8 | / 10 |
Users | 4.3 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.3 |
An ex-hitman comes out of retirement to track down the gangsters who took everything from him.
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Willem Dafoe, Dean WintersAction | 100% |
Thriller | 39% |
Martial arts | 24% |
Crime | 19% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (224 kbps)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
English, English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
UV digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The Man with No Name didn’t just lack a moniker, he was a walking enigma who was laconic to the point of seeming catatonic, with an abhorrence to divulging anything about his equally mysterious past. In that regard, the character portrayed by a steely eyed, clench jawed Clint Eastwood was an icon of whatever the opposite of existential angst might be. The Man With No Name simply acted (no pun intended), divorced from the exigencies of history or hope for the future. Writer Derek Kolstad and co-directors Chad Stahelski and (an uncredited) David Leitch have made no secret that the Sergio Leone trilogy informed a lot of John Wick, but it’s instructive to note that not only does the lead character in this film have a name, he also has a history, something that in turn informs this vicious, relentless account of revenge. The opening scene of the film seems to portend bad news for John Wick (Keanu Reeves), and a quick quasi-montage which follows, while initially a bit discombobulating in terms of figuring out the timeline, gives a brief overview of tragedy having recently visited John’s life. John flashes back on a variety of snippets from his romantic life, and it soon enough becomes apparent that his wife Helen (Bridget Moynahan) has recently died. Since it’s already apparent that John has some kind of shadowy past, it’s interesting that it takes a while for the film to disclose that the wife died not from nefarious activities but from an unnamed disease. At her burial John meets quickly with a mysterious man named Marcus (Willem Dafoe) who seems to share a history of some sort with John. Later, back at home, John receives a posthumous present from Helen, a sweet little beagle puppy she had selected for him to help him with his grieving process. The pup, named Daisy, rather quickly works its way into John’s tamped down heart, and John is soon tooling around town in his vintage 1969 Mustang with Daisy happily perched in the passenger seat. And that’s when all hell breaks loose.
John Wick is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. Shot digitally with a couple of different Arri Alexa models, the film has rather aggressive color grading in various hues, some of which can diminish levels of fine detail. A lot of the early film is bathed in a kind of green-yellow ambience which sucks a bit of shadow detail out of the image. Later, in scenes like the nightclub in the assassin's hotel, there's a more overt green cast which tends to mitigate fine detail in facial features. Blue is also used quite a bit, but detail and fine detail peek through with more consistency in these sequences (see screenshot 11 of John Leguizamo). Yellow sequences, like the one on the airfield where Wick goes a little nutso in his Mustang, also have solid levels of detail. Black levels are exceptional, helping to establish the kind of proto-noir ambience that is obviously being aimed at. In normal lighting and without any overt color grading, colors look accurate and are very nicely saturated. Sharpness and clarity are both excellent, as tends to be the case with these cameras. There are occasionally goofy graphical elements with regard to subtitles (see screenshot 15), a choice which tends to call attention to itself more than anything. The image is very stable and presents no compression issues.
John Wick features an overwhelming Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 core) track that pretty much browbeats the listener into submission fairly early on, pausing only occasionally to catch its breath in a few quieter dialogue scenes. Immersion is very consistent and well handled, with the bone crunching battle effects, not to mention the nonstop gunfire, placed very deliberately throughout the surrounds to create an almost claustrophobic soundscape at times. The film's pulsing score is also positioned throughout the surrounds. Dialogue, such as it is, is presented cleanly and clearly (some Russian language is featured, with those aforementioned "cutesy" subtitles). Fidelity is superb and dynamic range is extremely wide.
A lot of fans have extolled John Wick's virtues to the point that some may feel underwhelmed by the actual film. There's little doubt that this has provided Keanu Reeves with a career revitalizing return to action, and there's also little doubt that a new franchise has probably been born. That still can't mitigate the fact that John Wick wants to have its butt kicking cake and eat it, too, with a perhaps debatable emphasis on "character" in the early going that is patently contrived and manipulative. Once the film gets into its revenge scenario, though, there's no turning back and John Wick delivers an incredibly visceral experience with some absolutely amazing set pieces. Technical merits here are very strong, the supplemental package is excellent, and John Wick comes Recommended.
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