One of the bigger developments in modern filmmaking since
the last instalment is the popularity of drone cameras, to allow for more
3-Dimensional and uninterrupted shots. It’s a dangerous tool to use unprepared,
as the smooth movement of the drone can create a melancholic feeling, as if the
camera is drifting through the scene as an impartial and uncaring observer. Wick
4 avoids that by locking the camera in a specific location, a top down shot
in an enclosed environment Hotline Miami style. It certainly helps give
the scene (and thus the film as a whole) a unique flavour to make it stand out
while avoiding the easy pitfalls the drone cameras open up.
Other new instalments include an expanded cast, not limited
to Bill Skarsgård as the newest uptight European High Table obstacle acting
like if P.T. Barnum as a Bond villain, Clancy Brown in a small role as a strict
rule abiding operative known as The Harbinger, and Scott Adkins as an arrogant eccentric
German gangster/nightclub owner. This is another example of one of Wick’s
greatest strengths, they have so many minor roles across their films yet they love
to fill them with great character actors who truly embody the phrase ‘There are
no small parts, only small actors’ in the best of ways. Of course, it would be
remiss not to mention the absolute scene stealer that is Donnie Yen as a blind
assassin and old friend of John Wick (Keanu Reeves) struggling to balance his
duty to the High Table and his loyalty to his friend.
Friendship is the word of the day, the film has many
characters making emphatical decisions on where their loyalties lie, with the
organisation? Or with their allies? These are people who make their money in
killing people who bare them no ill-will, in some cases they are ordered by
duty to kill good people, even friends. John Wick as a character is one that
refuses the call, he challenges the High Table, and relies on the help of
friends who follow him as an individual, not a faceless replaceable group of
criminals. The High Table as a concept we never learn much of their goals. They
are an Illuminati style organisation who secretly control everything, and they
have a strict set of rules you must never break, yet they seem to exist simply to
exist? To have all the power and must never be challenged on it for the sake of
having it. Like a child who refuses to let you play with their toys simply
because it is theirs to own. It’s no wonder people flock to John Wick as not
only do they have loyalty to him as a person, but should he succeed, they will
have proof that the High Table is fallible. They are not the all-seeing, all-knowing
hydra they claim to be.
The Wick franchise have always struck an interesting
tone. They are expansive over the top action films with deep lore of an
underground guild of assassins that goes so extreme into how serious they are
that it makes it all the way back round to lunacy. Yet there is a clear
self-awareness on the filmmakers part, very aware of this inflated premise, Wick’s
uber intense performance of grunts and gritted teeth and Lawrence Fishburne’s
dramatic monologues of his Hobo Kingdom, and not a hint of irony to be found they
never laugh at themselves, only sincerity from frame one of the original film.
It’s a rare balance to meet and that may be why these films have no true
competitor, most lean one way or another. No other franchise can do what Wick
does, offer a dark & violent world filled with techno music as Keanu
Reeves slams a nunchuck into a man’s head again and again and again. What a
laugh riot.
-Danny
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