I've never bothered with watching it. It's on HBO tonight so I gave it a look.

Excuse me? This thing spawned three sequels? OK, so the box office is there, but, where's the story? His wife is dead and Russians steal his Mustang and kill his dog, and he just happens to be the baddest motherfucker in the solar system, and it just so happens that the Russian punk who killed his dog and stole his ride is the son of the gangster he used to work for. Because it's a small world, after all.

Oh, gee, I wonder what's going to happen now.

Really? THIS is the greatest revenge film of all time?

There's no clever clockwork setup of the story, no intricate pieces falling into place, that builds the anticipation, leading to a cathartic release for the viewer.

No, they just kill Superman's puppy and he's gonna stomp everyone's ass for the entire film. That's essentially the whole story. I mean, three sequels, right? He doesn't get killed at the end of the film. Heaven forbid, no! The goose that laid the golden egg for the whores in Hollywood.

Dime store emotional manipulation. Puppy murder. Cheap shit, REALLY cheap shit. It took me all of a half hour to arrive at this conclusion. I just had to turn it off.

Oh, I forgot! Tear-assing around the tarmac of some closed airport in his badass ride! Fucking WHAT??

You can have this mindless shit

Yeah but he killed three men with a pencil..

A fucking pencil.

Didn’t the original John Wick hit when Hollywood was at peak, or rising, woke nonsense? I think this movie, while nothing special, simply hit at a time when you couldn’t get much like that in the theater. Offer a man a bottle of water at the mall and he’ll probably turn his nose up to it. Offer him an ice cold bottle of water in the desert, and he’ll beg for it. I watched the first and second. The second being substantially worse. But I can understand why many appreciate it existing.

Film can be so much more. Don't misunderstand me. Throughout all of motion picture history, most films have been mediocre at best. My objection here is that for a entire decade, I have heard frequent reference to this film, and it turns out that is entirely undeserving of its notoriety.

The first one is ok. It’s a decent little comic book gun geek mindless action flick. The others spiral way off the reservation and get far to full of themselves.

Honestly in the same vein I prefer Nobody.

Para - I have always considered you as the John Wick of SF.

Wondering How many here own a gold John Wick coin?

John Wick is a kung fu/gun fu film. By that, I mean it's like a porn movie in that plot isn't there to be good, it's there to tie together a series of fight/shooting/sex scenes.

For starters, it's an 'R'-rated action movie that doesn't water down the violence to obtain a PG-13 rating.

JW was directed by a stuntman-turned-director, so his emphasis on the actions scenes is apparent. In most action movies, hand-to-hand fights scenes are usually filmed w/ 2-4 cuts per second to cover up weak choreography and lack of skill. JW doesn't cheat like this. Fight scenes are filmed in a way where you can see what's going on and to highlight the actors' and stuntmen's skills.

More specifically, the reason why JW is extremely popular among shooting enthusiasts is that while the shootouts are hyper-realistic, they're still rooted in realism. Wick frequently checks his ammo, press checks, & changes mags. He knows the difference between cover & concealment. For the same reasons gun guys admire movies such as Heat and Collateral, that's why JW is held in such high regard. Keanu Reeves trained heavily w/ Taran Tactical to become a proficient shooter. He also did that w/ judo.

There are very few big name actors in Hollywood who look convincing doing shooting & fighting scenes. Keanu Reeves, Tom Cruise, & Chris Hemsworth are among the top of the list. If you compare Keanu in his Matrix trilogy films, then you can see when he was faking shooting & fighting skills.

The story & writing in JW is mostly mindless, and I hate to say it, but each progressive sequel gets worse. The JW world-building gets more & more ridiculous, and the action scenes frequently become cartoon-ish to the point of self-parody. Anyone who remembers the stairway battle scene in JW4 knows what I mean.

Nonetheless, the cinematography is good, and JW is one of those movies that heavily influenced action movies that followed it. John Woo popularized gun fu movies in the 1980s-early '90s. The JW series picked up where Woo left off.

There are several video essays on YT about how JW changed action movies. Here's one of them.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: iron chef,

I like this mindless shit. I have all the Wick movies and many more. Some of us can check our brains at the door and just enjoy a modern action movie for what it is. I guess I am easily entertained and not looking for anything else. If you didn't like Commando, Cobra or Invasion USA you probably wont like the Wick movies.

quote:

Originally posted by hberttmank:
...Commando, Cobra or Invasion USA...

