Kakadu18 said:
Well I heavily disagree with you there. It has very solidly acted and the writing was remarkably good with some beautifully philosophical and thoughtful scenes like the one where they were talking about what they wanted to have written on their gravestones. The ending brought me to tears. Appart from that many critics rated the movie highly because the final hour of the movie is seemingly widely considered to have some of the best action scenes ever made. And I agree with that. From what I've read the difference between the Mario movie and John Wick is that in the Mario movie the characters lack depth and actual character. That is not the case in John Wick: Chapter 4. |
Solidly acted? Keanu barely speaks and when he does every line is delivered in this weird stilted voice like he's trying to be Clint Eastwood, but doesn't know how. Donnie Yen has a couple good scenes, but otherwise sounds as if he's bored just being there. McShane does the best acting in the movie and I enjoyed his performance, but the rest of the cast ranges from 'bad' to 'passable'. The gravestone scene is good, but its made good by McShane and Fishburne.
As for the writing... well... to start if 'High Table Duels' existed before this movie was written then why did the third movie happen at all? Winston is aware of a method to get them all out that situation by having John engage in a duel yet he saves that tidbit until this movie? Why? It doesn't make sense. Then consider the duel between Shimazu and Caine, Caine clearly doesn't want to kill him and doesn't even care if Shimazu and his daughter go so long as he tells him where John is headed. But he had no trouble finding John in Osaka and throughout the rest of the movie, easily locates him in Berlin and Paris. So why kill Shimazu? There's no guarantee he actually knows where John is headed, no order to do so, and Caine clearly has no trouble following John without his info. It makes any dramatic tension of the scene ring completely hollow. Then, Mr. Nobody. I liked Mr. Nobody because he was ruthless and clearly had a plan. He spares John because 'the bounty ain't big enough', splits his hand with a knife to get in with the High Table, plays hardball with the Marquis to get the bounty as high as possible and then let John go in the end because... he saved Mr. Nobody's dog? It's heavily implied that he *needs* John's bounty to be as high as possible given the pains he goes through to get it yet he changes sides without explanation or hesitation.
The action scenes were the highlight of the movie. The Osaka scenes ran a bit too long, the Berlin scenes had more stupid writing where the club goers continue dancing despite the people getting shot in the head and dudes fighting to the death with axes, but the Paris scenes were fantastic. A little unrealistic that his bulletproof suit would protect him from the insane amount of damage he takes, but I can accept that and just enjoy how beautifully done those scenes are. And I enjoyed the duel at the end. It was dramatically satisfying, and good way to end the series.
That said enjoying parts of a movie doesn't make it a great movie, or even a good movie. It wasn't a terrible movie either, but I wouldn't rate it highly if I were a critic, thus my surprise.
Essay Pro