2023, Chad Stahelski (John Wick) -- download
Instead of rewatching this, I have been plowing through the full arsenal of violent movies that have connective tissue of some sort: Nobody, Kate, Gemini Man, The Old Guard, etc. I should probably do a single ReWatch post about it, my continued return to "comfortable" violence, but I am sure that conversation is best left between me and my diary, or fictional therapist.
When Last We Left Our Intrepid Hero (Keanu Reeves, Constantine) he had been thrown off a roof. Bounce bounce bonk, THUD. He was not dead and was wheeled away by The Bowery. But The Continental management was absolved of their crimes and Winston was back in charge.
Bzzzzzzt. The High Table changed their mind. You see, they know John is alive, because he has been trying to kill the head of the snake, by shooting the current Elder, but the snake is a Hydra, and in retribution, the High Table allows the Marquis Vincent Bisset de Gramont (Bill Skarsgård, It) free reign to enact punishment. He begins by blowing up the NYC Continental, killing Charon (Lance Reddick, Fringe; rest easy my good man, we lost you too soon), leaving Winston (Ian McShane, Lovejoy) to suffer the consequences of his obviously duplicitous actions. And thusly, John has a new fop with unlimited resources to kill.
Of note, despite not seeing this in The Cinema, I did purloin a rather grand looking 4K copy of the movie and, BIGAWDS this movie is beautiful looking! So much colour! So much LIGHT! Those crepuscular rays over NYC in the opening scenes are 'lobby of hotel still photography' level gorgeous. And it just continues! So many shots, are intentionally held still for a moment, so we can just... partake.
Also, not related to the beauty & lighting, is the realization, as I rewatch, that John's actions, from the very beginning are all very intentional, with an End Goal in mind. But also, dude, how did you not know that these "unintentional consequences" were a possibility? John really has his head up his ass when it comes to his "friends".
And finally, of note, I did ReWatch this.
The Marquis is an utter douche, a pompous, grand-standing sociopath intent not only on killing John Wick, but killing the idea of John Wick. And he kind of has a valid point. John, and Winston's lackadaisical reaction to John's shooting of a Table member inside The Continental is what spins off the latter three movies. They think they can "technicality" away all that John has done against The Table. The Marquis represents the futility of that.
Next up Osaka, the Continental Osaka. John again hides out with an old friend Shimazu (Hiroyuki Sanada, Ring), with his daughter, and also concierge, Akira (popstar Rina Sawarama) rightfully confronting him of the likely costs of allowing such. But men like Shimazu and John, and I should also mention Caine, the blind assassin who also thought he Was Out until The Marquis brought him back in to kill John, well these men are old and loyal friends. Shimazu does what he believes in and Caine is doing all he can to protect his daughter because he knows The Marquis has full dispensation to do whatever the fuck he wants to do, to bring down John and all his "rebellion" entails.
Again, colour and light. Again the ballet of violence but also with sword and bow. The fancy bullet-proof, but fully flexible suit given to John in a previous episode is now the norm as all of The Marquis' men wear it, giving us the clink-clink of each bullet striking them. Doesn't stop an arrow or sword though. John is very aware of the consequences he brings upon others, but... well, he doesn't seem to care. He is on a path, not one of his own making (blame that on the Russian family in NYC), but also one he has to end no matter the cost.
I also loved loved the oni soldiers in their bullet-proof armour requiring shots to throat and knee and eyes to complete kill shots, but sure, a few dozen bullets in the chest will delay them for a moment, allowing John to catch a breath and take them down gradually. At some point The Table is going to run out of hench-folk even in this world where every second person is under it.
From Japan where John loses a friend, to another friend, he realizes that there is only one solution to defeat The Marquis. The old rules. A Duel. The Marquis may be choosing to take down John because he keeps on invoking "technicalities" but even he cannot ignore the old edicts of The High Table.
"Rules. Without them, we live with the animals."
But before John can present such a challenge, he has to be part of a Family. But remember, he already gave that up to get out of NYC in the previous movie. Sooooo, how can he go crawling back to said Rus family? Off to Berlin to talk to his Uncle, the head. BUT because of John's previous actions, a thug was sent to kill John's Uncle. The Family won't even listen to his entreaty unless he avenges said Uncle. So off to a Berlin night club to kill the Killa.
"I am Klaus."
Fuck, I hate that. Sure, its a wonderful homage to Groot, presented by actual Berlin DJ and personality Sven Marquardt, but fuuuuuuuck its cheesy and soooo out of place.
