There aren't a lot of truly great action movies. That might be a hot take, but it's true. I've been intermittently working on a book that follows the latter career entries of action stars including Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Scott Adkins, Liam Neeson, Bruce Willis, Jason Statham and Gerard Butler that's focused on the genre's endlessly diminishing returns. There are not many things sadder in Hollywood than an aging action star whose fans basically force them to look their age running, jumping and shooting their way through faceless thugs. It's hard not to look at 90-year-old Clint Eastwood try and throw a punch in 2021's "Cry Macho" and feel like somebody is getting exploited.
Or look at Liam Neeson in the "Taken" franchise." He was a genuine badass in the first one, but by the time we got to "Tak3n," there were five separate cuts to make Neeson hopping a fence look cool. Here's the thing: the longer movies have existed, the savvier audiences are getting. We used to support action stars long into their golden years as long as they could sell a tough-guy persona and a few macho lines of dialogue. But now, if we don't believe the movie star is as badass as the movie is trying to make us believe they are, then we stop showing up. For example, "Cry Macho" didn't make back half its budget and the last six Neeson movies flopped critically and financially.
Now look at the two biggest American action movie stars on the planet: Tom Cruise and Keanu Reeves. Tom Cruise is now doing Jackie-Chan-level stunt work and Keanu Reeves has turned himself into a martial arts and tactical firearms expert just to be believable in their respective franchises. With at least two more "Mission Impossible" movies on the way and "John Wick: Chapter 4" having its biggest opening weekend of its entire franchise, Reeves and Cruise still have audiences believing in their skills.
"John Wick: Chapter 4" is probably the best big-budget action film since "Mad Max: Fury Road" and it's really easy to see why. The world of "John Wick" is an interesting one. I imagine it's a parallel universe where two thirds of all humans on Earth are assassins and have a weird underground currency, hotels across the globe where they have to take a time out and tons of dogs trained to specifically attack crotches. There are a bottomless well of stories to tell in this world; stories that don't necessarily even need to star Reeves or contain the character of John Wick.
The true test of whether the "John Wick" movies are so popular because of the breathtaking action scenes and the world building, or whether people are showing up for Reeves and his laid back badassery: the two upcoming "Wick" spinoffs. One is a movie starring Ana de Armas and is focused on the ballerina assassins we met in "John Wick 3," and the other is a miniseries called "The Continental" which tells the story of how Winston started running the eponymous hotel in the 1970s. The "Wickarding World" has a bright future, for sure, but how bright remains to be seen,
"John Wick: Chapter 4" is almost three hours of car chases, gun, sword and knife fights, blind assassins, cute doggies and some of the most beautiful cinematography and locations set to film in years. But front and center are Keanu's sad, soulful eyes and the knowledge we carry as audience members that he's an awesome human in real life and deserves all the good things. Ever since Keanu buried his puppy in the first film, we've been along for every step of his journey, hoping he can find some semblance of peace in his life.
There are some flaws in the storytelling and three hours for an action movie is exhausting, no matter how well paced it is, but ultimately, "John Wick 4" shows that there's not just life left in the franchise, but in Reeves as an action star, if he so chooses. I don't see him or Cruise ever making direct-to-streaming action movies into their 70s like some of the actors listed above (not that I would begrudge them the paycheck).
"John Wick: Chapter 4" is legit one of the best action movies ever made. It's up there with "Terminator 2," "Fury Road" and "Die Hard" as a modern action classic that will change the future of how action movies are shot and edited. If you're not an action nerd like I am, then that might not mean much and the three-hour runtime might wreck you, but if you loved the first three "Wicks," then the church of mayhem is back in session.