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John Wick
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Lionsgate Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (26th January 2015). |
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The Film
 Keanu Reeves hasn't had much luck in recent years, the last film he opened to big numbers was 2003's much maligned "The Matrix Revolutions", the final chapter in Andy and Larry Wachowski's (Now known as Lana) sci-fi epic. Since then he's been in much smaller scale films all of which failed to find an audience - 2005's "Constantine" was a disappointment at the box office, with comic fans and critics, "A Scanner Darkly" (2006) was well received but failed to light the box office on fire, "The Lake House" (2006), "Street Kings" (2008) and "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (2008) all had problems and were little seen by moviegoers. In 2013 Reeves released two films both passion projects, "47 Ronin" and "Man of Tai Chi" - The former was plagued with studio interference and the resulting film was just plain awful, viewers and critics agreed and the film died a horrible death. The latter, no one seemed to care about (although was generally well received by critics) as the film made a whopping $61,054 on a $25 million budget. That's quite a loss. Reeves' leading man status has certainly dwindled, 2014's "John Wick" is, sadly another in a long line of failures for the actor, it made some money at the box office but by no means was it a hit. The real sad truth of it is, "John Wick" is actually a decent film and deserved a lot better than it got. When sadistic young thugs led by Iosef Tarasov (Alfie Allen) the son of a notable Russian mob boss, Viggo (Michael Nyqvist), senselessly attacks John Wick (Keanu Reeves), a brilliantly lethal ex-assassin - they have no idea that they've awakened the boogeyman. With New York City as as his bullet-riddled playground, Wick embarks on a merciless rampage, hunting down his adversaries with the skill and ruthlessness that made him an underworld legend. "John Wick" isn't a terrific film by any means, it is, however a decent entry into the revenge genre. What makes the film work is its simplicity, unfortunately it's also this that holds it back. As viewers we're not inundated with useless exposition or back story, the film presents the events that led John to his current state quickly and within the film's first minutes. His shady past isn't given much explanation either, other than some dialogue from Viggo which reveals that John was once a feared assassin and is exceptionally good at his job. In essence these gangsters woke a sleeping giant and they all end up paying for their mistakes. Long time stunt coordinator and first time director Chad Stahelski keeps the moment going as we learn more and more about the titular main character, thus never allowing for any moment of boredom. As I mentioned previously, the simplicity is also it's weakest link. The story lacks depth - John's wife has passed, his life in tatters and one event turns him loose. That's about as complex as it gets. There's some terrible dialogue that could have easily been reworked, also some motivations could easily have been avoided - It seems that all of the characters in this film (mostly the villains) all decide to make the wrong possible move, moves that end up leading to utter upheaval and a trail of bodies throughout New York City. It seemed like no one was thinking about repercussions and every threat in this film comes across as stupid. How did they ever reach the heights in the criminal underworld by being this dumb? I suppose it makes it easier for audiences to cheer when they meet their end. Frankly there was also an overall sense of predictability to the whole film, nothing particularly came as a surprise, it was formulaic in every possible way. In saying that, the film was generally fun. Once the action starts it doesn't let up, kinetic, fast and furious gun play that'll make any action fan exclaim in excitement. Stahelski knows how to stage an action scene, after all he spent 22 years in various roles in stunts from being a double to stunt coordinator (in fact he doubled Reeves in several films). He manages to put onto screen incredible sequences, shot with precision by director of photography Jonathan Sela, he engulfs the frame with darkness, playing with blacks and steely blue colors that offers a slick look. Matched with a rousing soundtrack that features tracks from the likes of Marilyn Manson, Kaleida, Ciscandra Nostalghia and The Candy Shop Boys all come together to deliver some memorable sequences. "John Wick" is certainly a slick production, on a technical level it achieves high marks. The story could have used some finesse, the performances could have been better - while Reeves does an ample job as a brooding one-note type (not too far off his wheelhouse), the other supporting actors just come and go without being entirely memorable. The action is terrific, the pace works well and overall the film wasn't as terrible as I anticipated it would be. For those reasons it's at least worth checking out.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 2.40:1 mastered in HD 1080p 24/fps using AVC MPEG-4 compression. This image looks terrific, the first thing you'll notice is the film's dark tones, a lot of the film either takes place at night or the scenes are shot in way that features a lot of black tones. The Blacks are deep, bold and inky, I couldn't spot any noise. The steely color tone of the film is well rendered, with icy blues and grays look terrific. There are scenes that take place in clubs and city street exteriors, it's here that other colors come out, greens, reds and oranges. The balance looks, the colors hold up. Detail and textures are equally solid, sharpness looks great. Overall this image is about as perfect as you can get.
