John Wick

I looked at the description and thought "Nope. Just Nope." The movie was 2014's John Wick, and the theater's website described it as "Hit man comes out of retirement after mobsters kill his dog." I thought 'Man, there is no way that's good. There is no way I'm going to see it.' Then I heard the basically universal positive reviews, and I do like Keanu Reeves. Yeah, I watched it. Yeah, point John Wick. It's excellent.

John Wick (Reeves) is alone. After a battle with an unidentified illness, John's wife (Bridget Moynahan) passes away, leaving John wracked with grief and not knowing what to do next with his life. It's not long after her death though that John receives a present from her, something she set up before her death to be delivered. It's a puppy, one he bonds with instantly...until one night his home is raided by Russian mobsters who take his classic Ford Mustang and kill the dog. Well, they picked the wrong person to mess with. They don't know it, but John is a retired hit man, and not just any hired gun. He was the Best. John has focus again, and he intends to exact revenge on the gangsters who came after him. Their front man? Iosef Tarasov (Alfie Allen), the spoiled son of the gangster (Michael Nyqvist) who John used to work for. Nothing is gonna stop John so let the bullets fly.

So, yeah, that's pie on my face. I thought it sounded pretty dumb and looked kinda generic, but I'll admit when I'm wrong. I'M WRONG. I loved this movie. It comes from directors Chad Stahelski (formerly Reeves' stunt double) and uncredited David Leitch, and you know what? It's a bullet-riddled, bone-snapping, blood-splattered glorious mess. That's the beauty of it. There's no fat on the meat here. It's all choice. This...is...an...action...movie. Even John's wife dying is handled in quick but effective montages that last about 2 minutes. Then, it's back to the SHOOTING. That's the entire movie. Cool characters doing cool things with guns and an alarming and ever-increasing body count. You've gotta gives props when they're due. Stahelski, Leitch and Reeves set out to do a bare-bones shoot 'em up movie and succeeded across the board.

You'd never know it by looking at him, but Keanu Reeves is 51 years old. Seriously!!! The star of Bill and Ted, Speed, even The Matrix series, has grown up, but he's lost none of his edge. I thought this was one of his best parts in years, if not ever. Channeling anyone and everyone from Lee Marvin to Clint Eastwood to Steve McQueen, Reeves embraces all that is badass here. His John Wick is a legend, a killing machine with seemingly no equal who walked away from the business when he met his future wife. The name sends chills up the backs of those who hear it because they know what it means to cross this brutally efficient killer. Oh, and the physical look is there too. Reeves' long hair, coiffed beard, immaculate black suits, he looks cool. Throw in a classic 1969 Ford Mustang, and yep, you've got one uber-cool anti-hero in the spotlight.

The story itself is nothing too crazy. If anything, it's pretty basic, pissed off individual looking for revenge against the mob (of some sort). It manages to be entertaining throughout, paying tribute to countless movies before it while still claiming its own spot in the revenge genre. For starters, Reeves' John is channeling Lee Marvin in Point Blank or Alain Delon in any Jean-Pierre Melville caper. Stoic, almost silent and surgical in his job. As for the action and gunplay, that's obvious. That's a twist and new look on the style John Woo brought to the table (without the slow motion and doves). The gunplay is brutal, quick, hard-hitting and gone in a flash. The editing is aggressive and quick but never to the point where you can't see things. As well, the killer hell bent on revenge is another Woo touch. Kudos in general though here. A tribute film that claims its own status in the genre and does it well.

'Wick' creates its own world amidst all the bloody chaos, and that adds something. It has its own world. My favorite? The Continental Hotel in NYC caters exclusively to hit men and hired killers with owner Ian McShane and know-all desk attendant Lance Reddick. There are rules here that all must abide by, a code of sorts...until the payday offered is too lucrative to pass up. Among all our participants, a gold coin has quite the pull with Wick carrying a ton of them. Where do they come from? It goes unexplained but my guess; payment for jobs, and there's only so many out there. With a movie that looked like it would be pretty dumb, it's cool to see stylish touches like that sprinkled throughout a fast-moving story.

The cast across the board is excellent. Reeves leads the way, and Nyqvist is a gem as the Russian mobster caught in the middle. It'd be easy to ham it up, but he just goes with it, an intimidating mobster who finds himself in over his head. Allen is good as the weasel-like Iosef, a villain you can't wait to see get his comeuppance. Willem Dafoe is excellent as Marcus because...well, because he's Willem Dafoe. He's an assassin, the last of the old guard, an old friend of John's who gets involved whether he wants to or not. Dean Winters (Mayhem in TV commercials) plays Avi, Nyqvist's maligned right-hand man while Adrianne Palicki is Perkins, a killer with $ for eyes. Also look for John Leguizamo in a too-short performance as a chop shop owner, Moynahan appearing briefly as John's wife, and that McShane guy who is a welcome addition to any movie.

