I usually don’t do anything special over the weekend or holiday breaks, but over the last spring break I watched John Wick 4 at the cinema with friends. First of all, I barely watch movies, or shows for that matter. It’s not that I don’t like them, but I just find it tiring having to sit through the boring parts, strain my eyes, and end up having invested hours of watchtime just for one thing that I’ll probably forget and not even talk about. With reading, I can skim over the boring parts, not strain my eyes since it’s just words, and spend less time since I’m faster at reading than watching. I used to be able to watch like half a season in one sitting, and I feel like it’s a part of growing up where there’s a dilemma between having fun and being productive. When someone says they’re gonna go watch a movie, do you say “have fun”? I don’t because I don’t find watching something to be particularly fun, but enjoyable sure. So that’s already a reason for me not to watch movies. For being productive, it’s not like it can be helped, but at least with reading I maintain my reading skills, or at least that’s what I tell myself to help me sleep at night.
Not only am I not inclined to watching movies, but our plan to watch John Wick together was completely on the spot. Some day during Spring break, my friend asked if anyone wanted to watch John Wick with him tomorrow, and since I hadn’t done much that spring break, although I wouldn’t be touching grass, at least I’d be going out and socializing with my friends. However, not only was the movie going to be 3 hours long, I hadn’t watched a single John Wick movie before. For my lack of knowledge, I read a summary for each of the first three movies. Basically in the first movie John Wick was trying to get revenge for his dog, in the second movie he got too involved in the underworld, in the third movie he was trying to escape the underworld, and now in the fourth movie he was trying to kill the leader. For the length of the movie, I brought a half bag of chocolates from last valentines day, which after the movie still isn’t finished, and a bottle of water.
Touching grass
At the cinema, I know the snacks are overpriced, but I wanted something salty. For how overpriced the snacks are, the small popcorn, which was just the size of a paper bag, was $6. The big popcorn was four times the size for only $2 more. So I bought the big popcorn, but in hindsight I realized it was a simple marketing trick to spend more money. In the theater room, the chairs were broken as they didn’t recline, and it’s kind of hard to share a big popcorn when it’s hard to balance on the armrest between chairs. I thought that the advertisements were going to be 15 mins long, but they ended up being way longer to the point where I already ate like a fourth of the popcorn and I texted my mom to pick me up at a later time. I also realized that the single bottle of water wasn’t going to last me the entire movie, so I started rationing it for the first half of the movie until I gave up and drank the rest, and I continued to dehydrate myself.
Cinema
Here are my thoughts on the movie. How was Caine able to fight so well being blind? Caine kills Akira’s father and she asks John Wick to avenge him, but then she never appears again in the movie (excluding the post-credits scene we didn’t stay to watch). Mr. Nobody is a bounty hunter but never ends up attacking John Wick, as if he likes him or something. How was Killa able to fight so well being obese, not to mention in the middle of a dance party. Does being disabled or unhealthy give you a 10% fighting buff or something? How did John Wick survive falling down so many flights of stairs? How did John Wick act so normally after getting a fatal wound? It made me think he survived, only to surprise me with his tombstone. After the movie, was it worth watching the movie? Yes.
Blind person clipart
Hi Alan, I loved your blog!
I’m confused – movies strain your eyes but discord dark mode or the most sandy clash royale arena doesn’t? Very confused indeed.
Oh you should watch The Mandalorian – recently Jack Black and Lizzo made the most surprising cameo that kind of worked in the end.
Thank you for the visual of touching grass! I kind of forgot over my spring break to. Your description of the movie ngl sounded a bit confusing, but I would’ve definitely ate the chocolates 10 mins into the movie.
Yes – movie snacks are always kind of a hassle. The last time we watched Black Adam I spent like the first hour eating random sticks of gum and that was honestly super helpful for both my wallet and my thirst. Speaking of that, when are we watching black adam again? ngl that was fire.
Your clipart is super interesting, if not a bit random. I’ve run out of things to talk about so enjoy my thoughts on hamlet.
“L+Horatio”
“Ima talk about being or not being on this random rock for 20 mins”
“why is the denmark castle a literal spy hideout? There are so many doors”
(ngl this might be my blog next time)
Enjoyed the blog!
