(C) Lionsgate

Why yes, that is Keanu Reeves.  Why would anyone promote a movie of his?  He’s not done a good movie since The Matrix, and he was responsible to weird junk like Johnny Mnemonic in the late 90s!  Hell, the latter was a movie that destroyed Dolph Lundgren’s career, and it was like 15 years before he had another role!  Reeves is stilted, too quiet, and awkward.  Why?

Because John Wick is an absolutely amazing action movie, and Keanu Reeves is absolutely amazing in it.  While the sequel just came out a couple weeks ago, the first movie was released in early 2014.  It stars Reeves as the titular John Wick.  Wick is a retired assassin who completed, essentially, the labors of Hercules to earn his exit from the criminal underground.  He goes on to fall in love and marry a woman who is shortly thereafter diagnosed with terminal cancer.  She dies, and her parting gift for Wick is a puppy so Wick doesn’t have to be alone.

What follows is Iosef, the son of Russian mobster Viggo Tarasov (no relation), getting offended when Wick won’t sell off a car.  Iosef decides to break into Wick’s house, catch Wick by surprise, and proceed to club Wick in the head with a bat, trash the house, and also kills the puppy before stealing Wick’s car.  This leads to a reawakening of the legendary assassin, and Wick proceeds to go on a 90-minute rampage through New York seeking his revenge.

The thing is that everyone recognizes John Wick.  Everywhere he goes in this criminal underground, people are both awed and frightened.  They keep their distance, and their opening question to him is always, “You workin’ again?”  Nobody wants to tangle with him, and even when a bounty is placed on his head, people keep a distance from.  In fact, the opening of the second movie has the off-handed remark, “I can assure you that, if anything, the stories you hear about John Wick are watered down.”  The movie just does an excellent job at selling Wick as almost a force of nature rather than a man.

Technically, the movie is also amazing.  The fight choreography is fantastic.  The cinematography is beautiful.  The settings, the locations, the characters – they all interact flawlessly.  It’s a believable event.  It’s fun to watch.  It isn’t peppered with Michael Bay explosions nor does it require the pomp and bravado of The Expendables.  (For what it’s worth, I like The Expendables as the ultimate representation of dad movies.)  Reeves’ quiet nature lends credence to Wick as a man of focus and instinct.  He wastes no words or motions.

But something I really like about this movies is directly related to the character musings I’ve written in the last couple entries about men and women.  Wick doesn’t entirely embody this societal sentiment of masculinity.  Yes, John Wick is handsome.  He’s wealthy, he drives sweet sports cars, and his suits are impeccably tailored.  He’s adept at martial arts and well-trained in the use of any kind of gun that’s ever been made.  Yet, his task is not a heroic mission that rewards him with power, money, or women.  He’s not ever portrayed as saving a damsel in distress nor will he go home to a woman at the end.  He does not act to make himself look better than other men, and he does not have the braggadocio you see in most action movies.  Wick isn’t even as musclebound as some of his opponents even though he’s fit.

No, I don’t think Wick fits the “toxic masculinity” concept.  And similarly, there are women in the universe of John Wick who are employed as assassins.  There’s a decent-sized role in the first movie for a female assassin out to get Wick.  They’re clearly competent and successful, or they wouldn’t be in the positions they hold.  Wick tacitly acknowledges this.  He never questions that a woman’s been sent to fight him.  He never degrades or demeans them.  He never says “you’re not bad for a woman.”  He recognizes them as peers in a criminal network of killers; if he does not take them seriously, they will kill him.  He does not pull his punches with them nor treat them any differently than the men sent to end his life.

For me, I think that’s great, and I wish more action movies would give women these kinds of roles.  Protagonist or antagonist, I think more representation of women in positions where their prowess is not questioned is great.  It’s the same thing I love about Furiosa and even the Wives in Mad Max: Fury Road.  Nobody ever questions their strength, skills, or authority.  For my money, I desperately want more movies that can have strong male characters without relying on toxic interpretations of manhood, and I want more female characters who don’t have to waste their breath with comments about why they’re just as successful as the men.  Movies like John Wick and Fury Road will hopefully set the bar for upcoming action movies in terms of plot, characters, and technical film-making.  We genuinely need it.

In summary: go watch these damn movies.