Film Review: Keanu Reeves in Ludicrous Premise as ‘John Wick’

CHICAGO – Keanu Reeves has been in a lot of dogs over the years, but rarely has he left such a high body count while avenging one of them. “John Wick” is a brutal revenge thriller where Reeves is a ex-mob enforcer who goes on a murderous rampage leaving blood on every doorstep to avenge the death of his dog. Despite that chuckle-inducing premise, “John Wick” isn’t the dog I expected, but then again that’s not saying much.

Rating: 2.0/5.0

Wick is another of those crime thrillers that begins at the end. We see Keanu crash his SUV, stumble out bleeding and then watch a video on his phone and pass out, and flashbacks ensue. In the interest of time we skip over his wife dying in a terse 5 minutes or so, while the next 20 are consumed by the sights of Reeves making coffee, grieving, and then getting a farewell parting gift from beyond the grave when a dog with a note from his dearly departed wife is delivered to his doorstep.

After some Russians try to buy his muscle car at a gas station and he refuses, they break-in to Reeves’ house, steal his Mustang, and kill his dog. This sets the revenge plot in motion, but it’s pretty thin gruel to start. I couldn’t help thinking of “The Big Lebowski” and his quest to find out who peed on his rug. That seemed more plausible than this – dead wife or not.

“John Wick” opens everywhere on October 24th. Featuring Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Willem Dafoe, Dean Winters, Adrianne Palicki, Ian McShane, John Leguizamo and Bridget Moynahan. Written by Derek Kolstad. Directed by Chad Stahelski. Rated “R”