So, club fight, because there has to be a club fight. I don't begrudge the Wickian desire to repeat familiarities anymore. The movies have their forms, their tropes and their expectations and its all about fulfilling them, sometimes trying to exceed them. The build up to this fight, getting some of the players at the table (pun intended) is better than the fight. As Kent pointed out, some of the best acting comes from second-rate actor & action star Scott Adkins, mostly known for his Accident Man movie(s) and similarly themed B and C grade actioners. He is basically unrecognizable beneath the fat suit, until he starts high-kicking. But as Killa he steals the scene with his cheesy accent and theatrics. The scene also finally, properly establishes The Tracker (Shamier Anderson, Wynonna Earp) as one of the main characters of this movie, not just another Table thug seeking a payout. His relaxed, no suits look & feel are a breath of unfettered air in this franchise.
John wins, kills the Killa, brands his arm (as Marmy pointed out, he should have had to lift the urn with both arms, branding both) and is now properly back in the family fold, ready to be presented for his duel challenge. They do so at a promenade in front of the Eiffel Tower, playing a Animal Crossing style card game (high number wins) to choose the particulars of the duel. Those glass stylized cards are just beautiful. The Marquis thinks he's being soooo clever having Caine as his proxy and Winston even surprises John by mixing his own terms into the agreement -- if John wins, he once again goes free, while NYC gets its Continental back. The duel will be at dawn, at a high point in Paris. But John has to get there first.
I am not all that fond of this sequence, as John has to fight his way from point A to B, constantly harried by all the other assassins in the JWU, coaxed onward by a... radio DJ (??!?) and terrible music choices. The movies require a car scene, and this it, but instead of just destroying John's car (they do) they also play Rocket League with John as the ball. John is knocked down constantly, hit by cars and car windshields, but always getting up, not even relying upon a nod-to-Max Payne bottle of pills anymore, just... always getting back up. The bystanders of Paris might not be actually standing by, but they are driving by, mixed into the fight without collateral damage.
This sequence leads to an abandoned, being reno'd building at the foot of the stairs leading up to Sacre Coeur, where the duel will happen. The set is seen from overhead, the ceiling shaved off, as they do another nod-to-video-games sequence, moving from room to room, shooting "dragon fire" rounds, lighting shit on fire, killing a lot of French men in baseball caps and khaki jackets. The Tracker has finally stepped again from the shadows, having frustrated The Marquis into putting up the bounty price he wants, but that win is quickly dashed when John protects his "puppy". Seemingly having borrowed a dog from Sofia's (Halle Berry, Cat Women) pack, Tracker is verrrrry protective of his dog. And John likes dogs, so then, Tracker likes John.
And next, the Fight Up the Stairs. By now its very apparent that John is tired, bruised and moving much more slowly. I like to think of this as us seeing that Keanu is just not really up to all this movement as he once was, being an Old Feller like me. He looks creaky, shambling up each flight, swaying back n forth, shooting, dodging, rolling, flipping, killing. We know what's going to happen, as he gets to the top and is kicked off the top stair by The Marquis' key thug Chidi (Marko Zaror, The Defenders). He rolls and rolls and rolls and bounces all the way back down, like he was a participant in those rolling cheese competitions that has lost his footing on their way down the mountain. But at the bottom, Caine comes back into the fray, knowing that if he kills John, he goes free, but not if one of these Parisian nobodies does. Sooooo back up the stairs with some help from Caine's gun, sword and pencil.
Conclusion. The Duel (it gets capitalized this time) at a high point in the city, looking at the sun come up over the horizon. Once again so beautiful. Pistol duels are so so weird. Single shot, archaic, fancy looking pistols. Begin at 30 paces, shoot, get wounded, walk closer, shoot again. We have forgotten to be amused by the idea of a blind man participating in a duel. And with only minimal misdirection all the parties at play engineer the death of The Marquis, even to the visible satisfaction of The Harbinger (Clancy Brown, The Highlander), the arbiter of The Table's rulings and Not a Big Fan of The Marquis.
John has won. Caine has even won. Winston has won. Its done, Its over. Its the fourth movie. And alllll the foreshadowing so very very obvious in a rewatching of the movie comes into play. John is doing his final dance, has worked it out so it happens this way, but has gone out his own way. Finally he succumbs to his wounds. FINALLY, he is laid to rest next to Helen. They can be together.
So, then. The series in its current form has ended. Oh we know well that John could be alive, that he could be living a life unfettered by The Table, having faked his death so as to not have a constant parade of upstarts wishing to annoy him. But I like to think he is dead, properly dead, and resting. Finally. The franchise can continue with other characters, like The Continental prequel series or maybe starting another quadrology with The Tracker? Maybe with time. But please, give us some rest first. Those stairs were a bitch.
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