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    John Wick

    Anyone else seen this yet? I'm not the hugest action movie fan but this piece piqued my interest and proved very accurate.

    Even on a small airplane screen, with swearing censored and Arabic subtitles (particularly distracting as there are actual subtitles in some of the movie) it was breath-taking so a full version on a cinema screen (which I hope to see this week) should be mind-blowing.

    Two further points of interest - at one point Keanu manages to kill someone with a kitchen surface and much of the plot revolves around Ian McShane's Hotel For Hitmen (though they don't use that actual name, sadly). McShane's appearance is an example of the excellent casting, right down to the cameo roles.

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    #2
    John Wick

    Yeah, I seen it.

    Stylish balletic action scenes. Doesn't rewrite the genre. Keanu is a likable and awful actor at the same time.

    S'alright. 6/10

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      #3
      John Wick

      Harry Truscott wrote: Anyone else seen this yet? I'm not the hugest action movie fan but this piece piqued my interest and proved very accurate.

      Even on a small airplane screen, with swearing censored and Arabic subtitles (particularly distracting as there are actual subtitles in some of the movie) it was breath-taking so a full version on a cinema screen (which I hope to see this week) should be mind-blowing.

      Two further points of interest - at one point Keanu manages to kill someone with a kitchen surface and much of the plot revolves around Ian McShane's Hotel For Hitmen (though they don't use that actual name, sadly). McShane's appearance is an example of the excellent casting, right down to the cameo roles.

      .
      You owe me an apology. And you have just expressed enthusiasma for a film on the Film and TV thread. By your logic this would now justify me attacking you in sexualised and misogynist terms.

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        #4
        John Wick

        **Possible Spoiler Alert**

        Not sure if this is a spoiler or not, but the following information was available to me before I saw the film. If not look away now.

        A brief synopsis: Man sees puppy getting killed, ruthlessly puts down the perpetrators and hundreds of their acquaintances in the process.

        It's Jason Statham material, with a couple of flash motors, some fancy locations, and bonkers plot.

        Is there a name for this genre of angry 40 somethings coming out of retirement one last time? Statham, Penn, Neeson, now Reeves, they're all at it.

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          #5
          John Wick

          They're called Geriaction (a portmanteau of geriatric & action) movies, I believe. I have to say that I don't think I've seen many/any of the other movies referenced though.

          The genre is referred to in my link, as is the opinion that if the film is an example then it's a superior one.

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            #6
            John Wick

            This came up on The Best Show with Tom Scharpling last week, when he was doing a less-than-serious 100 greatest fictional characters of all time list. John Wick came in the top 20, and he talked about how insane the plot was and that there is apparently a hotel where all hitmen stay at.

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              #7
              John Wick

              I saw this the other week and enjoyed it a lot.

              Plot: Don't fuck with John Wicks pets...

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                #8
                John Wick

                My only criticism of it was the lack of Jason Statham.

                Enjoyable, very silly B-movie revenge stuff. At least Neeson wasn't involved.

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                  #9
                  John Wick

                  Just seen it again, in IMAX this time so couldn't be further away from my original method of viewing it.

                  I'm sorry but it's bloody brilliant, what sets it apart from the Neeson, Statham et al vehicles is the sheer wit & verve it displays as well as it's grounding in the 'Heroic bloodshed' genre.

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                    #10
                    Seeing the final part of the trilogy tomorrow and super-excited, I have loved these movies so much.

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                      #11
                      I just watched the first one on Saturday. I'm not sure how I managed to miss seeing these movies, but I'm planning to watch the second one this weekend.

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                        #12
                        I saw the first one. Just super violent. I don’t see the point, I’m afraid.

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                          #13
                          I think you must mean "super and violent".

                          Seriously though, while there are vast amounts of often cartoonish violence in the films it is done with a verve and style at a different level to much of the genre. The aesthetics and iconography of the assassin's folklore are all very seductive and there is enough subtle, knowing humour to leaven it all out.

                          The third is great, JW2 suffered a little from being too obviously the second section of a trilogy and having to get us from A to C but this one cuts loose.
                          Last edited by Ray de Galles; 16-05-2019, 12:10.

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                            #14
                            I've just read that Marc Dacascos is the bad guy in JW3. I think that I'll have to look into these films. Dacascos is in one of my favourite films, Brotherhood of the Wolf.

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                              #15
                              That is a brilliant film.

                              I am halfway through the second film. I'm going out on a limb and guessing he will balletically slaughter his way through whoever is sent to stop him.

                              The villain in the first one is great, from his first appearance with his "Oh crap" reaction to the chop shop owner's explanation as to why the idiot son got a slapping, to his descent into a booze and drugs fuelled resignation to his fate.

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                                #16
                                I watched the first one last night, partly on the basis of this thread. The choreography is great, and plot has hugely entertaining silliness to it, but I think a film like this has to own its trashiness these days and have a little more explicit wit and fun to it, rather than just being dark and violent. It just underwhelmed me a bit compared to what I was expecting.

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                                  #17
                                  I would say that all the films "own (their) trashiness...and have a little more explicit wit and fun to (them)" and that increases throughout the trilogy.

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                                    #18
                                    OK, just watched the first one. Not a classic, but pretty damned good. And none of those quick cutting crap, great how you could see every moment of the gun fu. Going to try to find time tonight to watch the second one.

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                                      #19
                                      I'm watching 3 now. It's even more exhausting than the other 2.

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                                        #20
                                        Just watched Chapter 4 and loved it. It never really flagged despite the ultra-long running time, though I don't have a problem with lengthy movies anyway.

                                        The action sequences are as breathtaking as ever and delivered with the usual flashes of deadpan humour. The set pieces actually remind me of Stewart Lee routines in the way they stretch and warp the central conceit just to see how far they can take it.

                                        The mythology and imagery of Wick's world is taken to even more extremes than the previous three films and the film's locations, production design and camerawork are dazzling. One scene in particular of a gun battle through the many rooms of a house all shot from the God's Eye View is a stunning piece of filmmaking.

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                                          #21
                                          ooh, a thread for a thing. I like the idea of this. This is an edited version of what I posted on the other thread

                                          "I found it a slog. Not that there weren't some flickers of originality, some lovely character stuff (especially from Donnie Yen), lots of great visuals and a soundtrack that I'm going to look up. But oh boy is it one note, and a lot of stuff that you'd seen before. I get what Ray means about the Lee routine, that's a decent comparison, maybe I wasn't just in the right mood for it. There were a couple of things that I got stuck on, I thought the armoured guys as seen in the previous film were much more bullet resistant than they were in this film. Hiding your head in your bulletproof suit looks ridiculous no matter that it actually shows how much thought has gone into it.

                                          I guess not helped by me forgetting what had happened in 2 and 3. I can remember 1 well enough though. Which is a shame as it means I've no real idea what his aim is in this film.

                                          It felt very Vampire the Masquerade revised. I could quite easily recast it into that late nineties world spanning metaplot and run it as a game. (One for the real geeks there). Archons, Elysium, Inner Circle, that sort of thing.

                                          I'm not sure about going to Japan and being that stereotypical, I'm trying to imagine what the British equivalent would be. But people in kimonos, archery and, of course, katanas?

                                          My opinion is that it's not worth the 169 minutes it is. Especially not compared to the 101 minutes of the first one.

                                          It seems made for OnePerfectShot. The crown behind Atkins in particular was visually perfect.

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