John Wick 4 turns Keanu Reeves into Neo – and thus destroys his own arc of suspense

Spoilers follow: John Wick dies in the fourth installment of the action series currently in cinemas. In the final duel, the most fatal consequence of his assassin lifestyle occurs. But John Wick 4 is very long, almost 3 hours. In this runtime, the action hero not only wins over a hundred duels with henchmen. He survives too bizarre falls and collisions, after which comparable characters like James Bond and Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt would wake up as plaster mummies in the hospital – or not at all. Keanu Reeves shakes and moves on.

If you wanted to enjoy the films in the series, you always had to accept that John Wick survives even the most hopeless situations with a scratch on his forehead. John Wick survives so we can have fun with him for four bloody parts. With John Wick: Chapter 4, however, it became increasingly difficult for me to simply accept his supposed indestructibility. The worst thing that can happen in an action series happened to me: I stopped marveling at the beauty of the action choreographies. I was thinking about physics, anatomy, and the density of Keanu Reeves’ bones instead. How did it happen?

In Part 4, John Wick becomes a superhero like Neo from The Matrix

I don’t care about realism in John Wick films. Really. But then I find that there is one There should be a difference between a character like John Wick and Neo from The Matrix, also played by Keanu Reeves. How do I get the comparison? John Wick and Neo are two sides of the same Keanu Reeves medal. John Wick creator Chad Stahelski provided the stunts and choreography for the sci-fi series. The heroes share their coolness, their fighting skills and their… Keanureevesness. What sets them apart is their potential vulnerability. John Wick is, theoretically, human. Neo is a demigod like Superman.

In the Matrix finale, there’s this scene where Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) throws Neo across the subway station. Shortly thereafter, the overpowering opponent hits Neo so hard on his stomach that he spits blood. It’s the last time we see the Keanu Reeves character this weak in The Matrix. Because the former couch potato recognizes its full potential. Punches from Smith no longer have an effect on him, hail of bullets freezes him in the air. The hacker finally becomes a superhero. The balance in the following action scenes changes. It’s less about showing an exciting fight dramaturgy. Matrix now just wants to demonstrate Neo’s superiority. And that’s super cool, at least for now. I don’t want to spend a whole movie on it. What does this have to do with John Wick 4? Pretty much.

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John Wick 4 overdoes Keanu Reeves’ indestructibility – intentionally

After four films in the action franchise, John Wick is gradually crossing the line from profane hitman to mythical (super)hero. John Wick is not always superior. He moans, stumbles and bleeds. But he doesn’t die. Nothing can harm him. With the new John Wick, I had the feeling of watching a person who staggers on an abyss for three hours, but just doesn’t fall. At some point it was no longer captivating, but tiring.

John Wick 4 director Chad Stahelski knows all this. And that’s why, I think, he repeatedly points to the elephant in the room, the John Wick pragmatism: the character is immortal until the franchise allows its redeeming end: in the finale at sunrise. Until then, there are at least three moments in Chapter 4 where the film itself pokes fun at Keanu Reeves’ steel status:

Captain America and Neo would survive such scenes. But why does a “normal” contract killer have to put up with them? My theory: Moments like the three above obviously remind us what’s going on in the rest of the movie, a little more subtly. Namely, when the John Wick fighting machine is running at full speed. (Order John Wick 4 now as a limited Steelbook *)

John Wick 4’s insanely high body count and what it means for the action

John does have a handy Kevlar layer under a tailored suit though. But he doesn’t really need them because he’s never really in danger. No matter how many heavily armed opponents stand in his way. One of the mass battles in John Wick 4 made me think of Matrix 2: Neo fights one in Reloaded Bunch of Agent Smiths, which eventually becomes wedged into an ugly ball. I was never a fan of this sequence. Above all, she flaunts an endless contingent of spanking material. The intricacies of the previous duel between Neo and Agent Smith from Matrix 1 become blurred.

In John Wick 4, too, the mass of opponents overwhelmed me at some point. 140 figures die according to the screen rant in the film. That’s another 46 more than in John Wick: Chapter 3 and at least 12 more than the previous leader in the series, John Wick: Chapter 2. The henchmen can be reloaded as infinitely as the bullets in John Wick’s pistol magazine. At some point, probably during the stair sequence before Sacré Coeur, I was stunned. The fights here no longer felt like a fight to the death, but like weed pulling. Stupid, laborious, without tension. If they were cleverly choreographed, then that didn’t resonate with me at this point.

Where else should John Wick’s escalation mode lead?

Above all, the later fights in the film lack height, consistency and meaning. The relationship between human bodies and live ammunition changed. John Wick dodged bullets like a student getting chunks of chalk flying in the face from an angry teacher. Avoiding fatal injuries seemed to be a side issue. John Wick, of course, feels pain. If he had a choice, he would rather not have fallen 15 meters. But it doesn’t do anything more than a groan. He absorbs the violence and the pain. And keep going. Maybe he really is a Baba Yaga, a demon-like boogeyman, as some of his opponents breathe in awe behind his back.

I like John Wick 4. But I don’t like the series’ balance of myth and realism (now I said so) going off the rails. The action franchise is in a blockbuster-typical escalation mode. Part 4 brings out some of the most beautiful action sequences in recent years. However, he converts his main character into an incongruous demigod status.

Yes, John Wick dies at the end of the film. But who believes that it will stay like this? I’m more afraid that Keanu Reeves can suddenly fly in the inevitable 5th part.

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