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Action, Crime, Crime Thriller, Movie Reviews, Movies, Thriller

REVIEW: “JOHN WICK: CHAPTER FOUR (2023) LIONSGATE

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“Have you given any thought to where this will end?”

—–A reasonable question repeatedly posed to Keanu Reeves’ seemingly immortal hitman in this fourth entry.

222 steps. That’s what it will take for John Wick to make it up to decide his fate. There are of course obstacles, so many obstacles.

John Wick (Keanu Reeves), fresh off being shot off a roof by supposed friend Wilson (Ian McShane), at the conclusion of ‘Parabellum’, is on a vendetta to destroy the ‘High Table’, while Bill Skarsgårds‘ Marquis character as he tells us, is a man of exquisite tastes, sets out to take Wick down. And as the ransom rises commensurate with Wick’s kill count, the hunt is on again with the only surprising element being that the ‘High Table’ still has a flood of anonymous assassins to call upon following Wick’s trail of destruction to date.

The continued existence of Wick yields consequences for those who align themselves with him; a brutal truth that is delicately raised by the wonderful Hiroyuki Sanada’s character Shimazu, as another round of thugs descend. But that’s about as deep as it gets – story is secondary, spectacle is everything. And like its predecessors, the film exists in its own unique realm of ridiculousness; a place where Clancy Brown’s ‘Harbinger’ serves an eviction notice by unveiling a massive ornamental hourglass, and where Wick trades dancefloor blows with Scott Adkins’ Wilson Fisk-esque villain while the noticing revellers just continue dancing the night away. But we’ve not come here for social realism – we’re here for the kick ass baddassery of John Wick and the body count. And boy…ask and ye shall recieve

Director Chad Stahelski is an action maestro who, aided by stunt coordinators Scott Rogers and Stephen Dunlevy (yes we NEED a stunt category Oscars), orchestrates a symphony of destruction as electrifying as it is in-your-face. The ballet of violence, all marinated in a neon glaze, is beautifully choreographed and, unbelievably, still manages to pull new tricks out of its blood-soaked bag, whether it be Sanada’s staircase ascent using knives and a witless heavy’s body, or Reeves’ nunchuks razzle dazzle.

And while the set pieces in Osaka and by the Arc de Triomphe will dazzle, it’s also the brillance of the characters. Donnie Yen, as blind assassin Caine, does well, the Donnie Yen thing…and gloriously so.

It’s a veritable buffet of overblown excess, but not without the odd undercooked canape. Lawrence Fishbourne has almost blick and you missed it, little to do scene where he presents Wick with his dry cleaning like a subway-dwelling Q. Shamier Anderson’s bounty hunter ‘Mr Nobody’ is brilliant addition giving us a fresh character that is seemingly hellbent on that ransom to a sadomasochistic degree, making his later decisions a bit on the curious side. And one action set piece on the Sacré-Cœur steps seemingly threatens to go on forever, and it becomes my only gripe as it makes the film drag for a overly long bit of it’s 3hrs run time. But these are just nit-picks because despite being basically the same film for four installments now. Regardless of that ominous runtime, ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ somehow delivers yet another furiously enjoyable slice of bloody mayhem that, bizarrely, doesn’t outstay its welcome. A true experience as when have you ever seen a franchise go better on it’s fourth go in?

Where the series goes next remains to be seen, but it would be remiss to not mention the quiet impact of one of the story’s key contributors – Lance Reddick. His calm yet imposing presence has been one of the joys of this saga, and, in light of the recent sad news, his final line in this chapter couldn’t be more poignant. “It has been an honour, my friend”. Sir, the honour has been all ours. Rest in power my friend, you will be so very missed.

John wick chapter 4 is taken to the next level and by far, one of the best action movies I’ve seen in a LONG time, Extraordinary filmmaking & action sequences with stakes heightened like never before. It completely earns its 3 hr runtime, something you will only rarely ever hear me utter.

Grade: A-

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Review screening: Wednesday, March 8, 2023 ~ Courtesy of Brigade Marketing

JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4 FROM LIONSGATE IS NOW PLAYING IN THEATERS

Action, Action Adventure, Comedy, Marvel Comics, Movie Reviews, Movies

REVIEW: “DEADPOOL 2” (2018) 20th Century Fox

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So yes, in case somehow you’ve been stuck under a rock or living in Wakanda and you’ve missed all the wonderful promos leading into the release of this film, yes, Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) as his alter-ego DEADPOOL are back for another round. And while the laughs and action are still there, your going to be hard pressed to find a movie more over the top than “DEADPOOL 2”. Director David Leitch takes this one to a whole new level entirely and it works namely because the violence here is just creative vs. all blood, guts and gore. And sure, it defies all logic most of the time, but you can’t help but laugh at the zingers being thrown at you left and right throughout and Reynolds’ charm is undeniable.

We come into the film with Williams having settled into something resembling normalcy, kinda right where you expected him to be – spending his days dispatching villains now that he can with those mutant healing powers – they allow him to recover from gunshot wounds or worse. His nights are spent with Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), the love of his life. But some terrible things happen, leaving a depressed Deadpool to crash on the couch at Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters making for some hilarious camp X-Men jokes fall in to place.

