Monday, June 12, 2023
John Wick Chapter 4
- Commentary: Yeow! No, as I write this, I haven't watched the film, yet. I'm waiting until later this evening when I know I won't be disturbed and can really savor it. I must mention, though, that I acquired this movie from My Florida Sister, who is aware of my almost incomprehensible love of this franchise! What a wonderful surprise she's dealt me! Then, of course, as always, I'll spend the next few days watching the entire series, ending up with this fourth installment, allowing everything to settle into some kind of understandable-to-me-only order in my brain. I'm not sure if I'll write more of my initial reaction tonight, or later, maybe tomorrow. But, you can bet, there'll be more, so stay tuned!
Aiyee! Not my usual browser, but Chrome, which, unfortunately, pops up unbidden on my newer Windows computer at all the wrong times, just delivered an article to me that I couldn't avoid, at least not the title! Apparently, in this episode, John Wick dies! I refused to read the article. That's the kind of development for which I really want to wait! Fi on you, Chrome! I thought I deleted you! In fact, I'm sure I did, but you sneaked back in on the heels of the latest Windows 11 update. Hey, Microsoft, see this finger? It's for you!
More news, though, that's somewhat less shocking: Ballerina is still in production and scheduled for release in June of 2024. Here's another, more fleshy, article about what we might expect of this spin-off that is being billed as a separate John Wick franchise. It'll be a bit awkward (unless I have no idea what I'm talking about) because it's slated to be a story that takes place between the events of the 3rd and 4th John Wick films, but I'll be keeping an eye out for it in a year (or so), especially since it'll be co-written by Emerald Fennell, someone toward whom I am very positively disposed. I guess a spin-off franchise is being planned. Hmmm ... we'll see ...
For those of you who are John Wick fan-people, rogerebert.com has published an interview with Chad Stahelski about the series by Nick Allen with inside/background information that is lengthy and interesting.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Keanu Reeves John Wick Donnie Yen Caine Bill Skarsgård Marquis Vincent Bisset de Gramont Laurence Fishburne Bowery King Hiroyuki Sanada Shimazu Koji Shamier Anderson Mr. Nobody/The Tracker Lance Reddick Charon Rina Sawayama Shimazu Akira Scott Adkins Killa Harkan Clancy Brown Harbinger Ian McShane Winston Scott Natalia Tena Katia
Update 06/13/23: So, no, I did not watch this movie last night. As I was about to settle in with it, I was called to join an emergency visitation of one of our book club members who is in the hospital, awaiting, well, as of last night, no one knew quite what she was awaiting, turns out it was surgery and it was successful, so I took two shifts, the second late last night and a final shift very early this morning. So, tonight I watch this movie!
Update 06/15/23: This update is taken from an email to MFS containing my part of a discussion about this movie, so I'll put it in quotations: "I rewound scene after scene of 'John Wick Chapter 4', so much that I didn't really finish it until early this morning, between 3:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m., after taking a middle of the night nap (which is usually called 'going to bed'). Then, I watched all the special features, many of which were about the fight choreography and the cinematography. I was so dazzled by the movie that I was glad they were included. Then I took a much longer nap.
"The ending satisfied me, as well, which surprised me. Previous to watching it, I experienced a minor twinge of agony that the saga of John Wick was going to end [which I'd learned, by the way, from the titles of several articles fed to me by my search engine, which is not, I repeat, not a Microsoft search engine]. Now, I'm not only totally okay with that, his death seems justified, like he earned it, and I think, if the film makers somehow resurrect that character after his death, I might feel cheated."
Aside from what I wrote to my sister, above in quotation marks, I scanned (with my eyes, children, not with my printer or a mobile phone [which I do not own] app. I'm old school. I prefer to do things with my body over doing them with a machine or software.) several articles written about the movie that contained multiple spoilers. It seems that John Wick's death was so momentous in the movie and mythological kingdoms that writers simply couldn't put their pens down. There are lots of people (both professional critics and amateurs) who are trying to figure out ways to resurrect John Wick. Even the producers of the film are waiting until its debut in Japan before deciding whether to figure out how to do a fifth. For myself, if a fifth Resurrected Wick film is produced, I'll likely watch it, maybe even add it to my collection as a curiosity, as I did with Glass of the Eastrail 177 (Unbreakable) Trilogy, but I kind of think I will find it unsatisfying, just as I find the story of Resurrected Jesus unsatisfying.
In the meantime, I find the multiple alt-character franchises that are in development surrounding the original "John Wick" series franchise questionable, especially the proposed series about the Continental Hotels [BTW, did you know that a Continental Hotel chain actually exists? It's in Romania, exclusively, and is targetted toward business tourism.]. I mean, really? You're going there? Yes, so-called inanimates can, and usually do, have character (versus being characters; let me explain: to have character does not imply movement or growth; being a character implies both movement and growth, which is what movies, stories, are about) but, I don't know, in this case, it seems like an awfully long reach just to make a little more money. For me, it's kind of like with the Marvel super-hero franchise(s). I loved Iron Man but didn't at all care for the direct spin-offs and, if you'll notice, don't own them. I was okay with Avengers: Endgame, found it entertaining, but only watched it once and have yet to write-up that watching. I collected Captain Marvel and watched it but was not impressed. My write-up for Captain Marvel contains a list of all the other MCU movies I own and my appreciation (or lack thereof) for them.
I know I'm not done watching super-hero movies. I'm probably not done adding to my collection of super-hero movies. I have, however, developed a dogged skepticism of super-hero sequels, no matter what excuses creators (or, as nouveau-lingo labels them, "creatives", jesus, where did that come from, and why) use for their existence. At this point my experience suggests to me that the first in a franchise series is the best that will ever be offered, even if succeeding ones are quite good. In the first, an idea is fresh, exciting and approached as an idea, not as a possible money maker. I mean, initially you don't know if you're going to make any money off the first project. You don't even know whether it'll be the "first" of a string. From then on, though, all bets are off. It's no longer about character development, or at least not purely about character development, it's about extracting more money from fans of the franchise. At that point, not everything about succeeding movies in the franchise passes the smell test, and, almost like a rule of thumb, the more sequels, the more it's not a case of "smell" but of "stink". I know, I know, mixed metaphors and all that shit. All I can say is, read me for meaning, not for art.
All that being said, I really enjoyed this iteration of John Wick. I especially enjoyed the fact that this movie ended his story, at least seemingly. We'll see what happens next, whether the smell of money becomes more tempting to the "creatives" involved than the smell of freshness.
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 2023
Directed by Chad Stahelski.
Labels: clancy-brown, don't-ask-me-why, keanu-reeves, laurence-fishburne, neo-noirD, revenge2, super-hero3
