The culmination of the Baba Jaga. John Wick is enhancing once again the level of the action movies, in a potentially last chapter that is already legend. Attention Spoilers!
Building a legendary chapter
The John Wick’s director Chad Stahelski and Keanu really managed to deliver something never seen before, overcoming the boundaries of gun fu genre, bringing together the most influential martial art movie stars of the globe and building the perfect end of a nine years long journey. John Wick 4 is a masterpiece and honestly, just one article is not enough to enumerate and legitimate my statement. So, I will start to simply remember the evolution of the saga that gradually, chapter after chapter was improving in stunts level, pace and imagination.
Flagships
Credit goes to Chad Stahelski capable of studying and realizing action scenes that are beyond the action. Talking specifically of John Wick 4 action scenes, the number and the time of the long-cuts were so high that even Jackie Chan would be embarrassed. The steady camera from above action scene, in the build in Paris where John Wick saved Nobody’s dog, give me vibes of the martial art movie masterpiece The Raid with Iko Uwais or Oldboy of Park Chan-wook. Impossible not to feel the pain and the fatigue on that long staircase that leads to Sacré-Coeur, that again resemblance the infinite fights of Tony Jaa or Jackie Chan but with guns.
Keanu Reeves is really giving all he got in this chapter, taking his mix of Brazilian Jujitsu and gun fu to the next level. Also for Keanu I will need a dedicated article to write about his improvement in martial arts in general and his very interesting long action movie career. But for now, we make this nunchaku performance work.
All gathered to kill
Before starting with the list of the martial art grand masters, I want to spend two words for Rina Sawayama, that was really a positive surprise and I hope to see her in more action movies. In fact, the Japanese and British singer brought a convincing performance in John Wick 4, and it will be such a shame if like his fellow singer Rain in Ninja Assassin won’t continue to fight in front of the camera.
Well, I am sure that I will deepen the stunts of the grand masters featured in John Wick 4 in a second moment, with the help of more youtube videos in the future, but for now let’s only mention:
- Hiroyuki Sanada, the highest living Japanese authority for the martial art movies, who plays Shimazu Koji, the wise manager of the Osaka Continental and John Wick friend.
- Marko Zaror, one of the best martial artist movie stars of the last decade, in the role of Chidi, the right-hand man of the Marquis de Gramont.
- Scott Adkins, the western martial art movie star with more martial art movie active and don’t think to stop (thankfully), in John Wick 4 plays Killa Harkan, the overweight head of the German Table.
- Donnie Yen, the martial art movie star of the moment, who is mainly remembered for his unbelievable interpretation of Ip Man, this time in the role of Caine, a blind High table assassin and old friend of John Wick.
The culmination of the Baba Jaga has crowned all the people involved in the franchise. Which killer do you like the most and which fight? Are you ready for the spin-off Ballerina?