So I planned on dedicating my March review to Scream 6. After last year’s entry was a fantastic surprise, 6 was easily one of my most anticipated 2023 releases. But I still haven’t seen it. I did however see two other major theatrical releases this month. I saw Creed III at the beginning of March and then I saw John Wick: Chapter 4 at the end of the month. These are two films that I might not love but both feature some phenomenal chunks of cinematic gold that I can’t help but admire.
I wrote up an off the cuff review for Creed III on letterboxd but my experience watching John Wick: Chapter 4 is something I knew I couldn’t pass up writing about.
A spur of the moment decision landed me at the Winchester Drive-in, Oklahoma City’s only operational outdoor venue. It was a beautiful Saturday in March. The temperature was a welcoming 70 degrees with a blue sky and after sunset, it was 60 degrees with a clear starry sky. Not too hot and not too cold.
The Winchester has been one of my favorite unique spots to catch a movie since I first got my drivers license over a decade ago and on this night, the Drive-In felt more alive than I can remember. It was the Winchesters opening weekend and so this particular showing was unsurprisingly packed. The atmosphere was electric and the stars above us must’ve aligned because the conditions couldn’t have been any better to see not just one of the year’s biggest releases but also one of the action genre’s most successful franchises on the big screen at the Drive-In.
John Wick: Chapter 4 kicks a gratuitous amount of ass.
It’s an action packed love letter to the movie stunt workers who put their bodies on the line to entertain the masses. Words mean so little when action can do all of the talking. It’s a Bullet Ballet and it’s incredibly fascinating to watch Chapter 4 unfold with such coherent physicality.
There are some undeniably phenomenal stretches of action, the likes we have never seen before, in any previous John Wick. You wanna see Keanu Reeves beat the ever living shit out of wave after wave of enemies in stunning location after stunning location like it’s some AAA video game? This is your movie and you’re going to love it.
Do I love it? Nah, but I can’t deny its Wick-ed brilliance. Although I have personally liked each new John Wick slightly less and less, watching the latest chapter of this battered action franchise that still has an admirable amount of fight left in it, in such perfect conditions, made for an unforgettable all-timer movie going experience and for about 3 hours, all felt right in the world.
The Spectators' Odyssey 