John Wick

I was actually really excited to see John Wick. I didn't see any trailers and barely any advertisement, and it received rave reviews. I also haven't seen a good, PURE action film in a while (The Equalizer was mediocre) Well, though I found it to be slightly overrated, I was very entertained by John Wick. John Wick follows... John Wick: a retired hit-man seeking revenge on a group of mobsters who took everything from him. The plot of this movie is very simple, and seems a little clichéd for an action movie. There isn't anything new here, but the story is actually pulled off very well. It never gets too absurd or too dumb, yet it isn't taken too seriously. The thing I love the most about John Wick is that it's a movie that is completely self-aware. It knows that it should be an entertaining and fun action movie, and that's exactly what it is. Keanu Reeves totally nails this part, which actually requires some emotion. It felt good to see Keanu Reeves do something decent again. The rest of the supporting cast were good, especially the villains. The acting definitely isn't what you look for in an action flick, though. The action was utterly breathtaking and extremely fun to watch. The directors truly know how to film good action, with no shaky cam and realistic fights. There are a couple of fights which made me squirm with joy, which I love. Speaking of the directing, this movie looked visually fantastic. The lighting is used in a unique way and the cinematography was surprisingly great. The dialogue is often good, with some funny and witty one-liners that felt straight from the 1980s. This movie is far from perfect, though. The soundtrack, though it works, is very distracting. During action scenes, the soundtrack blasts and really takes away from the scene. Also, I found myself to be bored here and there. At a very short 101 minutes, this movie actually felt much longer than it was. Maybe it was because of the sometimes tedious dialogue. Though the action scenes were great, I found that the scenes in between were sometimes too long. Overall, John Wick is an entertaining and fun action movie that pays homage to 1980s action flicks with great action and a good story. Even though it felt long and the soundtrack was distracting, this movie is definitely worth seeing! RATING: 7.5/10.