A man mourns the loss of his wife after she succumbs to illness. On the evening of her funeral, a courier delivers an unexpected surprise: a rambunctious puppy, the final gift from a wife who knew her husband would wallow in misery and solitude. A gift of unconditional love, a reason to get up in the morning, and a blessed chance to not be alone.
When some Russian mobsters kill his dog while stealing his car, he loses his connection to life and becomes an instrument of death. Because he isn’t just anybody. He’s John Wick. A former hitman — the best in the business — who previously worked for the same mob that just executed his puppy, and he’s going to get his revenge. The perpetrator of the offense? The son of his old boss.
Obviously what transpires from here is an orgy of amazing violence and action, and it’s flat-out amazing at doing that, but where John Wick really shines is in balancing all that carnage with great storytelling — even if the story itself is pretty basic.
There’s a staggering amount of world-building on display here. John’s old life operates in a clandestine, organized underworld of wealth and secrecy. It’s a place of spoken and unspoken rules, neon-lit nightclubs, backroom dealings, specialized waste disposal services (to haul away bodies), a hotel for hitmen, and even its own currency — gold coins which not only act as tokens but ensure a high cost of entry.
The cast is full of great actors in roles large and small. Keanu is channeling his deepest control, yet also seething with rage as the somber lead. Alfie Allen (Games of Thrones’ Theon Greyjoy) plays the turd who killed his dog and stole his car, and Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist takes a great turn as his father, the Russian mafia kingpin who also happens to be Wick’s old boss, and Dean Winters is quite funny (yep, funny — there’s actually a lot of dark humor built into this film) as his top enforcer. Ian McShane and John Leguizamo show up in small but important supporting roles, as does David Patrick Kelly, as a cleanup specialist who hauls bodies away for a fee.
The show-stealer though, is Willem Dafoe, an equally skilled hitman and former associate of John who is hired by the bad guys to take John out. He always seems to be one step ahead of not only the film’s characters, but the audience as well, and the great pleasure in his character is that we’re initially unsure if he’s hunting John or helping him. Interestingly, his sniper skillset is a long-range counterpoint to John Wick’s lethal martial arts and point-blank approach.
Complementing all the carnage is a great heavy rock and electronic soundtrack by Tyler Bates and others that keeps thing driving forward. The combination of fist-pumping action and fist-pumping music may result in double-fist-pumping, but that’ll disturb your neighbors so just do it mentally as you take in this absolutely enjoyable action thriller.
How much did I love John Wick? I started culling my Top 10 List for 2014 just so I could put this at the top of it.
A/V Out.