I won't delve into the action too much other than this. It's a gem. There is something straightforward, simple and primal about the shootouts here, Reeves' Wick navigating his way through small armies of rival gunmen. An assault on his home is a gem with a dozen killers trying to get him as is a shootout in a crowded nightclub with strobes all over and the music cranking. Stahelski clearly picked up a ton in his years as a stunt double, and it shows. The movie is packed to the guts with ridiculously stylized action sequences that don't overstay their welcome. A complete surprise, and one I was glad I was wrong about. I loved this movie. Definitely worth checking out.

John Wick (2014): *** 1/2 /****

The Girl Who Played with Fire

So I read Stieg Larsson's Millenium trilogy last year and watched both the American and Swedish versions of his first book, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. For me, it was a weird thing about the books. While I liked all three, my enjoyment went down with each passing book. I loved the first one, but I struggled to get through the second and third. Give me credit though, I'm persistent if nothing else, so here we go with 2009's The Girl Who Played with Fire.

It's been over a year since Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) helped journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) take down a hugely successful Swedish businessman, and she's fallen off the map, traveling the world with her newfound wealth. Lisbeth is now returning to Sweden, purchasing a huge condo where she can live in peace. She hasn't reconnected with anyone from her past, but her name is on the national radar now. A freelancer working for Mikael is preparing an expose about sex trafficking, the women transported into the country and the men behind the business. One night, both the freelancer and his girlfriend are brutally murdered, and the evidence points to none other than Lisbeth herself. Having worked closely with her, Mikael knows there's no way that could be the truth. Something is going on, something dark and hidden away.

While the Larsson books are well-written and solid reads, it's easy to see that doing a film adaptation from one of the novels is a daunting task. The first book -- Dragon Tattoo -- is downright simple (and that's saying something) to what comes in the second and third books. There are countless characters, locations, backgrounds, twists, turns and everything in between getting from Point A to Point B. I don't envy getting the novel to the film, director Daniel Alfredson taking the helms here for the second film in the trilogy. It was difficult to follow the books at times because there was so much going on. The films? Well.....

'Dragon Tattoo' clocked in at 152 minutes, and this follow-up is shorter by 24 minutes. Something had to be cut from the novel to the film to make it even remotely feasible, but unfortunately 'Fire' cuts too much. I read the book, and I was confused half the time. The film plays like a cliff note's version of Larsson's novel. But, that's not why we're here. I'll do my best to just judge on its basis as a film alone. Even there though, I can't imagine trying to keep up with everything going on here. When I explain some of the cast later, I'll mention four or five names. If I did more than that, this review would go on for days. Significant cuts were made, and it's still too much and not enough at the same time. We meet characters, but that's it, never really learning much about them or in some cases, who they are. An extended cut was released on DVD with more than 50 minutes added, and I assume it's got to be at least a little better.

Anyways, back to the film as just that, a film. Like its predecessor, it is a well-crafted, unsettling and incredibly cool, visual movie. Based in Sweden, it has a snowy, washed out and cold look to it. Issues I had with the story and characters aside, it is a solid thriller. Composer Jacob Groth returns to handle the musical score, his music here more eerie, appropriate and memorable than I remembered in the first one. On a visual basis alone, it is a memorable movie. The twists and turns do keep us guessing so even when you're confused, it's still in an entertaining, confusing sort of way.

The best part though here in 'Fire' is the continuing development of the Lisbeth Salander character. Even when I struggled through the novels, I continued on because I was fascinated by the Lisbeth and Mikael characters. There's more going on here with Lisbeth's personal background than you could ever imagine. We meet someone from her past, a mysterious man named Zala (Georgi Staykov), who damaged her in ways you'd never expect. With her walls up again and general refusal to never let anyone get close to her, we see more about her as we learn about her years growing up. Playing her journalistic counterpart, Nyqvist isn't given as much to do here unfortunately other than look worried and follow the clues to Lisbeth and her own wandering investigation. What's key though is that we've gotten to know the characters pretty well thanks to the first novel, and even when the script struggles to spell things out, we hopefully go along for the ride.

I lied. I'm not going to go into anymore depth about the supporting cast. By my count, there's 16 others characters that I'd need to give some attention. Some are only around for a scene or two, others far more than that. By explaining who most of them are, I'd be ruining a lot of plot twists that offer a pretty decent surprise with less knowledge going in. I'll wrap this up. It's a good thriller that has some serious flaws. Some of that comes from having read the books, but even just judging it as a film, it's got those issues. It switches things up and does build to momentum in the second half. The cliffhanger is solid, hopefully leading right into the third film. Review to come at some point so stay tuned.

