The film "John Wick": reviews of viewers and critics

The American thriller John Wick (2014) became a brilliant director's debut for the first-magnitude stuntmen Chad Stahelsky, who once dubbed Keanu Reeves in The Matrix, and David Leitch, Brad Pitt's constant backup from the Fight Club.

Ecstasy for the perfectionist

In the film, the starring role was played by the unrivaled Keanu Reeves, who also acted as the executive producer of the project and the Swedish actor Michael Nyquist. It was not easy for professional film critics to express their attitude to the militant "John Wick" (reviews about the film are very contradictory), the fact is that the tape looks irreproachably holistic. Spectators-perfectionists, all action-scenes of the militant forced to experience ecstasy: each bullet that was fired went neatly into the head, every action is flawless, every phrase is reconciled and appropriate, something to throw out or change is simply unreal. Therefore, the movie "John Wick" reviews mostly laudatory, and the rating in the IMDb version: 7.20.

The screen version of the non-existent comics

Despite the abundance of violence on the screen, filmmakers, analyzing the militant "John Wick," reviews about the film left the correct, did not position the picture as "nuclear Chernukha." On the contrary, experts compared the tape to the screen version of a non-existent comic book, since all the timekeeping is saturated with fantastic aesthetics, and not only visual. The spirit of the comic book is saturated with a plot in which a whole criminal mythology has been erected. The film's action takes place in a parallel reality, in which two clan killers function, and there is a criminal infrastructure - hotels for hired assassins, a service dealing with getting rid of corpses, doctors, almost unions.

Professionally aggressive noir

Advantage of the militant "John Wick" critics' reviews called the professionalism of the authors, who managed to transform the cocky action of the frankly tabloid genre into a gloriously staged and thorough aggressive noir. The creators correctly defined the "center of gravity" of their own offspring. The screenplay of the project does not know halftones: exclusively white and black colors (between them at the turn, without parting with a sniper carbine, Willem Defoe hid). As John Wick described the authors' comments: the humor is severe, the dialogues are scanty, but informative, women are beautiful, men are bold and desperate, but are mortal. This beautiful film in its simplicity could be a trap for the debutant directors, as such archetypal material rarely evokes a lively audience emotion. Luckily for the directors, two main factors worked in the cinema: the author's sense of genre and the measures and glory of invited movie stars. Keanu Reeves, as a single killer, has convincingly proved that such fighters really "work" only with really charismatic movie actors.

Kambek for "cleaners"

As already mentioned, the project received mostly positive reviews. According to the Rotten Tomatoes website, the movie earned an average score of 6.8 out of 10. In the interpretation of the Metacritic site, the picture was rated at 67 points out of 100, based on 36 critics' reviews. Leaving on the "John Wick" reviews, experts in cinematography were not shy in terms. So, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, noting expressive acting, put the project three out of four stars. The more generous became Jordan Hoffman of The Guardian, who rated the action movie in four stars out of five possible. Richard Corliss stated that "the essence of action-tape in an inexorable action, and the brainchild of Stahelsky and Leitch follows this goal with a ruthless drive."

The performer of the main role was nominated for "Golden Raspberry" in the category "Prize for the restoration of reputation." Many reviewers expressed their special gratitude to the writers for returning to the screens of the "cleaners". The criminal profession, which got Tarantino from the light hand in the 90's, is very popular in the cinema, today it's practically a vestige of the past. Therefore, the movie fans considered that "John Wick" can be regarded not only as a Kiban Reeves cambake, but also necessary in some circumstances to people.

Acting Casting

Keanu Reeves, the creators of this role were invited solely to make his character look cool. Therefore, the actor made full use of his corporate device - crushed the enemies with a completely unruffled face. His physical preparation surprises even the most experienced amateur of the action genre.

Mikael Nyqvist was convincing in the role of the civilized Russian mafia, even learned a couple of curses in the native language of his character.

