‘John Wick’ tops itself with epic ‘Chapter 4’

It began as a story of revenge. A retired hitman loses his wife. Bad guys murder his puppy. Big mistake.

The first “John Wick” installment back in 2014 wasn’t exactly light on carnage. With each subsequent chapter, however, the body count has increased exponentially.

The latest, “John Wick: Chapter 4,” contains about as much action as the past three movies combined. In terms of globetrotting, the scale in “Chapter 4” exceeds even the flashiest of James Bond adventures, and its “secret society of hitmen” mythology finally reaches for the “High Table.” John Wick surely can’t kill anybody else, right?

“Chapter 4” clocks in at 2 hours and 40 minutes before the credits roll, with a climactic battle that runs for more than 35 minutes by itself. Some might call it overkill, but, hey, at least it’s incredibly well-made overkill.

Keanu Reeves has been magnetic throughout this entire series, playing the haunted John Wick with a detached stoicism that well complements the role’s extraordinary physical demands. Though it seems odd to say, it’s a genuine pleasure to watch Keanu Reeves dispatch goons in such violent style. He takes plenty of licks too, though it only seems to motivate John more.

The new film gives John Wick his most worthy adversary of the series in “Chapter 4.” Martial arts legend Donnie Yen plays Caine, a retired (and blind) assassin forced into hunting down his former friend. Caine is recruited by Marquis de Gramont (“It” creepo Bill Skarsgard), the head of the High Table who throws everything at John Wick in order to avoid a fateful one-on-one duel with him. The duel is the only way our excommunicated antihero can finally be free of the High Table’s relentless pursuit.

The promise of finality, one way or another, fuels “Chapter 4,” establishing real stakes for the character for the first time since the original film. It also entangles John’s sometimes-allies Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne and the late Lance Reddick in engaging ways. It also creates memorable character arcs for the new players, including lively showings by Yen, Hiroyuki Sanada and Shamier Anderson appearing as more-than-capable allies and assassins this go-around.

Chad Stahelski, a former stuntman, earned his reputation as a top-end action director with the previous installments, and “Chapter 4” packs in a whole new set of unforgettable sequences in memorable locales. John Wick uses a nunchaku for an extended sequence in way that will make Michelangelo of the Ninja Turtles cower in the sewers forever, and the spectacular finale includes long flights of stairs, dragon’s breath shotguns and the evasion of dozens of aggressive drivers on the streets of Paris. Reeves and his stunt team deliver in every regard, then Donnie Yen manages to top them all with his own memorable acrobatics.

Whatever CGI used here integrates well with the spectacular set design and meticulous martial arts and weapon choreography, making it a bombastic big screen experience. That supersized runtime breezes along thanks to an engaging cast and Stahelski’s commitment to varying the action and its presentation.

Can “John Wick: Chapter 4” be topped by another future installment? Seems impossible at this point, but plenty of people said the same thing after “Chapter 3.”

• • •

Tyler Wilson is a member of the International Press Academy and has been writing about movies for Inland Northwest publications since 2000, including a regular column in The Press since 2006. He can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.