JOHN WICK Bleeds Badassery

JOHN WICK Review:

- Here's the short version: if you dig kick-ass, over-the-top action flicks, go see JOHN WICK, asap. The movie is a balls-to-the-wall shoot-'em-up that will please fans of The Raid and Dredd and other recent entries into the badass cannon. The film, starring an on-top-of-his-game Keanu Reeves, is directed by Reeves' former longtime stunt double, David Leitch. And Leitch, clearly, knows what he's doing when it comes to staging visceral, jaw-dropping action. He also brings a real sense of fun and comic book-esque world building to the table, making JOHN WICK a movie that is all too happy to embrace the absurdity inherent in its plot and premise.

Reeves stars as the titular antihero, a mythical assassin whose mere names causes professional killers to quiver in their boots. Wick's been out of the game for five years though - he left to settle down with a woman and live a quiet, normal life. His guns and other tools of the trade buried deep beneath the floor of his basement, Wick was happy and content. That is, until his wife died of a terminal illness. Her last gift to him was a dog, which arrived posthumously as a way to ease the pain of Wick's loss. Wick was dealing with it all decently, it seemed, until he runs afoul of would be crime-prince Iosef Tarasov (played with snotty brattiness by Alfie Allen, aka Theon Greyjoy on Game of Thrones). Iosef and his goons break into Wick's house and steal his car. In the ensuing melee, Wick's dog - the last vestige of his dearly departed wife - is killed. Iosef gets away, but he has unknowingly unleashed a beast. Even though Iosef is the son of Wick's old employer, and even though Wick has sworn he was out of the killing business ... well, you had better believe that that cache of guns buried beneath the house is going to get unearthed. And you had better believe that hell is a-coming for anyone who stands in Wick's way.

A couple of things make JOHN WICK stand out from the pack. One is the great cast of supporting characters who populate the stylized world of the film. The movie doesn't go into great detail in its efforts to build out its assassin's creed mythology, but it sort of hints at a lot of coolness and, in broad strokes, imagines this unique world where hired killers have their own icons, rules, safe-zones, currency, and codes of conduct. And in this world, alongside Keanu Reeve's Wick, you'll find the likes of Ian McShane, Willem Dafoe, Adrianne Palicki, Bridget Moynihan, Lance Reddick, John Leguizamo, Dean Winters, the aforementioned Alfie Allen, and fellow Game of Thrones actor Michael Nyqvist, playing his father and, ultimately, the film's Big Bad. Most if not all of these actors are in top form, with the main complaint (which is never a terrible one) simply being that you want more of them. Willem Dafoe - I could have watched a whole movie about his off-kilter sniper. Ian McShane - in top badass form, I would have loved to see even more of his character. Lance Reddick, who already kicked ass this Fall in The Guest, well ... I was just waiting for his character to go full badass, but alas, it never happened. When super badass actors are playing even the non-ass-kicking characters in an action film, you know your cast is loaded. As for Reeves himself, I'm not going to say he's back, because I've enjoyed him in other recent films where I think he got an unfair shake from critics (47 Ronin, anyone?). But I will say that the John Wick character - stoic, rage-filled, a man of few-words, is one that's perfectly-tailored to Reeves. Especially to an older, more grizzled Reeves, now possessed of a gravitas that his younger, surfer-dude self was not. 

The other thing that stands out about John Wick is just how crazy the action is. I mean, look, The Raid, in my view, raised the bar for close-quarters action films, to a level that only The Raid 2 has since reached. JOHN WICK is no The Raid. But it is potentially the American film that, so far, comes closest to the dizzying heights of the Raid. The action comes fast and furious, and there's a balletic brutality to the combat that is thrilling to watch. A couple of sequences - including one particular stunner that takes place in a pulsating nightclub - are stone-cold classics. My one complaint is that there's a pretty big gap between the movie's two or three best action sequences and everything else. A lot of the movie falls short of its most memorable moments.

The third cool thing about the film is, like I said, it has no reservations about being totally over-the-top, and having a sense of self-aware humor about it. This makes for some great grindhouse-esque moments of glorious absurdity. That said, I sort of wish the movie was just a little bit sharper with its humor. Some opportunities for great one-liners seem to be missed, and the movie sometimes seems to forget the humor and lay the self-seriousness on just a little too thick. I would have liked a little more tonal consistency, and for the script to have just a little more zing.

At the end of the day, JOHN WICK earns its badass bonafides, and proves to be a much-better-than-average action flick that features some true "holy $%&#" moments. For action fans, it's a must-see. But I hesitate to hype it up as an instant-classic, as to me the only-okay script and quality-variance in the action keep it from reaching Raid-levels of OMG awesome. But yeah, Keanu owns the role, and I wouldn't mind seeing Wick return for a few more rounds.