Ian McShane was magnificent in a pair of scenes in the image of the owner of the "Continental", representing, according to the authors' idea, a decadent concentration of vices. Miss Perkins in the exciting execution of American Adrian Paliki several times attracted the attention of the audience. In the notorious villain Josef Tarasoff reincarnated Alfie Allen, the same Theon Greyjoy of the "Game of Thrones."

Hero's return

Back in the winter of 2015, Chad Stahelsky and David Leutch testified that they are preparing to begin work on the sequel to the film. The premiere of the second part took place in the last month of the winter of 2017.

"John Wick 2" (2017) reviews of the audience received even more enthusiastic than the original picture. Its success is confirmed by the amount of box office fees that passed through the mark of $ 165,013,205 with a production budget of $ 40,000,000. The first film created by the efforts of two debutant directors just hit the bull's-eye and filled the almost empty genre sphere. Simple in terms of the semantic load, but the finalized draft of 2014 was perfectly entered into the context of the modern militant, without speculating on existing brands and spectator nostalgia. "John Wick 2", although shot by Stahelski alone, did not hit his face in the dirt, he became an excellent sequel, and therefore he got a rating even higher than the original action movie IMDb: 8.10. Chad Stahelsky tripled the dose of everything that the viewer liked in the first film. After the premiere of the sequel, "John Wick 2" reviews of the film noted the same spectacular glossy visualization, dynamic editing, masterly combat choreography and organically looking in the frame of Keanu Reeves.

New classics

According to the reviews, the reviewers were pleased with the creation on the basis of the original plot of many offshoots, the complication of the structure of the narrative and the changing motives of the protagonist. If in the first part the hero of Reeves was moved by a thirst for revenge, then in the sequel he is involuntarily drawn into the unfolding action due to the seemingly hopeless situation at first glance. The vulnerability of the character and the mortal danger looming over him are felt more tangibly. The plot of the picture is undoubtedly more complicated, and the tension has reached sky-high levels. Practically from the first minutes the viewer is made to understand that the toys are over: the rate of shootings and fights is increasing, the blood is shed more often and abundantly in the frame, and Reeves, despite his 52 years, performs such tricks that he simply does not believe it. Almost all the tricks Kianu performed independently, dealing with firearms, as an experienced agent of special forces. No wonder the actor trained for six months with instructors.

Actors' Ensemble

It should be mentioned that in the project of C. Stahelsky and D. Leitch Kianu again appeared with the American actor Lawrence Fishburn. It was these two performers who first shone in the trilogy "Matrix" of the Wachowski brothers. Spectators after watching the action movie "John Wick" (2017) reviewed the reviews inspired, thanks to the creators for the reunion of the legendary film duet. Other characters, according to the opinion of film critics, did not stand out with anything special. Nobody has reached the skill bar, declared by Daniel Defoe, who played in the original tape of his friend John, Marcus. The main antagonist, the head of the Italian criminal group Santino De Antonio (Riccardo Scamarchio), turned out to be a vile and power-hungry schemer, but he never reached the level of a memorable, vivid villain. His silent assistant, part-time bodyguard Ares (Ruby Rose) did not stand out in the entire pack of Santino collaborators. The actress, of course, is endowed with charisma, but this time Rose almost did not show it.

High marks of critics

As a result, "John Wick 2" (film 2017) reviewed the critics received exalted. On the site of the criticism of professional critics Rotten Tomatoes, its score in percentage reaches 91, which indicates the overwhelming majority of positive reviews. Chris Nashawati, author-contributor Entertainment Weekly, said that his compliment to the film is to lose count of corpses during the first minutes of the timekeeping. His judgment is supported by Tom Huddleston, the Time Out reviewer, urging viewers to sit back and enjoy the speed, tricks and style.

Scott Mendelson journalist Forbes recognizes the picture as one of the most excellent, stylish, professionally staged movie genres of the action movie. Prior to Kaye from Den of Geek, the thought of the previous reviewer continues, arguing that the movie of 2017 is so close to the true movie as possible for the pictures of this genre.