We have a mix of some of the old friends, the CGI Colossus (voiced by Stefan Kapicic), Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand), Blind Al (Leslie Uggams), and of course our favourite taxi-driver-wanna-be-super-hero Dopinder (Karan Soni). But we also have a whole new fun group come into play, albeit for some it’s not for long journey – but Peter (Rob Delaney), Zeitgeist (Bill Skarsgård), Vanisher (Brad Pitt), Bedlam (Terry Crews), Shatterstar (Lewis Tan), and Black Tom Cassidy (Jack Kesy) add a fun plot point to the whole film. They are all part of the newly recruited/dubbed ‘X-Force’ group, which seemed like a good idea at the time, but sadly and hysterically I might add, they are gone in quick succession. My personal favourite and one of the last standing through it all, is bad-ass Domino (Zazie Beetz), whose superpower is undeniably “luck”. Our villians could be one of three very different people at various times throughtout. Cable (Josh Brolin) comes into to try to kill Russell aka Firefist (Julian Dennison), who might or might not be ready to step into villian shoes in a big way, or can we call the creepy Headmaster (Eddie Marsan), the biggest villian of the film. That will be for you to decide and see what happens as telling more of this story just defeats the purpose of the fun you will have while watching it. Also, there are cameo moments galore and I hope no one ruins them for you beforehand because they are just plain fun! While I wasn’t crazy about this storyline in comparison to the first one, the one-line zingers are comedy gold. Pay attention as they go fast..very fast.

That being said, go into this movie knowing that it is a campy, corny, over the top superhero/action/comedy that is just about crazy shooting sequences and one-liners, and you’ll be fine. Do not go into this movie expecting deep plot, meaningful conversations among characters, or anything remotely resembling a serious action or drama movie – because that’s not what it’s all about. And yes, this one features the best post credits scene EVER – so don’t make the silly mistake of walking out when the film is over..stay for both sequences..you will be glad you did.

Grade: B+
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Media Review Screening: Monday, May 14, 2018 ~ Courtesy of 20th Century Fox
DEADPOOL 2 WILL BE OUT IN THEATERS NATIONWIDE/WORLDWIDE FRIDAY, MAY 18, 2018

Action, Action Adventure, Movie Reviews, Movies, Mystery, Thriller

REVIEW: “ATOMIC BLONDE” (2017) Universal Pictures

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Ever since Mad Max: Fury Road, I felt as though Charlize Theron could really do no wrong at playing a kick-ass, strong female character – as let’s face it, she should have been nominated for that role. With “Atomic Blonde”, it feels as though what I thought is correct. Theron’s character, Lorraine Broughton is a concoction of James Bond shaken (not stirred) with a bit of John Wick and perhaps even a little Bourne as an added twist of sour lemon. That is of course except for the simple fact that she could probably kick all their asses while barely mussing up her hair.

“Atomic Blonde” isn’t all sex and violence, though yes, it’s what drives the film, as there is a story in here, though I will say it’s not the most well written one. It’s a 80’s spy flick turned upside down as it’s lead character takes us on a thriller of a ride, done mostly in flashbacks during an investigation being conducted by Eric Gray (Toby Jones), and our own CIA exec Emmett Kurzfeld (John Goodman), who seem to be trying to work together here..sort of. With some fantastic 80’s fashion and a soundtrack that is in and of itself, it’s own character, as every song fits perfectly into it’s scene and makes a huge impression on the audience by making you want to stand up and dance, but instead, you sit because you’re being transfixed by some crazy fun, fantastic action scenes.

The setup: Lorraine is an undercover MI6 agent sent to Berlin in the days before the Wall comes down to investigate the murder of a fellow agent and recover a important list that asylum seeking agent code-named Spyglass (Eddie Marsan), which contains the names of double agents that’s fallen into the wrong hands of Aleksander Bremovych (Roland Møller). James McAvoy plays David Percival, a fellow agent who’s probably been in Berlin a little too long as he’s clearly running a black market on the side and doesn’t really seem to be on the up and up agent-wise. Berlin is at the point of time where there are protests every day with the East & West sides wanting the downfall of the infamous Berlin Wall that separates them. So of course with all that going on, it’s in a complete state of chaos which predicates the plot here. Things are changing and changing fast with Lorraine being basically sent into an impossible situation, which in order to stay alive, she’s needs to not only be one step ahead, but going to have to fight like hell just to survive and get herself out, let alone fulfill the mission.

All in all, it’s the action that makes this film and leaves the storyline in the dust, with Theron truly being an “Atomic Blonde”. The acting beyond the action, isn’t really there. Sofia Boutella, whom usually is the one doing all the ass-kicking, is really in her first role here that she doesn’t, and honestly, you could have left her French agent character Delphine Lasalle out and no one would have missed her, unless of course the sex scene between her and Charlize are important to you, but it’s truly not an addition or would it be a subtraction that would be missed to the plot. Lastly, you know how picky I am with accents but I do give a hush-hush wink-wink to Theron’s playing a British one here. 😉

Grade: B-
@pegsatthemovies

Media Review Screening: Monday, July 24, 2017 ~ Courtesy of Universal Pictures
“Atomic Blonde” will be released in theatres nationwide on Friday, July 28, 2017