Sounds like gay sexual positions

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

quote:

Originally posted by hberttmank:
...Commando, Cobra or Invasion USA...

Sounds like gay sexual positions

Ok, that made me spit coffee all over myself!!

John Wick used an HK P30L with a compensator in that film. The P30L become very popular--like the Colt Python in the Walking Dead. Pop culture--in high demand and then it is forgotten.
The LGS had a P30L come in with 7 mags and a Surefire light. The owner threw a price at me that was too good to pass. Just need the compensator now.....

Saw the first one and that was enough for me. Could care less what brand of gun or other weapon is used cause the fighting is cartoonish and becomes boring.
Para’s comment on gay sexual positions had me busting out laughing.

For me, it is just a guilty pleasure. I know what I am going to get when I choose to watch JW. Unrealistic, yes, but it keeps me entertained and requires zero thought. I have watched each episode multiple times. I think part of the appeal is that John is not some jacked up steroid freak who brings it. He is kind of unassuming.

I also enjoy watching The Expendables, although the last one was a small disappointment. At least equally unrealistic.

Maybe I am just immature, as I still laugh when watching films like Taladega Nights, Dodgeball, Fast Times at Ridgemont Times and Dazed and Confused.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Really? THIS is the greatest revenge film of all time?

Can someone say Unforgiven, or Get Carter, the director's cut of Mel Gibson's Payback, Memento, Munich, or Oldboy?

I use the name "John Wick" as a general reference of a modern day badass, kind of like using "Chuck Norris", but when I first saw the film (my son showed it to me on DVD), it was at first eye-opening, but at the end, I felt underwhelmed by the hype. The biggest gripe I had was the home invasion/puppy scene; if Wick was such a perfect assassin/fighter/badass, how did he get his clock cleaned by some dumb Russian dudes? Plus the hyper-stylized approach with gun-fu and all that had me struggling to suspend belief. I know some members will disagree, but I enjoyed the Wick knockoff Nobody far more, it was more fun and I thought did a superior job; better Russian villains, more believable fights, a more realistic motive for revenge, and more relatable characters and settings. Plus I like Bob Odenkirk's acting more than Reeves.

Years ago, my son gave me a Blu Ray of John Wick 2, I have yet to open it. Like The Matrix, I had no interest in the sequels.

It's stuntman porn, mindless fun. Anybody suggesting it's great cinema is wearing a helmet.

The boss is right. The universe that Wick is set in has so much backstory, and aesthetic and nuance that there could have been amazing development, so many threads and connections.

Instead it delved into comic book levels of idiocy. The fall off the multistory building and "I'm OK", the ability to make everyone in NYC stop at a moment, which I get was a throwback to Matrix, but it was universe busting, hold up a suit jacket and automatic weapons fire doesn't penetrate, or even knock the recipient back, all just detrimental to what this could have been. The body count going up the stairway just quantity over quality. Watching #2 in the theatre with a friend who was a real life former operator and we were laughing out loud throughout the picture.

All of that being said, I do enjoy the movies, and the universe. I have to be in the right mood to watch it, but some of it could have been so very cool, so much more.

I don't watch Wrastlin', but I do like John Wick for the same reason...

Imagine if he did everything on skates doing oval moves.

quote:

Originally posted by airsoft guy:
It's stuntman porn, mindless fun. Anybody suggesting it's great cinema is wearing a helmet.

That’s what is great about the first 3 to me. The last one sucked. It’s the fight and gun choreography. And the fact that Keanu did so much firearms training. Those films were produced well, acted decently well. The stories, sure, cray cray, but the way they were done were extremely fun. Sure beats watching Superho films. You want great cinema, you have to wait for Christopher Nolan to come out with a new film. Film quality today is awful. I remember being able to watch 3-4 quality films per week. Then 1. Then 1 a month. Now it’s just a few a year. I just can’t get into or have the time for these endless series. So over the episodic crap. Just make it into a film. I’ll never understand. Gen Z can’t watch a 100 minute film but they can binge watch a series for 8 hours?

quote:

Originally posted by Cope:
Para - I have always considered you as the John Wick of SF.

Wondering How many here own a gold John Wick coin?

They do exist you know. Sold out at the moment.

APMEX Gold Coin

This message has been edited. Last edited by: fischtown7,

I agree with Para, my Brother in law made me sit thru the first one and bang bang bang, get old quick. Think I watched the second to see if maybe I missed something. The only scene I thought was amusing was this one. Would be neat to open a gun store like this one.