John Wick Chapter 4 (2023) - Keanu Reeves, Lawrence Fishburne, Donnie Yen, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rina Sawayama

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

I’ve been preaching about this for the longest time now. More nunchucks in cinema. Nothing goes harder than that.  

[WangYu]

Not that I needed much more but the last 2 reviews here won me over. 

[laagi]

Am I the only one who felt let down by the finale? The entire stairs shoot out was way too long! Not to mention the final confrontation in front of that god awful rendered chapel. Took me right out of the action.

Also IMHO Mark Zaror's character was "overused". I mean I liked him for the most part, although I wasn't all that impressed. They stretched out his story line (of what little there was to begin with) too much.

@One Armed Boxer Now I'm also starting to see some of the bad stuff here. How dare you make me doubt LOL?!

[WangYu]

 

[Darth Kermit]

1 hour ago, laagi said:

Am I the only one who felt let down by the finale?

[One Armed Boxer]

2 hours ago, laagi said:

Am I the only one who felt let down by the finale? The entire stairs shoot out was way too long! Not to mention the final confrontation in front of that god awful rendered chapel. Took me right out of the action.

I've been more surprised by some of the comments online from people who don't realise that both the Sacré-Cœur cathedral and the steps that lead up to it are real places in Paris, and not some random filming location/film set! The sequence didn't do much for me (although at this point based on the majority opinion, I'm willing to accept that 'JW4' just wasn't the movie for me!), however it did contain an ingenious laugh out loud moment with the epic stair fall, performed with aplomb by stuntman Vincent Bouillon. That was probably my highlight of the movie, just an insane stunt to pull off where you can relate to every impact. There's a great piece over at screencrush where Stahelski discusses it - 

https://screencrush.com/john-wick-4-stairwell-scene-breakdown/

[Darth Kermit]

2 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said:

There's a great piece over at screencrush where Stahelski discusses it - 

https://screencrush.com/john-wick-4-stairwell-scene-breakdown/

Wow yeah, that is a fantastic read, thanks for sharing! That stairfall was 100% bitching. I love Stahelski so much, just an incredible director. I'm also inclined to agree with what was said before, that this may well be the best Hollywood action film ever. Tentatively saying that until I remember something else that I think tops it. But not likely. This film was special.

[WangYu]

Mission impossible will probable topple it

[Darth Kermit]

1 hour ago, WangYu said:

Mission impossible will probable topple it

Mission Impossible Fallout was great, as were 4 and 5, so I am hopeful for 7 and 8, but the fact that it is a 2 parter does worry me a little. I feel like usually these types of split finales just lead to bad pacing and it's not worth the time. Like Harry Potter, the Hobbit trilogy, and others (Dune is the one notable exception I can think of right now). But like I said, MI has been delivering for the past 10 years as well (were Ghost Protocol and JW 1 the same year?), so I hope these last two knock it out of the park. But I also don't think any of the MI's top JW4. I think in part the PG 13 rating hinders it from really pushing the action in many ways. It could still have great choreography and be filmed well, but I think JW has the edge, and partially due to the rating.

[WangYu]

@TheMuffinMan656

I'm mainly just happy both exist and both are pushing boundaries in terms of spectacle. I have a lot of respect for actors like Tom Cruise and Keanu Reeves. 

[Karlos]

OK, just got out of my screening.

Always hard to talk about something when it's just ended but overall I loved it.

I won't post a review as such as people are better at that than me, but 

Spoiler

I hope that's the end now. Let him rest.

Beautiful stuff for the most part.

Best US action film ever? Possibly.

Best US action film franchise? Probably.

 

[laagi]

17 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said:

The sequence didn't do much for me (although at this point based on the majority opinion, I'm willing to accept that 'JW4' just wasn't the movie for me!), however it did contain an ingenious laugh out loud moment with the epic stair fall, performed with aplomb by stuntman Vincent Bouillon.

Yeah that "joke" or whatever was funny once. But as is with a lot of John Wick they just don't know when to stop.

Just as much as the "dog scene" on the stairs as well. I thought it was pretty cringe.

Still overall it's probably my favorite John Wick movie! Although that's not saying much because I remember exactly ZERO about the others

[Darth Kermit]

9 hours ago, WangYu said:

@TheMuffinMan656

I'm mainly just happy both exist and both are pushing boundaries in terms of spectacle. I have a lot of respect for actors like Tom Cruise and Keanu Reeves. 

Agreed there for sure.

