Last movie you watched......

I watched John Wick last night and thought it was pretty dull tripe. Ultimately, Wick kills four or five dozen people because one dude killed his dog?

They allude to this elaborate underground world of hit men and reference how incredible John Wick is at his "job," but we never learn a single thing about the character other than he "got out" only to get pulled back in. There just wasn't much there, and the action wasn't all that interesting or groundbreaking. I feel like every battle was the same. He shoots several dudes in the head, grabs a dude by the gun as the dude comes around the corner, fights that dude for a minute before killing him with his own weapon, and then takes a deep breath.

 

But the boss guy nearly takes him out at the end, which given the way Wick blew through all the other bad guys, was ridiculous.

 

And, dude, he wasn't even pissed at that guy! Seriously, when the son tried to say, "It was only a fucking dog," I really wanted Wick to say, "Shit. You're totally right. I guess I overreacted. My bad, dude."

It really was only a fucking dog. And the reason it was only a fucking dog is that they spent basically zero time giving him a real connection to the dog. All we got was a pissed off speech about how his wife gave him that dog and now, "yeah, I'm thinking I'm back!"

 

If you like movies about tough guys getting even over how their dog was treated, The Drop beats John Wick hands down. Fewer fights, though.

As an aside, star Tom Hardy is one of those rare actors who is almost unrecognizable from movie to movie.

 

The Drop was really slow. The payoff at the end was almost worth it. Almost.

 

I love Hardy. He's going to win an Oscar some day. He was really good as the brother in the underrated movie Warrior, about a teacher turned MMA fighter. Nick Nolte was actually incredibly good in that one as well.

 

I liked it. I'm a sucker for realistic settings and people who aren't as bad or good as they think.

 

I liked the end. I think I cheered out loud. It was that cool. But that movie's pace was so ... slow.

 

It wasn't Mission Impossible III. I'll give you that.

 

I liked The Drop as well. The pace was slow, but I thought it was appropriate. It really helped build the tension for me. Like Ace, I also enjoy realism.

I saw John Wick awhile back on HBO and liked it for the shoot-'em-up it was. Reeves' character was believable enough to me though, because if someone was willing to be a hitman earlier in life, I'm guessing they wouldn't be entirely stable shortly after the death of their wife followed by a bunch of punks robbing a prized car and killing the dog the wife gave as a parting gift.

 

They also gave Wick a beating. The idea was that Wick is relentless once he takes on a job, no matter what you throw at him. Wick killed so many people because the father kept throwing guys at him to protect the dirtbag son.

The fight at the end, however, was just stupid.

 

Right in my wheelhouse, kids. | "John Wick" is most interesting for its remarkable world-building and the great secondary characters, but the whole package is so much better than it had to be. Many wonderful little touches, and if you don't appreciate those, just go back to watching cartoons. I thought it was a delight, and I resisted it because it was a Keanu Reeves movie. Yes, it wants you to fill in some story blanks for yourself - to embrace that process, in fact - and if you don't want to think at least a touch while watching something like this ... well, heck, stick to porn.

"The Drop" is John Wick's brother from a different mother. I watched it to mainly check out James Gandolfini and Noomi Rapace, then finally realized I was looking at the wrong thing all along. Tom Hardy's performance is gorram amazing, nuanced and insisting that you use your brain to follow along. I missed it initially, to my detriment. The third act has stirred up some controversy, but I thought it held the proper (peculiar) tone to the very end.

I worry about people who watched both of these and didn't fully appreciate them.