Image via Lionsgate
In talking about John Wick: Chapter 4, it’s best to discuss South Park first.
In browsing TikTok the other day, I came across a recirculated video of Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone lecturing a group of NYU students over a decade ago about storytelling—specifically, the idea that good scripts are moments assembled around the concept of “but” or “therefore.”
“This happens, and therefore, this happens,” says Parker in the clip. “But this happens; therefore, this happens.” It’s a simple concept, but it highlights the importance of cause and effect throughout storytelling.
Messing around and finding out is the core ethos of the John Wick franchise, but the latest installment of the Keanu Reeves-fronted action series turns its gaze towards the horizon and sees the chickens come home to roost. Picking up moments after the end of Parabellum, Chapter 4 begins with Wick renewing his crusade against the High Table and its governance over the shadowy underworld of assassins. Only this time, the Table is taking a more involved approach, sending high-ranking official Marquis Vincent de Gramont (Bill Skarsgård) to execute a series of schemes to bring Wick down once and for all.
Gramont quickly asserts his will, decommissioning the New York branch of the Contential and putting Winston Scott (Ian McShane) and Charon (the late, great Lance Reddick) out of business. From there, Gramont recruits the retired killer—and friend to Wick—Caine (Donnie Yen) and enlists the upstart tracker Mr. Nobody (Shamier Anderson) to end the Baba Yaga’s reign of terror (and the Table’s suffering) once and for all.
With his list of allies diminished and the Table leveraging every means necessary, Wick begins another globetrotting trip to gather what resources he can find while working to usurp the Table. Chapter 4 hits Japan, New York, Berlin, and Paris while playing to the franchise’s storied formula: We meet new friends and foes and dive deeper into the ever-expanding lore of the world. Oh, and there’s lots and lots of killing. The thing about a formula is that if it works, it works—and that’s still very much the case here.
The expertly-choreographed and rollercoaster-like nature of Wick’s action sequences remains an equivocal bright spot in the action genre since Reeves and director Chad Stahelski redefined it with the release of the first film almost a decade ago. Chapter 4 is seemingly hellbent on reimagining what’s possible; the first two-thirds of the film feature pseudo callbacks to other entries in the franchise. It’s not just the greatest hits of what’s come before but an improved execution of familiar beats, which lulls the audience into thinking they can anticipate what’s next.
After establishing this false sense of security, Chapter 4 then explodes its preconceived notions in the final third of the movie. Just when you think the action is reaching a new watershed moment, you’ll realize what’s come before is a teaser for something bigger and better immediately around the corner. The result is a stretch of breathless (yet still legible—Stahelski’s blocking is still ever so coherent) filmmaking that follows the “but” or “therefore” principles that South Park’s creators outlined—within the narrative of a fight.
The fight sequences are so extensive this time that the (much-needed) come-down in-between moments cause the running time of Chapter 4 to balloon to nearly three hours. For fans of the series, that will be a feature, not a bug. Those coming to the series for the first time or those who have yet to fully buy into this world may find it tedious. But the connective tissue between setpieces carries more weight than other installments, thanks to a more introspective script.
Casting Skarsgård as Gramont is an excellent way for Wick to gaze toward the future. The old and antiquated methods of the High Table don’t work for upstarts like Gramont, who is so desperate to break from tradition and therefore is testing the boundaries of what the Table is or isn’t capable of doing. That goes double for Wick, who finds himself questioning his purpose in new ways. At one point, Wick wonders aloud whether his wife Helen can even hear him from the afterlife and if all of this bloodshed is worth the revenge he’s seeking. Posing such extensional questions in a franchise obsessed with killing may seem at inherent odds. But Shay Hatten and Michael Finch’s script balances these two halves with craftsman-like precision, resulting in great tension as Chapter 4 ends up reckoning with the past and future of these characters in a deeply affecting way.
While the existing characters have plenty to think about, Chapter 4 introduces plenty of memorable and new faces. Adding an icon like Donnie Yen is enough of a treat in and of itself. Still, the movie goes further by including Hiroyuki Sanada as the head of the Tokyo branch of the Continental and Scott Adkins as a Killa, a threat to Wick in Berlin. You’re likely familiar with Sanada, having appeared in The Last Samurai, Mortal Kombat, Bullet Train, and even an episode of Westworld. Adkins will likely be a new face for many, but one whose bonafides rival that of Sanada and Yen. Hopefully, his films will get a boost after his deeply memorable performance here.
Saving Yen to include this late in the franchise proves to be a masterstroke, as the preeminent Hong Kong action star finally gets a Western movie befitting his robust skillset. Yen fills an expansive canvas with every color available on his palette as he threatens to steal the screen away from Reeves (who, I should mention, remains as magnetic as always). Singer/songwriter Rina Sawayama makes an explosive debut here, too, and is more than capable of keeping up with the grueling fight compositions required of her.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is intense—but that’s by design. The staggeringly impressive fourth movie is hellbent on following that story to its conclusion here, diving headfirst into the “buts” and “therefore” of what happens when you mess with the wrong man. The resulting fallout solidifies Wick as one of the best action franchises ever and makes Chapter 4 a thrill from the first bullet to the last.