John Wick 4 - May 21st, 2021

[Khev]

I don't think that Wick would have killed Sofia or blown up her house if she refused his marker. I think that he was hoping she'd think there'd be consequences but that if she stuck to her guns and said no that he would have left her alone.

 

[chrisstbh]

I have what will likely be an unpopular take.

Rewatching JW2 again recently, I've decided that John Wick was being completely unreasonable to Santino D'Antonio.

He owed the guy via a blood marker, and the only reason he was shown was being slightly ignorant to the "rules" is that the film needed some exposition from Winston to talk about the consequences of not following through on the debt.

You don't get to decide when your old life shouldn't interfere with your "new life" That's the price of the bad choices you made in your old life. Obviously you wouldn't have a movie had Wick behaved somewhat logically here. But it's actually pretty petty.

Do I think Santino should have blown up Wick's house? No. But if it was me, I'd shoot him in the head right there in his house. Funny as it seems, I think Wick would have honored that. If Santino simply said you owe me your life, so if you won't fulfill your debt, I'm going to have to kill you as a matter of honor. Shot Wick in the head right there in his kitchen and be done with it.

Or Wick could have just killed the sister with a sniper rifle at distance. Waited. Then send an anonymous message to Cassian that the brother was responsible for the hit. Cassian shows up and kills Santino and all problems are now solved (i.e. the risk that Santino would kill Wick to hide who orchestrated his sister's assassination) . Of course in JW3, Wick presents a blood marker to Sofia. She doesn't want to do it, but she owes him.

Wick won't honor his marker cleanly but demands someone else honor their marker cleanly, to wipe away the chaos he created for not wanting to honor his marker cleanly in the first place.

That's a pretty interesting character trait. That Wick is actually an impulsive unreasonable person. Which raises questions what he was like before he met Helen.

We see Wick as the "hero" because it's Keanu Reeves and we are following his journey. But he's actually kind of a jerk. Which is maybe the most hyper realistic thing about the JW series - Be good looking and be seen as dominant at your career as a guy, and society and your peer group will likely give you a free pass on your worst behaviors.

I dunno, John was officially out, everyone knew that, so Santino should have respected that and sucked it up.

He knew John would refuse and started a war with him anyway.

They make it quite clear that John wasn’t a good person, and Helen was the only thing keeping him grounded - the puppy was the last remaining part of Helen and after that he’s returned to his old ways.

 

[Buttmunch]

Yeah I think if John Wick 1 hadn’t have happened and the marker gets called out of the blue, John would have answered the same way and refused saying he was out. Taking out the guys that killed his puppy wasn’t intended to be him coming out of retirement. It was supposed to be a one-off thing, that obviously quickly snowballed.

Santino clearly didn’t see it that way and felt calling John’s marker was fair game. Whether it was still fair game had the events of chapter 1 not happened is debatable on what little information we know about the world. Is out OUT? That’s clearly what John has been seeking throughout the series. He’s done a lot of bad things, had a wife that showed him the good in the world, and he just wants to live out his days in peace. Does he deserve that peace? Who knows? What all he’s done or what he needed to do to get out in the first place is still very much a mystery. If we knew it all we might not see John as the hero we think of him as.

 

[jye4ever]

One thing not been mentioned is that Santino specifically said to JW that he would’ve not used his marker had JW not returned to avenge the death of his dog and stolen car. Santino said he respected he was out because he was involved in getting him out.

But then Santino saw it as if you’re going to do all of that destruction for such small things, in his eyes anyways, then yeah he’s gonna use the marker now.

I’m guessing the JW prequel will specifically show how Santino helped JW get out the first time with his impossible mission.

CEO of Lionsgate said he likes the prequel idea.

I hope Ezra Miller is the main baddie lol

 

[MeatHookGekko]

I dunno, John was officially out, everyone knew that, so Santino should have respected that and sucked it up.

He knew John would refuse and started a war with him anyway.

They make it quite clear that John wasn’t a good person, and Helen was the only thing keeping him grounded - the puppy was the last remaining part of Helen and after that he’s returned to his old ways.

"Listen, John, with all sincerity... I don't want to be here."

"Please, don't. I'm asking you not to do this."

"I'm sorry. No one gets out and comes back without repercussions."


*******


"He burned my house down."

"You rejected his marker. You're lucky he stopped there. What the hell were you thinking, giving a marker to a man like Santino D'Antonio?"

"It was the only way I could get out."

"Oh. You call this "out"? What did you think was gonna happen? What did you expect? Huh? Did you really think this day was never going to come? Hmm?....You dishonor the marker, you die. You kill the holder of the marker, you die. You run, you die. This is what you agreed to, Jonathan. Do what the man asks...."

 

[Wor-Gar]

I saw both JW4 and D&D in Dolby, the only way to fly. In just a few days D&D will also suffer the same fate as Wick as it loses all its screens to Mario.

What, is this gone from theaters already? I just got back...

 

[Khev]

What, is this gone from theaters already? I just got back...

It's still in theaters but got bumped out of most or all premium auditoriums.

 

[Johnny Utah]

I knew it wouldn’t last long so I jumped on it first week.

Theatres are thinking about D&D and incoming Guardians.

 

[twistedfreak]

I loved this! Technically speaking, this is the best entry in the franchise. The action/stunts, the cinematography, lighting, etc are all pushed here. The cast were all in and played their roles perfectly. Donnie Yen as Caine was a standout of course. I am completely satisfied if the end the arc of John Wick here. He has found his peace in my mind. I would rather see the team close the book while they are at the top of their game, rather than produce something because the studio wants more $$$. I have 4 films of John Wick. All range from good to greatest of the action genre in many years. I'll post a more in depth review when I can. I will see this again before it leaves the theaters.

 

[JAWS]

Ok. Finally got around to watching it a 2nd time. I enjoyed it more for sure but it’s still got nothing on my Fav of the series (part 3)

It helped that I watched it on my home theater. John wick films are pure visual/audio candy. They look so great in 4k.

Film is still too long and some of the action set pieces go on too long. I still think the Stair fight is completely blah.

As I said before I think it hurts that the writer of the first three did not return.

Still enjoyably though. Just not the perfect ending this franchise deserved.