Audio
Four audio tracks are included in English Dolby Digital Atmos 7.1.4 surround (48kHz/24-bit), English Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (core for the Atmos track) surround, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and English Audio Descriptive Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its TrueHD 7.1 audio (I currently do not have the capability to view the film with its Atmos audio). The TrueHD track is terrific, for an action movie the audio is about as complex, rich and immersive as you'd expect. Dialogue is for the most part clear, however there's a lot of whispering in this film and I found I had to continually adjust the volume. Action scenes are bombastic, gunfire, car chases, etc. They all stand up well, environmental and subtle directional effects sound good and the film's score and music makes excellent use of the surround channels adding to the immersive nature of the track. Optional subtitles are in English, English for the hearing impiared and Spanish.
Extras
Summit/Lionsgate has provided a decent collection of supplements that included an audio commentary, a series of six featurettes, the film's original theatrical trailer, bonus trailers and a digital copy version of the film. The package also features a standard definition DVD copy of the film. Below is a closer look at these extras. DISC ONE: BLU-RAY First up is a feature-length audio commentary with directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch (who is uncredited as a director). These two enthusiastically talk about the film, both coming from a stunts background they discuss the action scenes and on the process of choreography, on directing their first feature and on working with the cast and crew. Overall it's a pretty good track considering these two have never recorded one before and goes beyond the usual describing of what's happening onscreen that a lot of newcomers to audio commentaries are known for. The first featurette is entitled "Don't F*#% with John Wick" (1080p) which runs for 15 minutes 17 seconds, this clip takes a closer look at the stunts and gun play seen in the film. "Calling in the Cavalry" is the next featurette (1080p) which runs for 11 minutes 58 seconds, this clip delves into the story process and the casting of the film. Up next is "Destiny of a Collective", a featurette (1080p) that runs for 6 minutes 19 seconds, here we get a look at the stunt company 8711, on the directors coming from the stunts world and becoming directors. "The Assassin's Code" is a featurette (1080p) which runs for 5 minutes 18 seconds, this clip takes a look at the world in which these characters live in, their code, tactics, currency etc. "The Red Circle" is a featurette (1080p) which runs for 6 minutes 26 seconds, this clip takes a closer look at shooting the Red Circle night club sequence, on working with models, shooting in a hot tub set, the gunplay and on the influences they had on developing the sequence. "NYC Noir" is the final featurette (1080p) which runs for 6 minutes, this takes a look at the location of the film and on how it's as integral a character as the cast in the film among other things. The film's original theatrical trailer (1080p) is also featured on this disc and runs for 2 minutes 32 seconds. Rounding out the disc's extras are a series of bonus trailers (1080p) for: - "The Divergent Series: Insurgent" which runs for 1 minute 6 seconds. - "The Expendables 3" which runs for 1 minute 12 seconds. - "Revenge of the Green Dragons" which runs for 2 minutes. - "Mortdecai" which runs for 2 minutes 33 seconds. - "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1" which runs for 1 minute 17 seconds. DISC TWO: DVD This is a standard definition DVD copy of the film.
Packaging
Packaged in a 2-disc Blu-ray case housed in a cardboard slip-case for first pressings.
Overall
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