John Wick (2014)

This film was not intended to be The Godfather. Too often these days it seems audiences tend to judge all films according to the exact same set of standards, disregarding things like context, genre, style and intent. You simply have to take these things into account when considering the merits of a particular film. If you don't sort films out and judge them relative to similar films as opposed to all other films, you are essentially comparing apples and oranges.

Now, if you simply didn't enjoy the film that's understandable. But then, you probably don't enjoy any action films. Because that's all John Wick is: A pure, unapologetic, unadulterated action film. It doesn't pretend to be anything else, and it is exceptionally well made for what it is. It baffles me to see people complaining about violence in the film. What could they possibly have expected going into it? The King's Speech? I just don't get it. If you don't like action films that's fine, but don't go see one and then act outraged and disappointed when it delivers exactly what an action film promises to deliver and you knew ahead of time you didn't like.

Even worse are the nitpickers who whine about "realism" in the film. A film like this is not supposed to be realistic. It relishes in stylish escapism. That's the whole point. We all know someone as skilled and badass as John Wick couldn't exist in the real world, but the entire point of movies in the first place is to take us out of the real world. How boring would cinema be if every film showed nothing but what these nerds insist is the most "realistic" thing all the time? The best films often show exciting, extraordinary, imaginative things. I understand it can be jarring if a film is glaringly inconsistent within its own world's given set of rules, but it is absurd to complain that a film's world isn't perfectly consistent with the real world's rules.

All in all, John Wick was a visually interesting, competently crafted, and most importantly, entertaining film. All of my expectations for it going in were met or exceeded. Why? Because my expectations were appropriate for the type of film John Wick is. If yours are also, I can state with confidence you will also enjoy it.