John Wick - Just Don't Mess With His Dog Alright !!!

First things first, this movie is worthy of every penny as well as time you spend on it.

STORY - 

Keanu Reeves plays ex-assassin John Wick, who is a recent widower. While grieving over his wife's demise, he gets one last gift from her so that it can help him cope up, the gift is indeed a puppy. A normal face/off over the vintage 1969 Mustang at a gas station with a wannabe thug gets out of line too soon. The wannabe thug & his thug-friends intrude into John Wick's house, beats him up, stoles his car but in between kills the puppy. They had to kill Wick's puppy. Anyways, now Wick wants revenge & how he gets it in style forms the entire film.

MOVIE -

The moment the movie starts we are driven into the world of John Wick. It opens with the climax scene followed by the narration of 90 odd minutes taking us through all the events that led to the climax scene. John Wick has just lost his wife due to a terminal illness, he had quit his past to be with her while dreaming of a perfect life with his loved one. It doesn't go as he wished, her sudden demise shatters him. He had abandoned his past just for her & now he had nothing to live for in the present. Completely lost, he gets one last gift from his loving wife, a posthumous gift which happens to be a cute puppy. It comes with a letter for sure but his wife clarifies that the letter doesn't count as this is no P.S. I Love You. He starts getting closer to the puppy eventually named Daisy. He takes the puppy on a ride in his 1969 Mustang, while he's filling up the gas he comes across 3 thugs who asks him whether the Mustang is for sale. In their words, "Every Bitch has a price". Wick calmly replies "Not his bitch". Soon, these thugs intrude his house, kills the puppy & leaves him bleeding.

Wick buries his puppy, and digs up his buried past life. He's on vengeance. The so-called thugs soon realize whom they're messing with. Russian Mob boss Viggo, the father of one of the thug Iosef, who previously had Wick working for him know what he's capable of as he refers to him as The Boogeyman who takes the children who don't behave properly. At some point he also refers Wick to someone you send to kill the Boogeyman, but well that kinda writing glitches are pardonable. So in a desperate attempt to save his son he announces a open contract of $2 million which any paid assassin would be willing to take upon. Meanwhile, a few attack Wick at his home where he kills everyone of them. In between, a cop knocks on the door, only to witness the dead bodies, seeing Wick he just walks away. Then Wick calls upon an unique waste management service who actually does the cleaning up of dead bodies & any sort of blood mark on the floor. - who am I kidding, that was freaking awesome.

Now Iosef is on the hide, by hide it really means he's partying at the club basement with a lot of bikini clad girls. The whole club is protected. Wick enters it in style, with loads & loads of gunshots, bullet to the heads, broken necks, brutal fights.. well that's exactly what we paid to see isn't it? There's Willem Dafoe playing Marcus who is also a paid assassin, someone who is in good terms with John Wick. Viggo asks him to take care of Wick for him, $2 million is a big amount to take up such a target. Now that, Wick is an open target, with several assassins trying to kill him in order to win that price put on his head.. Wick moves on as focused he is in reaching his target.

PERFORMANCES - 

Keanu Reeves nails it. He plays the emotional sequences as per the requirement of the character but when it comes to action, he's on a roll. Not an exaggeration, it's his best after Speed, of course excluding The Matrix. Michael Nyqvist is very good in the role of Viggo. Willem Dafoe is first rate. John Leguizamo is there for only one scene. Adrienne Palicki plays her part efficiently. Alfie Allen acts dumb at the beginning & scared for the rest of the film as required by his character.

DIRECTION - 

Well the script isn't path breaking by any means. It's just a revenge tale which has been done to death. What makes the film stand apart is the direction by David Leitch & Chad Stahelski. They don't waste a single minute to get on with the story & once the action kicks in, it's one hell of a ride. There're no subplots to deviate the movie or act as disturbance.

My Rating - 3.5/5

Final Word for Keanu Reeves - Keanu Reeves is fucking Back & he's an extreme animal activist.

Final Word for the movie - It's Taken, only this time it's a puppy.

INTERSTELLAR - Murphy wins. LOVE wins. NOLAN WINS !!!

INTERSTELLAR

I will not lie, I never had to scratch my head this hard to write an answer in any of exams. It's not that Interstellar is complex to review, what's tough is to review it without giving away the crucial moments of the film & most importantly to review without capturing the essence of the script/screenplay. So, let me listen to whatever my heart says... And may be in the 3rd dimension or the 5th dimension, my views can be put in the right format.

Nolan's strength has always been the specifics, be it his Following or Memento or the Batman trilogy or Inception or Interstellar, he takes time to form a strong baseline. Having a strong screenplay isn't enough but presenting it effectively, laying out each of those elements in the first act matters the most. Actually it's exactly what makes Nolan's work standout. He follows the same here, we get to know that earth is dying (by dying, it's not playing a good host for humans anymore), we get introduced to a family of 4 - a grandfather, father & his 2 children. The key characters, showing enough bonding between them especially the father & his daughter. The first act firmly lays out Murphy's Law.

The 2nd act takes us through the Theory of Relativity. We're introduced to few more important characters who are basically explorers who in turn take us viewers on an expedition. An expedition to search for a new home. Nolan doesn't forget his basics here, remember he started out with Murphy's Law. As serious the issue is here, he explores the depth of a father-daughter relationship because that's the key ingredient to the entire script, a strong point that holds the entire screenplay together. The stronger the relationship the more prepared you are to face the third & the fourth act. So, begins the emotional ride through the wormhole. Also remember, time flies.

Post interval, Nolan prepares himself to bring the third act to life. It has few surprises thrown at your way & a terrific actor as a separate surprise package. I would not dwell much into here. You get thrown a bunch of Quantum Mechanics here too but yes by now you've reached a new dimension compared to the first 2 acts. Nolan the genius keeps giving you the clues. All you got to do is fetch them & trust his motives. Like I said I'm not going dwell much here, I've strong reasons which you'll know soon, atleast a part of it.

FOURTH ACT - PREPARE YOURSELF TO EXPERIENCE THE REAL NOLANESQUE STORY TELLING.
Whatever you watched till now takes not just a 360 degree spin but trust me you'll lose count, provided you dare to count. This is the moment you've been waiting for, this is exactly what you paid for. The movie may or may not be a MASTERPIECE but this fourth act itself is a certified MASTERPIECE. All you've to do hold yourself tight for the experience of your life. It all comes down to this, Murphy's Law vs Theory of Relativity. Love Vs Science. What way Nolan chooses? Will they "STAY" together or Will they "STAY" apart? Every single second of the fourth act, bowls you over. You live the moments.

Still I don't think I can write a review that does full justice to the film. It's Nolan afterall, he demands us to experience his storytelling. Wade through his vision. The third act is actually a bit underwhelming only because we have kept our expectations so high that we take a journey through galaxies & expect every bit of it to work like the FOURTH ACT. We are just greedy, Nolan is greedier. It's not just his actors but he wants his audience to live his vision too.


My Rating - 4.5/5 (Falls a tad bit shorter of a masterpiece, only because of my high expectations which I think the third act fell a tad bit short off.)

Final Words - Murphy wins. LOVE wins. NOLAN WINS.