John Wick Chapter 4 is an Action Choreography Masterpiece

in my last video on quantumania I mentioned how blocking in Hollywood Blockbusters has been going downhill for a while I focused a lot in that video on the soundstage feel of the Ant-Man 3ql and how every character looked like they were just told to stand on their marks and say their lines while the overworked CGI artists were told to make the scene interesting you're welcome to check that video out but quantumania is far from the only offender there are a lot of other examples in the recent yea

rs from Jurassic world Dominion failing to craft scenes that hold any sort of intensity especially when compared to the meticulous craft of the original or there's black Adam's Bland shot reverse shot whenever it pauses from the mind-numbing generic super heroics to give some Exposition there's plenty of movies where death by green screen is alive and well however I am happy to find that the John Wick franchise continues to be the exception to the rule here we have a franchise that is all about

the blocking and choreography it is a series that draws inspiration from the long takes of martial arts franchises like the protector paired with the refined brutality of the raid and combined with the Shoot Em Up action of something like John Woo's hard-boiled this action is built on long and excruciatingly planned out choreography that excels in unique use of space and setting each set piece is specifically crafted to the environment this is not just a generic place for people to meet and shoo

t at one another these action scenes could have only taken place in these locations a scene takes place in a library everyone will be just sort of killing each other with books a scene takes place in a Japanese Hotel everyone's going to be breaking out the samurai swords bows and nunchucks battle on a roundabout everyone will be dodging cars like Frogger and trying to throw each other into traffic how chapter 4 handles all these various set pieces is extraordinarily Adept and gleefully creative

with kills that make Jason Bourne look soft and I would say even put some slashes to shame and director Chad stalski continues to build on the elements that work from the previous entries as well as his own long history as a stuntman and stunt coordinator this is one of the few franchises where each entry is kind of making more and more money as more people are discovering it drawn to the visceral actions supplied by the fictional gunfu that while of course impractical is completely its own and

yes stories in this series are pretty light they usually boil down to John is angry with someone and has to fight through a bunch of goons to you know get to them and kill them or alternatively someone's mad at Jon and has to send a bunch of goons to go get him and he has to kill them all uh in order to escape them so pretty pretty simple but I think two big things keep people coming back besides watching you know some slick headshots the first is the World building and chapter 4 continues to le

an into what works in this Vatican inspired League of Assassins creating a fascinating and Fantastical world that surrenders any shred of realism in favor of a surreal Society where anyone on the street could be a secret assassin bound to strict codes like a zealot following scripture how this underground Society works is legitimately fun to explore and although some of the the rules can feel like plot conveniences it never really feels cheap within the Bizarro logic that it establishes and the

second thing that drives this series is of course the action which is I know duh but it's not really any kind of usual action it thrives on its own brand but what makes them really work here what makes them tick John Wick isn't really the first film to attempt this sort of fake martial art gun Foo equilibrium is also famous for attempting this fictional style fighting but to far less successful results yes that movie has its fans but it never really clicked or connected in the same way that John

Wick has the big thing separating the two of them is the secret ingredient of both the martial arts genre and surprisingly the musical genre this is choreography and blocking both of these genres thrive on Long take pre-planned sequences that take a lot of time on the technical level camera moves must be timed out to the actors and stuntmen and entire sequences hinge on precise timing that makes the most of the environment when Mary Poppins has a song with chimney sweeps you're going to have th

ose on a rooftop with brooms when Jackie Chan finds himself a ladder he he's going to find a way to swing it around while goons knock themselves out and if John Wick finds himself in a library he is going to use a book to break somebody's neck but all of this action is going to take place with the editor taking a step back from his computer and letting the long hours of practice practice and more practice take the center stage not to mention the back-breaking impressive stunt work and much like

a musical a martial arts film often feels the need to constantly one-up itself in each sequence and in this field chapter 4 goes for broke and delivers some of the most impressive long takes and choreographed sequences that I've ever seen this is especially in regards to a club filled with ravers and waterfalls and Asian inspired continental and an ambitious top-down single take with explosive incendiary rounds it's impressive on both a technical and conceptual level and all of this would be imp

ressive enough as is but then it's paired with some sharp focused cinematography and some colorful neon lighting that leans towards this almost cyberpunk anime feel this all helps to sculpt the location and bring it to life this Series has come a long way from the central set piece of the first movie where Jon fights his way through the club this was the sequence that would set the tone for the rest of the series but now by comparison it looks pretty tame if you took that scene and placed it int

o chapter four I think it would be the equivalent of John just walking casually to the bathroom between his real fights and everything can go a little overboard at times there is that roundabout sequence that I mentioned before where John is hit by about seven cars and gets up like it was nothing wow conveniently all his adversaries are just flat out pancaked he also seems to get out of a lot of shootouts thanks to what may as well just be a magic suit that he just kind of holds up like this you

know half the time and it's I guess completely bulletproof stab proof and fall proof because Jon jumps out of a four-story building and lands rib first on the top of a van or I guess when he's falling down a hundred flights of stairs like a slinky again this sounds like a bad case of plot armor and an indestructible main character and although it is to an effect it is slightly more forgivable because of the heightened reality of this world any film with gunfu is not begging to be be taken a hun

dred percent seriously this is a fantasy in its world its characters and its action should be taken with a grain of salt and that allows you to sit back and enjoy the Mastery of the choreography and stunts on display any overabundance of action is counterbalanced nicely with this kind of more subdued drama like a duel between two characters these moments make for a nice change of pace especially after a spectacular if gloriously overblown get to the church on time sequence an action scene really

doesn't matter much unless you care about the people in it and Keanu Reeves continues to live and breed this role bringing to the character of really unique Cadence of almost this man who has to chew every word before he speaks the supporting characters are as great as ever while the villains remain mostly forgettable with exception I think to Kane played by the legendary martial artist Donnie Yen who makes a very likable and worthy adversary for Jon another entertaining newcomer is Shamir Ande

rson I think that's right I'm very good with names anyway ways his Mr Nobody is this bounty hunter just waiting for the right price I found his great loyalties to be entertaining even if his dog aided sequences may feel a little you know redundant or pale in comparison to those in chapter 3. for returning characters Lance Riddick gets a good send-off after his unfortunate real-life death only a few months ago so that was good to see well Ian McCain still carries as the hotel continental's esteem

ed manager though I will admit I was a little underwhelmed by the reconciliation between him and John after how the last film left things overall though John Wick chapter 4 is a complete blast that understands the appeal of its property and characters it is one of the few examples of when going bigger actually did mean going better all because the film was able to effectively draw from its tried and proven martial arts Inspirations by utilizing space camera and actor choreography for this action

treat that delivers for nearly three hours and never gets old to me that is the mark of an action franchise done right and at the peak of of its creativity but those are just some of my thoughts on John Wick chapter 4. if you have seen it let me know what you think in the comments down below why did this particular brand of action connect with you or if I guess it didn't why not be sure to like And subscribe and keep those videos turning thank you very much