My Grade: B+

HERCULES ... Not So Mighty A Movie

 

HERCULES Review:

- Can one badass scene make a movie worth watching? Maybe. Depends how good the scene is. I pose this question because the new, Dwayne Johnson-starring HERCULES movie has one really sweet sequence (partially spoiled in the trailers), in which a chained, battered, and beaten Hercules is willed to fight against his captors by the urgent rallying cries of Ian McShane's wily comrade-in-arms, Amphiaraus. Like a coach trying to hype up his team for one last surge, McShane thunderously recites Hercules' achievements, as the blood begins to pump through The Rock's protruding veins. And then, like Hulk Hogan making his big end-of-match comeback, Hercules breaks his chains and shouts to the heavens: "I AM HERCULES!" Edited for maximum punch, the scene wakes the movie up from its slumber, and the film suddenly - though briefly - roars to life. It's an all-too-quick moment of awesomeness in what is, mostly, a fairly unremarkable, oftentimes nonsensical would-be epic. Sadly, these few sporadic moments of energy and momentum can't do much to save this saggy mess of a movie. The sad reality is that this feels like a direct-to-video dud, only slightly polished up with a good cast and some occasionally-fun action.

The plot of this one is strange, right from the get-go. Rather than showing us a Hercules who must overcome mythical beasts and angry gods, The Rock's version of the character lives in a less magical sort of world, in which the legend of Hercules is perhaps a bit exaggerated from the reality. However, even if Hercules' feats may or may not have happened as per the tales say, there's no question that the guy is a badass. And so, he and his band of hired guns travel around, looking for people in need of muscle and willing to pay for it. This leads Hercules and his band of merry men (and one woman) to Thrace, where the king (John Hurt) and his beguiling daughter recruit Hercules and co. to stave off a conquering army. So the film, unexpectedly, becomes sort of a war movie, with Hercules and his compatriots training and leading the Thracian army, against an enemy that may not be quite as villainous as they're made out to be. This leads to the movie's major story-arc for its protagonist: is Hercules a hero, or a mercenary?

It's an interesting character arc, but it's never explored in a truly satisfactory way in the film. What's worse though is how wholly uninteresting both Thrace and their adversaries are in the movie. We care little about which side Hercules and his cohorts support, because both sides seem only sketchily realized. Basically, the entire plot of the movie is only minimally compelling, and we're just not given enough reason to care about what happens one way or the other. It's almost a shame that the film's climax evokes that of Conan the Barbarian's. That classic film was artfully shot and paced, and downright epic in its presentation. HERCULES, meanwhile, has to push every contrivance button possible in order to attempt to stage a properly-epic final battle - stretching its plot to the breaking point in order to tie Hercules' latest battle with his tragic past. And yet, a lot of the seemingly low-hanging-fruit plot points go nowhere. For instance, while there are some early sparks between Hercules and Thracian princess Ergenia, nothing really ever comes of it.

Stretched thin is a good description in general for this movie. A major battle scene halfway through the film seems to go on for a good half-hour or so ... just because. There seems barely enough material to fill the film's running time. This means that some really good actors - like the great Ian McShane, playing doomed prophet (and mentor to Hercules) Amphiaraus - are left to make something out of minimally-interesting material. McShane gives it his all - he hams it up and makes a running joke about Amphiaraus' ill-timed visions of his own death into a highlight. But let's put it this way - the quality of supporting actors in this film, from McShane to John Hurt - is quite good, but that quality level is about all that keeps this one from totally crashing and burning.

As for The Rock himself ... I don't know. I mean, we all love The Rock. The guy is naturally charismatic-as-hell. But I think Dwayne Johnson is most in his element when he gets to be funny, when he gets to be a character not too far removed from his "Rock" persona. For a mythic hero like Hercules ... I just don't know if he's got the chops to truly give us the gravitas needed for a character of this sort of mythic stature. One thought I kept having throughout the movie: this Hercules isn't all that much different from Kevin Sorbo's TV version, and I think Sorbo's was probably better.

Director Brett Ratner directs some sporadically-interesting scenes, but for the most part, the movie has a flat feel that only occasionally has a real sense of epicness. I'm no Ratner-hater. I still love the original Rush Hour, and I still think X3 was actually under-rated and over-criticized by fanboys. But this film rarely feels fully alive, and many of the more interesting visual elements feel cribbed (and done better by) other movies - from Conan The Barbarian to 300.

HERCULES is at least watchable due to the charismatic cast. But it's by no means memorable, occasionally a slog, and certainly not among this summer's better action flicks. Recommended only for Rock completists.

My Grade: C-