Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘John Wick’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

The fact of the matter is, each and every one of us have a breaking point. There really is only so much pressure and pain a human being can take and when that breaking point comes, we never quite know what the result will be. Some of us shut down and isolate from the rest of the world, hoping to gain a few moments to catch our breath and heal.

But others, well others let the pressure stew within them and when the time comes, nothing but sheer fury erupts. Depending on the severity of that eruption, there will be consequences of course. One might lose their job, or their friends, who knows. But there are some people out there with nothing to lose and when they reach their breaking point and snap, they become nothing more than a force of nature and that's exactly what is explored in the surprisingly intelligent action film, John Wick. 

John Wick is trying his best to heal right now. The love of his life, the woman who married him and changed his life for the better has passed away and the days are difficult for John without her. In fact, he is genuinely touched when she sends him a gift from beyond the grave, a beagle puppy to care for so that he doesn’t continue to stew in grief. But as John begins to steel his mind for a life without her, tragedy strikes. A thug and his friends that meet John at a gas station decide they need to own his ride, and they beat John within an inch of his life and kill the puppy that was his last link to his wife before taking his car. But as it turns out, the thug, Iosef, is the son of a Russian mobster named Viggo and once his father discovers what his son has done he fills his boy in on exactly who John Wick is; a former hitman so lethal he was nicknamed ‘The Boogeyman’ and Iosef's actions have sent John over the edge and he is coming to settle the score with Iosef...no matter the cost.  

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So, I made mention a moment ago that this was one smart action flick and man...it really is. I've never seen a film like this before where the hitman in question actually found a tie to the real world, a woman in this case, that managed to pull him away from the darkness of the underworld and give him hope for a normal life and all of that depth is accomplished thanks to Keanu Reeves' fantastic performance as John Wick. He plays the man with a fury I've never seen on screen for a character like this, one who needs a place to direct his rage over losing his wife and Iosef is the perfect vessel for John to bury his anger.  

But beyond that the film is also as slick as they come. With eye popping action sequences that leave you cheering as they progress because they are just that awesome. Granted the depth in the film only comes from John himself but you don't need much more than that. You feel for the guy and you want him to succeed in his mission because man...Iosef and his father are some big-time scumbags.  

This turned out to be another one of those gems of a film that I missed in theaters because the commercials and trailers simply didn't express the awesome and I just happened to stumble upon it in the middle of the story when it showed it up on cable, and that alone was badass enough for me to watch it to the end, and then go back to On Demand and watch it again from the start. If you missed this one as well, give it a look, it really is an impressive ride that satisfies both action and drama fans and with the cinematic finale of this saga drawing near, the time has to come for me to enjoy the next chapter in the story of this tragic character.

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