“John Wick”: the best of the saga with Keanu Reeves and what to expect from part 4

Following a path as incredible as the one that “Fast and Furious” has had (More than 6.6 billion dollars raised worldwide in 22 years), the saga john wick is getting ready to celebrate its first decade on the big screen and it does so with a fourth installment that has had several ingredients to generate expectation around the planet. Perhaps the most emotional has to do with the untimely death of Lance Reddick, the actor who gave life to Charon, the Continental Hotel Concierge, in the three previous installments, and who lost his life naturally last weekend to the 60 years.

Without the concept of “friends are the family that one chooses” as established in the minds of its followers as it does in the franchise led by Vin Diesel, the story starring the naturalized Canadian actor Keanu Reeves has shown an ascending level -in all sense– between its debut (2014), its sequel (2017) and Parabellum (2019), its third installment.

But the collection amounts (6.6 billion dollars versus US$574 million) and the number of deliveries (9 versus 3) are not the only two differences between the two proposals. Perhaps the most important has to do with a key area as far as the big screen is concerned: the direction. And it is that, if the story of the street pilots who seek to earn extra money by fulfilling risky missions in various countries has had five directors in nine installments, the story of the hitman who faces the High Table always kept Chad Stahelski as director ( in the first installment he shared roles with David Leitch).

The data is not minor because one would suppose that five minds think better than one. Now, why has a universe run by a single person managed to remain in the memory of millions for almost a decade? But, above all, does Chad Stahelski have the ability to surpass himself, once again, and present us with a fourth installment that unquestionably surpasses his predecessors?

From various fields it has been agreed that the main strength of “john wick” is to present us on each new tape with a well-rehearsed murder marathon. In the first installment, the character played by Reeves wanted revenge on those who killed Daisy, the puppy that his late wife left him to make her absence feel a little more bearable. Added to this detail were elements such as his beautiful car (coveted by the arrogant Iosef/Alfie Allen) and, of course, a first presentation of places like the Continental –a hotel where bloody deals could not be carried out–, capable of hosting key characters like Winston (the manager played by Ian McShane) and the janitor, played by the late Reddick.

Already with a replacement dog (a beautiful gray pitbull), the second installment of the action saga jumps from interest in the car to the burning of Wick’s house by Santino D’Antonio (Ricardo Scamarcio). Everything, except for a chain that Helen left her husband John, burned in seconds, thus reminding our protagonist that he could display incredible abilities and possess the most powerful weapons, but never the most precious thing: freedom. In that line, Wick accepts the task entrusted to him by Santino to kill his sister Gianna (Claudia Gerini). Of course – and it’s not the only mistake that the skinny hitman with a tie makes, because he’s confident – ​​far from helping him, finishing this mission ends up complicating him.

At this point we are able to mention other characters and elements that support the fiction we are commenting on. There is, for example, the Bowery King, a kind of master and crime lord who runs a network of beggars capable of achieving the darkest purposes with chilling ease. Solvently played by Laurence Fishburne, this lover of birds stands out for his cold blood, black humor and ability to help whoever he wants even if it risks his power in the shadows. Because yes, everyone here is under the mandate of the High Table.

But an element hovers above every move by Wick, the manager of the Continental, Bowery King, etc. And it is that the so-called High Table works as a kind of lodge of evil that brings together the darkest and most powerful men in the world. Nothing is above them. Everyone owes fidelity to them (“I will serve!) to the point of daring to cut off a finger or gouge out their eyes if they are required to do so. So, if we add aspects of faith, the use of dialects of multiple origins, (unwritten) rules of strict adherence to this kind of underworld that actually manages everything, and the possibility of activating global reward messages for someone who dares to disobey, the result will be a story capable of holding up over time with a little more ease.

Although everything seems like a lot in this franchise, there is a breaking point and it is “Parabellum”, the third installment released in 2019. At this point, the link between Wick and characters like the Bowery King, Winston or Charon himself is fully evidenced. Perhaps that is why the twist consists of presenting us with a witch hunt without regard. The character of the “Adjudicator” (Asia Kate Dillon) emerges here, a slender and daring employee of the High Table who goes one by one in search of those people who dared to help the ‘Excommunicado’ John Wick. So, she challenges the manager of the Continental face to face and takes the administration of it away from him. She gives the order for the lord of the birds/lord of evil to be stabbed with seven stab wounds. And he does it with a coldness that is extremely convincing when, in the epilogue of the story, Winston decides to “follow” his orders and shoot Jonathan (because he is the only one who dares to call him that) in a denouement that commands him -literally. — into the depths.

This third installment leaves, beyond the already mentioned bloody witch hunt, a series of more interesting secondary characters. A doctor who comes to cure John until the last minute before the search warrant begins against him, a theater director who risks her life to help our protagonist, a chef who in his spare time is a hired assassin and, of course, the fierce Sophia (Halle Berry), a woman who – supported by her two fearsome dogs – risks her life to fulfill her promise to support John during his bloody adventure in beautiful Casablanca.

Throughout the three films of “john wick” Something has become clear: we are dealing with a skilled hitman who, in the midst of his overwhelmed personal world, seeks to free himself from the High Table to live his long-awaited freedom and be happy with the memory of his wife Helen. Along the way, of course, he will have hits and misses, he will be hunted by armies of all kinds, which he will defeat with pencils, pistols, knives and even machetes. Dressed in a black suit, white shirt and dark tie, aboard classic cars, fast motorcycles or mighty horses, our protagonist will lead bloody confrontations, moving with the same solvency inside bookstores and museums, or in the middle of luxurious nightclubs. We are, therefore, before a franchise that under the command of a single director has demonstrated its potential for renewal, often relieving an industry in apparent crisis such as Hollywood.

We trust that the so-called “Chapter 4” or “Baba Yaga” does not disappoint expectations.