John Wick: Chapter 4 already has the franchise’s best reviews yet, which is being credited to its stunning action, visuals, and cast performances.
As the fourth installment in the Keanu Reeves action series, John Wick: Chapter 4 is a hit with critics, earning the franchise’s most positive reviews yet. John Wick: Chapter 4 brings more action and thrills as Keanu Reeves’ title assassin continues his path for revenge against the criminal underworld’s influential High Table organization. Taking his mission to earn his freedom global, John Wick tracks down the most powerful operatives across the world while fighting a new enemy with formidable alliances.
John Wick: Chapter 4 already boasts the best reviews of the John Wick franchise, proving the movies can continue to produce fresh angles on the acclaimed action premise. John Wick: Chapter 4 holds a Certified Fresh 93% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, which beats the previous sequels’ tied 89% ratings and the 2014 original’s 86% score. The positive reviews for John Wick: Chapter 4 are attributing the movie’s success to its lively and thrilling action sequences, franchise-best choreography and breathtaking cinematography, and compelling performances from cast members like Keanu Reeves.
7. John Wick 4 Delivers On Its Action Promises To The Extreme
The John Wick franchise has always been associated with its superior action set pieces and stunt work, with reviews remarking that John Wick: Chapter 4 takes the brilliantly-directed violence to the next level. John Wick promises great action, and the fourth movie over-delivers on this front. Across the board, critics note that there can never be too much action in John Wick movies, especially when it brings the high quality and, according to the Houston Chronicle, “cartoonish extremes” of John Wick: Chapter 4. Critics’ reviews have described John Wick: Chapter 4 as a non-stop violent ballet, emphasizing that the style and imagery support the sequel’s amplified action.
6. John Wick 4 Stays Engaging Throughout Its Long Runtime
One source of concern for John Wick: Chapter 4 was its lengthy runtime, clocking in at two hours and 49 minutes to make it the longest film of the franchise. Comparatively, 2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum was two hours and 11 minutes, John Wick: Chapter 2 clocked in at two hours and two minutes, and the original John Wick had a crisp runtime of one hour and 41 minutes. While the intimidating nearly three-hour-long runtime had the potential to negatively impact critical reception, John Wick: Chapter 4’s reviews explain that the action film has a great endurance that keeps audiences engaged through the end.
Similar to the last act of James Cameron’s three-hour-and-twelve-minute-long movie Avatar: The Way of Water, the reviews for John Wick: Chapter 4 indicate that the last hour of the Keanu Reeves-starring movie will have audiences on the edge of their seats as some of the greatest action sequences of all-time unfold. John Wick: Chapter 4’s good reviews state that the film never feels slow, and that the climax includes jaw-dropping action sequences that make for an exhilarating final hour. It may be a long action movie, but the choreography of Keanu Reeves’ suit-and-tie-clad John Wick, the balletic stunt work, and the never-dull pacing of the story make the runtime worth it.
5. John Wick 4’s Has The Franchise’s Best Action
Not only does John Wick: Chapter 4 have more action than the previous movies, but critics say it also has the greatest action of the franchise. The sequel’s reviews described the action as the most ambitious with memorable sequences that will go down as some of the best of the entire genre. The action set pieces are seamless with spectacular stunts and stylish energy that blow the past three installments of John Wick out of the water. The reason why critics are loving John Wick: Chapter 4’s superior action isn’t just that there’s more of it, but that the intensity, boldness, quality, scale, and visuals are greater than ever before.
4. John Wick 4 Still Establishes Stakes Through Characters & Story
While John Wick: Chapter 4’s Rotten Tomatoes reviews remark that the franchise is notable for prioritizing action over story, the positive responses observe that the 2023 sequel doesn’t leave behind its characters or plot as it ramps up the violence. John Wick: Chapter 4 is being praised for giving its characters’ stories greater importance as a better way to enhance the stakes of the story and justify the more ambitious set pieces. The film manages to produce emotional stakes while establishing more dynamic and personality-filled new John Wick characters, which makes audiences all the more invested in the action.
3. The Choreography & Cinematography Is Some Of The Action Genre’s Best
John Wick: Chapter 4’s positive reviews have also celebrated the movie’s impressive choreography and inspired cinematography. The John Wick sequel’s action and violence wouldn’t work as well without its visual style and balletic choreography, which elevate the quality and captivating nature of these set pieces. John Wick is a smart, stylish, and choreographically bold action franchise, and critics are raving about how the fourth chapter brings these qualities to the next level. Not only is the stunt work and imagery some of the best of the John Wick franchise, but it’s also being praised as some of the best of the greater action genre.
2. Donnie Yen’s Standout Performance
John Wick: Chapter 4’s good reviews are also being attributed to franchise newcomer Donnie Yen’s standout performance. Critics note that John Wick: Chapter 4 is funnier than its predecessors, with Yen largely being credited for the sequel’s greater humor and heart. In the fourth John Wick movie, Donnie Yen plays Caine, a blind highly-skilled assassin and an old friend of Wick who is sent to kill him. John Wick: Chapter 4’s great reviews are praising Yen’s scene-stealing performance and slick action sequences, with Caine refreshingly being given a significant amount of heartbreaking and necessary character building in the 2023 film. According to Nerdist, Donnie Yen’s Caine is even cooler than John Wick himself and “one of the best action movie characters ever.”
1. Keanu Reeves’ Great Acting & Action Performance
Beloved action movie hero Keanu Reeves reprises his role as John Wick in the character’s fourth outing, which critics say is one of his greatest performances yet. Reeves has proven himself more than capable of taking down bad guys in brilliantly-choreographed action sequences, but John Wick: Chapter 4’s reviews observe that he goes to the next level by bringing more heart and focus to the actionless scenes. Keanu Reeves is committed to his unwavering performance as John Wick in the fourth movie, which enhances everything happening around him in the film.
