Feb2016

GUY TALK
The Refreshing
Simplicity of
‘John Wick’
I’ve written about how I don’t watch
movies much anymore, how my
attention wanes. Every so often,
however, a film will surprise me. That’s
what happened not long
ago during a dull late
night in front of the television,
flipping through the
channels. I came upon
a movie I’d heard of and
remembered seeing
advertisements for, but
knew nothing about:
John Wick.
I gave it a few minutes to capture my
interest and it succeeded. I didn’t think
about it at the time but later I saw a
brief review online mentioning the
story’s simplicity, and it hit me –
that’s what helped grab me, why
it was so easy to watch. It was
the film’s lack of complication.
To be sure, John Wick is a fullfledged,
R-rated, wait till the kids go
to bed action movie. Lots of long,
meticulously composed fight scenes
in which the central character
(whose name serves as the film’s
title) uses his deft hand-to-hand
combat and firearm skills to mow
through countless challengers.
And I found these plentiful fight
sequences mesmerizing by
their choreography, almost
like watching some kind of
ultra-violent but enthralling
dance. Also, the movie has
a visually stunning quality,
paradoxical as it may
seem, with all the destruction
somehow presented
with an air of elegance.
Most refreshing though was the
fact that all the carnage was brought
about from the most straightforward
of places. A thug stole a guy’s car and
killed his dog.
Mind you, the victimized guy was John
Wick, a retired hit man who can be
fairly described as the superhero of
by Mark Bohm
Sometimes I don’t
want my action
thriller to make
me feel like I
need a degree in
political science
to figure out
what’s going on.
assassins, and his dog was the last gift
bestowed upon him by his deceased
wife, thus making it a very special dog.
But that’s pretty much it. As the film
made its way through the cable TV
rounds and I got a chance to see it
again (that’s right, twice), it occurred
to me while watching the action unfold
that the script didn’t need anything
more. Of course, most action-packed,
explosion happy, car chase-filled flicks
require us to suspend reality for much
of the tale. But why not keep the
underlying plot simple and let’s get on
with the fun? Sometimes I don’t want
my action thriller to make me feel like
I need a degree in political science to
figure out what’s going on. Intricate
conspiracies, corrupt plots within
factions of government, convoluted
schemes to create doomsday weapons
– they make my brain hurt. In John
Wick, we’re shown a stolen muscle
car and a dead puppy, and we know
there’s gonna be hell to pay.
To put a finer point on it, maybe the
John Wick storyline struck a chord with
me because, in a way, its unsophistication
makes it more authentic.
I suspect that in real life, more often
than not, it’s the very plain motivations
that make some bad things happen.
I know I’m not the only one who
was pulled in. I read somewhere that
the John Wick sequel is currently in
production. I look forward to seeing it.
Especially if they keep it simple. P
IMAGE COURTESY THUNDER ROAD PICTURES, JOHN WICK, 2014
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FEBRUARY 2016