return and they're joined by Anjelica Huston and Halle Berry. Berry, who I don't recall especially liking in any film before this, is just fine as a woman who beats up and kills people.

Where the first film involved Russian mafia, this third one focuses entirely on the society of assassins who cool their heels at special, ritzy hotels. No-one ever even mentions the cops in this movie. During one scene where Wick is dispatching a couple of guys with knives in a groovy glass room, I got to thinking about what a normal job might have been for Wick before all this happened, before all the drama became about assassins killing assassins over rules at the Continental. Who did John kill professionally? Leaders of state? Businessmen? The movie keeps it's head well above any potential moral complexity. It's hilarious the Wikipedia entry calls this a "neo-noir". Might as well call Seinfeld a neo-noir.

But, wow, that fight choreography. And it just keeps going and going.

John Wick: Chapter 3--Parabellum is available on Netflix.

Another Candle, Sans Wax

How's about a real long fight scene? Try 2017's John Wick: Chapter 2. I only thought the first John Wick was so-so but Caitlin's been talking about the movies a lot in her blog lately so I decided to see the next one. I'm glad I did, it's a big improvement on the first.

Where the first felt like the filmmakers were trying to make a simple revenge story about a hitman, the second feels like they were trying to push themselves as hard as they could to make relentless physical action, with a few moments of dialogue here and there.

One might start to wonder why John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is considered an almost supernatural killer when he barely survives most of these fights. Lucky for him the people wanting to kill him prefer to shoot at his bulletproof vest. And why does he so often strut calmly through the middle of the street? He gets hit by a car for that in one instance--it's a stunt I'm getting kind of tired of, though I suppose it was fairly new in 2017, maybe John Wick 2 was even the first time it was done. A character walks along oblivious and is hit by a car coming into frame suddenly. Average people can hear a car coming at least sometimes, you'd think if Mr. Wick has the confidence to walk out in the open he'd at least have some finely tuned senses.

But those are my few complaints. I liked the hit he was forced to carry out, a beautiful woman (Claudia Gerini) who decides to slit her wrists in her decadent bathtub before Wick can execute her (though the scene would have been better if the filmmakers hadn't felt compelled to hide her nudity). I enjoyed Franco Nero's small role as the manager of the Continental Hotel in Rome. I liked how the first part of the climax takes place in a funhouse but an audio recording explains to the visitor that this is actually an art installation inviting you to contemplate reflection and self and blah blah blah. It's a funhouse someone's selling to rich people as avante garde art. Pretty funny.

John Wick: Chapter 2 is available on Netflix.

Don't Light the Wick

I finally got around to seeing 2014's John Wick. It's not bad. Oddly, my feelings about it are similar to what I had for The Matrix. I thought it was a good movie, though I don't quite understand the fervour people around me seem to have for it.

John Wick, directed by two of Keanu Reeves' stunt doubles from The Matrix, certainly doesn't aim for the philosophical profundity of the Wachowskis' Sci-Fi classic. Part of the appeal of John Wick is its unassuming simplicity. It's about a killer fighting a bunch of killers.

The fact that the Russian mobsters killed his puppy makes Wick slightly more sympathetic, not unlike Alan Ladd's fondness for the kitten in This Gun for Hire. And you can certainly see the influence of John Woo.

It's fun seeing a few high calibre actors in simple supporting roles. John Leguizamo, Adrianne Palicki, Willem Dafoe, and Ian McShane are all terrific, no one of them with a whole lot to do but packing a decent punch with what they have.

The fight scenes are certainly the best part of the film and, as it was made by stunt performers, you can see an understandable fidelity to practical effects.

The writing isn't strong but it's also not ambitious, so it's fine. I wish the cinematography were a little more interesting. There's some attempt at noir-ish shadows but all the pink, blue, and green light kind of evens out to blandness.

Reeves is pretty good as a physical presence.

John Wick is available on Netflix in Japan.

Twitter Sonnet #1643

The inches gathered metric tonnes of cents.
The elephant consumed a patch of pipes.
The rabbit never showed a lick of sense.
A plumber buys the cup the koopa hypes.
The gleeful magnets spread a rumour fast.
Reflected harm was sort of taking hold.
Is something wrong, has something wicked passed?
Is something true because the group was told?
A distant cat was lengthened past an egg.
Retired bottles carried milk in time.
A million eyes would never spot the leg.
'Twas merely shade we glimpsed beneath the brine.
Recumbent candles lift assassin threads.
Expensive joints include exclusive beds.