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Keanu Reeves as John Wick in a still from John Wick: Chapter 4 (category III). Donnie Yen and Bill Skarsgård co-star. Chad Stahelski directs. Photo: Murray Close/Lionsgate.
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Review | John Wick: Chapter 4 movie review – Donnie Yen stupendous, Keanu Reeves indestructible in epic fight movie

  • If you thought the previous movies about Reeves’ seeming indestructible killer John Wick were outlandish, they were mere entrées for this insane instalment
  • At 169 minutes it is excessive, but every fight scene is a work of art, Wick is wielding nunchucks and Yen, as his nemesis Caine, elevates every scene he’s in
American cinema
James Mottram
James Mottram
Why you can trust SCMP

3.5/5 stars

Keanu Reeves’ seemingly indestructible killer John Wick is back for an epic fourth outing, as he continues his one-man scrap with the High Table, the all-powerful legion of assassins that excommunicated him.

As outlandish as the previous three movies were, these were just entrées for this instalment, one that bounces between New York, Osaka, Berlin and finally Paris, which should get renamed the City of Fights after this.

Director Chad Stahelski delivers an insanely outrageous action film, clocking in at two-and-three-quarter hours. Is that excessive? Yes. But the John Wick franchise thrives on excess.

As in its predecessors, the body count is in the hundreds, as Reeves’ elastic-boned hitman survives beatings, stabbings, bullet nicks and at least two multistorey falls.

This time, he’s facing off with the Marquis (Bill Skarsgård), who wages war against Wick by blowing up the New York Continental, the assassin-friendly hotel run by the suave Winston (Ian McShane).

Rina Sawayama as Akira Shimazu in a still from John Wick: Chapter 4. Photo: Murray Close/Lionsgate.
While he leaves Winston alive, the arrogant Marquis hires another old friend of Wick’s, Caine (Donnie Yen), to take him down. A blind killer, reminiscent of the swordsman Yen played in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Caine tracks Wick down to the Osaka Continental, run by Shimazu (Hiroyuki Sanada) and his daughter Akira (Rina Sawayama).

The ensuing chaos is just the first of several stunning fight scenes, works of art in their own right. The sight of Reeves using nunchucks will give fans a shiver of pleasure.

With an ever-rising price on Wick’s head – “a ghost in search of a graveyard” as he’s dubbed – there are other interested parties, including a mysterious tracker (Shamier Anderson) accompanied by a highly trained German shepherd that is every bit as deadly as John Wick’s fists.

(From left) Keanu Reeves as John Wick, Donnie Yen as Caine, and Scott Adkins as Killa in a still from John Wick: Chapter 4. Photo: Murray Close/Lionsgate.

By the time the story arrives in Paris, with a jaw-dropping, traffic-dodging scene around the Arc de Triomphe followed by a staggering fight at the stairs leading up to the Sacré Coeur, John Wick: Chapter 4 enters the annals of action-movie classics.

True, not every scene works. In a Berlin club Wick and a gold-toothed opponent (British action star Scott Adkins, in full-on fat suit and thick Teutonic accent) fight while ravers seem blithely unconcerned (recalling the terrible Zion Dance Party in The Matrix Reloaded, in which Reeves also starred). But it’s a rare misstep from Stahelski.

She was going to quit acting – then she landed a role in John Wick 4

Above all, what makes Chapter 4 worth your time is Donnie Yen, stupendous as Caine. Agile and adept, he elevates every sequence he’s in. A spin-off with his character would be very welcome.

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