[Koravec]

Just left the movie theater really disappointed. Much of that disappointment being at john wicks fate (as it stands now), but also many of the choices made. 

hate the james bond popcorn flick route they took, wick 2 has by far been my favorite. Like why is wick in the desert, why are we trying to giving tropes to western flicks in a neon noir 

exactly why I didnt like 3. I just wanted balls to the wall hand on hand combat like 2.  The fight scenes are insanely unrealistic in this one. Like enemies constantly 5 feet away in the background of john wick fighting someone 1 on 1 and not just shooting him for whatever reason. 

kept hearing how bill skarsgard was into martial arts, dude doesnt throw a single attack the entire movie. The ending scene isnt even action.     If you see it, its good to know the chinese restaurant scene closer to the beginning is the highlight fight scene of the film. The restaurant scene vs yen was basically the mark dacascos scene in 3 but nowhere near as good. Yen felt about as utilized here as he was in star wars, this being an actual fight movie. They just had to make him blind and frail again too like a tribute to that role. They got supposed great martial artist movie star scott adkins in the movie and made the decision to put him in a fat suit and make him a lousy fighter, makes no sense. Did they just have to jump on the fat suit hype brenden fraser the whale and colin ferrel the penguin were getting? Might as well of given ‘killa’ another animal name. That fat villain actually reminded me of the crazy cartoon-esque villain from the called john wick copycat movie, Polar. Shamier is even Worse of a character than ruby rose was. Hes the top assassin and always one step ahead of wick with no display of skill... just because?

The entire movie felt like one really long deleted scene from wick 3. Somehow the 3 hour runtime didnt wear on me at all though, like it wasnt even long enough. Would love to see the full uncut version you guys are speaking of

Edited March 30, 2023 by Koravec

[Karlos]

Please don't kill me, guys, but the more I think about it, the more I hate what they did with Adkins/Killa.

[Koravec]

@Karlos I mean I said it first that Im aware of. What a waste!  Could of got any old out of shape actor to play that role (and actually use adkins) but they chose the most In shape? Wtf??  

[J.J. Hayden]

I don't know much about it, but could it be that he chose to play the fat-suit role himself?

I've not watched this yet because I'm busy with something else, but maybe he mentions something about it?

 

[Drunken Monk]

6 hours ago, Koravec said:

Would love to see the full uncut version you guys are speaking of

Sounds like you hated the film. Why on earth would you want to see a longer version?

[ShaOW!linDude]

2 hours ago, Koravec said:

@Karlos I mean I said it first that Im aware of. What a waste!  Could of got any old out of shape actor to play that role (and actually use adkins) but they chose the most In shape? Wtf??  

Akins has been on the talk show circuit and he's doing a buttload of them. In almost every one of them when he's asked about the role of Killa, he says Stahelski was upfront about the fat suit. And while he wasn't initially keen on the idea, he relished the challenge of it because he wanted to the audience & critics to recognize him (ha! pun!) as a legitimate actor, not just a guy who can kick and do stunts. While Adkins may not always have a vast emotional range like he does a repertoire of combat skills, he is a good, solid character actor. And honestly, with Avengement, the Debt Collector films, and the Accident Man films, he's proven to me that he can deliver a little comedy. In his interviews on the talk show circuit, he's shown himself to witty and charming, but the hosts usual just glom over it because they're so busy trying to cram in their questions during the allotted 5 minute span he's there for.

[Koravec]

48 minutes ago, ShaOW!linDude said:

While Adkins may not always have a vast emotional range like he does a repertoire of combat skills

Oh man that character was acted damn well though!  Had me thinking this is really an MA guy and not an a list actor?

[Koravec]

1 hour ago, Drunken Monk said:

Sounds like you hated the film. Why on earth would you want to see a longer version?

You can be critical of things while still liking them, you should know that. That restaurant sequence was amazing. Has to be some of the best sword v gunplay scenes ever made dont you guys think?

Wow Hiroyuki was incredible. I liked him far more than Donnie without ever even having heard of him and being a big donnie fan. 

[Karlos]

I love the film, for the most part, but I do feel like the Killa character served pretty much nothing.

Lazy, stereotypical "fatty fall over" humor with the added bonus of his asthma being a sign of weakness.

Like I say, just my view. Adkins is great and deserves better. So does the film itself.

 

[DiP]

Booked tickets for myself and the wife this Saturday. Been reading alot of praise from people at Twitter and Facebook. The hype is too big at this point, so I'm 100% anticipating it with pleasure and excitement!

5 hours ago, ShaOW!linDude said:

Akins has been on the talk show circuit and he's doing a buttload of them. In almost every one of them when he's asked about the role of Killa, he says Stahelski was upfront about the fat suit. And while he wasn't initially keen on the idea, he relished the challenge of it because he wanted to the audience & critics to recognize him (ha! pun!) as a legitimate actor, not just a guy who can kick and do stunts. While Adkins may not always have a vast emotional range like he does a repertoire of combat skills, he is a good, solid character actor. And honestly, with Avengement, the Debt Collector films, and the Accident Man films, he's proven to me that he can deliver a little comedy. In his interviews on the talk show circuit, he's shown himself to witty and charming, but the hosts usual just glom over it because they're so busy trying to cram in their questions during the allotted 5 minute span he's there for.

Truth... To elevate yourself as an overall performer, you simply need to take on different roles outside of your comfort zone. Otherwise you'll be stuck playing the same roles over and over.

[WangYu]

If you think it is weird watching Scott Adkins fighting in a fat suit, then what about Michael Jackson dancing in a fat suit in his short movie ghosts?

[Ah_Tao]

26 minutes ago, WangYu said:

If you think it is weird watching Scott Adkins fighting in a fat suit, then what about Michael Jackson dancing in a fat suit in his short movie ghosts?

And whooooo gave you the right.......... 😂