-Max
Hey Alan. First off, I just wanna say I’m the biggest John Wick fan. I love everything about these movies and I think they’re some of the greatest films I’ve ever seen. The action, stunt choreography, story, creativity, gorgeous visuals, and obviously, Keanu, make them timeless films. John Wick 4 was one of my most anticipated films and I loved every second of it! It may even be the best John Wick film. Everyone was amazing, and yeah, Donnie Yen as Caine was absolutely perfect every time he was on screen. How did they do that stunt choreography? It was out of this world. The action was the best in the franchise and that’s really saying something. They need a ‘stunt work’ Oscar category already. The movie was also emotional for the character of John Wick. It’s great to see a character who just doesn’t want to die, feel human. And obviously, Keanu is perfect in the role. Also, you might want to put a little spoiler warning at the end. Great piece and I got excited to see John Wick 4 in the title. Movie was a masterpiece for me.
Hi Alan, I really enjoyed reading about your experience watching John Wick 4. I also recently watched this movie with friends and although it was relatively enjoyable, I had several problems with it. The main attraction of John Wick movies are the extremely gratuitous violence, and I felt the violence in this movie was a tad bit lackluster. Keanu Reeves (not the best actor I will admit) moved a lot slower and clumsier than in the previous installments. This was likely due to the fact that he is a bit too old for this kind of role now because he is almost 60 years old. Secondly, although it was completely unrealistic for Caine to be able to fight that well, I can forgive it because Donnie Yen is just that good of an actor. Lastly, I can’t get over the fact that they are trying to create another John Wick movie after this one, even though he dies. Some franchises need to end, and John Wick has already overstayed his welcome.
P.S. Am I the only one who thinks Bill Skarsgard looks kind of like Rami Malek? I thought the Marquis Vincent de Gramont was played by Malek for like half the movie.
Hi Alan. Really nice blog you put on here. this is the first time I’m commenting on your blog and I am really impressed with how you wrote it. ashamed as I am, I have never watched any of the John Wick movies, unfortunately. It’s not that I am not a fan of the Franchise, I think Keanu Reaves is great, It’s that I don’t have any time at all to watch anything nowadays. with getting ready for college and other things, this is probably the last thing on my mind. but if I do need to watch something, I’ll keep this in mind. but I’ll obviously watch the series in chronological order so it makes sense. anyways, this was a really great overview of the movie and how you liked it. I’m glad you had some fun over spring break. Once again great Blog!
The main thing that drew me into your blog was the fact that I had watched John Wick: Chapter 4 over my spring break vacation to Minnesota (and if you want to hear more about that, check out my detailed post on that trip!). With the common ground of the movie itself, I could compare my experiences to yours and note some of the similarities and differences in our opinions. Apart from the movie, I’m surprised that you gravitate towards reading in your spare time over watching TV series or full-fledged movies. Especially with the popularity of streaming services during this era, I feel like more and more people are drifting away from books in favor of TV, and I applaud you for keeping up your reading habits as other people let them fall by the wayside. On the experience itself, I’m surprised you were able to ration your snacks so effectively compared to me. I finished my popcorn and large Dr. Pepper only 10 minutes or so into the movie, and had to get a popcorn refill roughly halfway through, which again was eaten almost as soon as it was returned inside the theater room.
John Wick is the type of movie, in my opinion, where the plot isn’t especially crucial to enjoying the movie. Sure, background enriches the experience to know how and why John got there, but at the end of the day you’re there to watch him brutalize small armies of bad guys in increasingly violent fashions. You suspend your sense of realism for a little while for the sake of the action, hence why the blind guy was able to fight near-perfectly and John absorbed blow after blow as if he had constantly regenerating health. Mr. Nobody, I think, spared John because he knew about and respected John’s past with his dog and desire to get out of the assassin underworld. I don’t think John actually died at the end, and if the studio wants to milk more money out of the franchise, they will not hesitate to make up a loophole wherein he somehow lived. Overall, I’m glad you thought the movie was worthwhile, and I feel the same way about it.