DON’T SET HIM OFF!

After losing his wife, former ace assassin John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is attacked by the clueless son of a Russian mobster (Michael Nyqvist), which sets him off on a murderous spree. An action-thriller that became a hit for Reeves as a hugely skilled and ruthless killer; amusingly, it builds a whole infrastructure around his profession, complete with its own gold coin-based financing model! The film works like a first-person shooter game, with endless kills. There’s a beauty to the choreography, but no tension. Empty, and even dumb at times.

2014-U.S. 101 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by Chad Stahelski. Screenplay: Derek Kolstad. Cast: Keanu Reeves (John Wick), Michael Nyqvist (Viggo Tarasov), Alfie Allen (Iosef Tarasov), Adrienne Palicki, Bridget Moynahan, Dean Winters… Ian McShane, John Leguizamo, Willem Dafoe. 

Trivia: Co-produced by Eva Longoria and David Leitch; co-executive produced by Reeves. Followed by three sequels, starting with John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017).