Fernando M., Here….

Remember all those times you made fun of Keanu Reeves?  Well get ready to eat your words you nonbelievers!  Reeves is fixin to show you what pain is for 90 minutes of gun shooting neck breaking knife stabbing throat crunching action! The plot is as timeless a tale as our childhood stories of yesteryear.  Who doesn’t remember that lovable parable about the old retired hitman who gets wronged by the Russian mob….oh….well anyways, that’s the plot.  It is an incredibly simple setup for a fantastic revenge story.

Directed by long time Reeves stuntman and coordinator Chad Stahelski, John Wick is a ballet of fury that needs to be seen.  They really out-Matrix-ed themselves this time, proving that a 50 year old Reeves doing kung fu is better than a 20 something Reeves doing kung fu.  Reeves and his nameless russian mobster enemies seemingly dance through their brutal fight scenes, which are only occasionally interrupted by explosions and gunfights.

The gun battles are no joke either.  Reeves’ choreographed pistol work looks more like fencing than it does like shooting, showcasing a style I haven’t seen since Christian Bale’s gunplay/swordplay in “Equilibrium.”  It will have you oooohhing and aaaaahing and HOLY CRAP-ing.

The supporting staff is strong all around.  Willem Dafoe and Ian McShane add some very welcome class to the flick.  Alfie Allen coming off as more broken than he does as Reek.  There’s 4 very awesome scene stealing minutes of John Leguizamo.  And also, that guy that plays “mayhem” in those insurance commercials, that was weird.

But of course the main attraction is John Wick himself.  This is a solid return for Keanu Reeves and will hopefully lead to the next chapter in his career.  I need to see more badass Keanu.  No, the world needs to see more badass Keanu.  Or at least, hurry up and give us Bill and Ted 3!

4 out of 5 Stars

– Fernando Martinez