The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009): ** 1/2 /****

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

This past fall and winter, I read author Stieg Larsson's Millennium series, or as I've come to know and identify them 'The Girl.....' series. I enjoyed all three books to varying degrees, but my favorite of the trilogy was the first, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I made the jump then -- naturally enough -- to the film adaptations, starting with the American version -- read HERE -- and after a brief break, here comes the original Swedish version, 2009's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. 

A highly respected journalist who's come under extreme fire in a libel case, Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) has been sentenced to serve six months in prison. His actual sentence is down the road though, and in the meantime, he's hired for a seemingly impossible job by Henrik Vanger (Sven-Bertil Taube), an aging but highly respected businessman. For 40-plus years, Henrik has wondered about the disappearance and possible of his niece, Harriet, who vanished without a trace. The evidence and clues point to a very small group of unique suspects, but Henrik has made little progress in the years since. Can experienced investigative journalist Mikael discover a new vein in the case? With some helped from an eccentric but very capable private investigator with a penchant for computer hacking, Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), Mikael delves into 40 years of evidence and clues, not knowing how deep a hole he's gotten himself into.

Let's get this out of the way. While I enjoyed all three of Larsson's novels, this series opening novel was by far my favorite of the trio. It introduces characters that are in all three novels while adding an expertly well-written murder mystery. Because Daniel Craig is cool, I watched the American version first and similarly liked it if I didn't love it. American, Swedish, anything and everything in between, adapting Larsson's novel to a film version is a daunting task. These are books full of twisting and turning plots, countless characters flitting in and out, countless more stops and locations along the way, flashbacks to the 1960s and beyond, and so much more. The books are so massively packed together I could easily see each of the books getting its own two or three part miniseries. But as you've no doubt noticed -- hopefully -- these are feature films, not miniseries. Characters and subplots are completely excised in some cases, condensed in others. It's the only way to make an even somewhat manageable film.

Having watched both movies, it's hard to write one review without referring to the other one. To be fair, they're completely different films. The American version (from director David Fincher and starring Craig and Rooney Mara) is highly stylized, almost always in a good way. A washed out visual look, an eerie synthesized soundtrack, it all works. From director Niels Arden Oplev, the original Swedish version is a far more traditional crime thriller with the journalistic investigation thrown in. He filmed all over Sweden, and the look of the movie is a plus. Sweden is a beautiful, cold and very white/snowy country, something that translates well to the feature film. The score from Jacob Groth is okay, but not very memorable. More traditional overall in terms of dealing with the story and/or characters, but in a good way.

Something didn't click along the way for me, and I can't quite put my finger on it. Is it because I've now read the book, seen one version and now seen another? I know where it's going and how it's going to get there. More than that, I think it was the casting, maybe even the script hamstringing the casting. I was never impressed with Nyqvist as Mikael, the crusading journalist. He's okay in the part, but there just isn't a ton of energy. He never seems too impressed with the case or interested in where it goes.

The most important part though is the titular character, Lisbeth Salander, the quiet, loner, antisocial, brilliant computer hacker. Mara made different choices with the part, and they worked. Rapace -- the original Lisbeth -- does it similarly, and it works for different ways. Physically, she's slight in stature but she's far from weak. Rapace's Lisbeth is small but epically intimidating with her close-cut aggressive-looking hair, countless piercings and tattoos and biker chick clothes. Rapace does a solid job with the part, but thanks to the script -- which has to accomplish a whole lot in a 152-minute movie -- we learn little about her until the last half hour. Yes, that's partially how the plot develops in the books, but for most of two-plus hours, we just don't know anything about her other than that she is violently raped, seeking revenge and brilliant and intelligent.

As for the rest of the cast, Taube makes a positive, lasting impression as Henrik, the Vanger family patriarch who's been tortured with guilt and questions as to what happened to his niece 40 years later with Ingvar Hirdwall playing Dirch, Henrik's long-time assistant. Peter Andersson does a fine, disturbing job as Bjurman, Lisbeth's legal guardian. Bjorn Granath plays Morell, the police investigator who originally headed the case and has been similarly stumped with each passing year. Peter Haber plays Martin, Harriet's brother.  

What I loved most about the book was the developing mystery. Even knowing where it's going, it's cool to see things develop. In both the novel and the two film versions, I loved seeing the case come together as Mikael and Lisbeth unearth clues that have been hidden away by passing decades. Taking the film as a whole though, I was never impressed. It's okay, but not much else. I did like the ending and how true it stuck to Larsson's novel -- with one tweak in the final scene -- but the movie left me feeling pretty cool. Worthwhile for fans of the books, but I definitely recommend reading Larsson's novels first.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009): ** 1/2 /****