Apparently this isn't getting great reviews. Going in cautiously optimistic, I love the JW movies, Ana de Armas hasn't let me down yet, and I love the first two Underworld movies, so I'm really hoping this is at least decent.
This was… messy. Some genuinely cool moments in some of the fights, but not enough for me to say the movie was fine overall. The beginning is pretty dry and the end is underwhelming in a way.
My thoughts as well. Some great elements in some of the fight scenes, but definitely the bottom of my rankings for JW movies.
I loved this! This was everything I was hoping for. For sure liked this more than JW 4. I enjoyed all the build up for her character; the central event of her childhood, being brought up by the Roma, going through all that training, the struggles of her first contract killing, to her eventual revenge mission. Seeing all that allowed me to fully buy into her character, so once we got to the actual mission it had more impact. The fight scenes had me clapping at a few points; some truly incredible kills (dude dying by grenade behind the metal door….ooofff). Sound design was fantastic too; every shot, punch, and stabbing felt heavy and visceral. For a spinoff film, I don’t think we could have asked for more. The ending is fitting for what JW has dealt with, and it of course leaves room for a sequel(s)
The door grenade kill was cool. Then the reveal that it blew a hole in the wall to another room after she opened the door was great. A lot of great moments in that fight and in the cult town. I didn’t find her introduction engaging at all and felt like they spent too much time on it. It was only 15 minutes, but it felt longer. Once we actually get to Ana it gets better. I knew John was in this for at least a scene and I thought his first scene worked without overshadowing Eve. Her first mission is sloppy, but it’s her first mission, so she’s learning. Where they kind of lost me is that we then see it cut to 2 months later and we only see the aftermath of her assault on all those people. Then she struggled with various one on one fights and then the grenade fight. The grenade fight was cool, but I felt like they didn’t want to have her just headshot everyone like John does in a large battle, but they chose to make her seem less competent by shying away from it. She does do it, but I feel like by the time we see that aftermath scene, in John Wick 1, we’d already seen him destroy at his house and the spa/club or whatever. We don’t really see her going all out like that until the cult town. They say in her training that she would always have the disadvantage and to fight on her terms and I just don’t think they did a good job of showing her doing that. And I kind of hate that they felt the need to bring Wick back in for the third act. Having her fight him and basically lose like 3 times and him letting her go is just not compelling. The final actual scuffle is with John, not Eve. Eve shoots the head guy, but that wasn’t a fight. Having John be that involved just really undermined Eve’s skills and final moment. I had to research last night because Lance Reddick is in this and I was confused. I guess this shot late 22 and into 23. Then there were reshoots and it feels like a lot was changed up. Her sister was a completely pointless character. I’d have to imagine more from her was cut. Either way, her ending up being her sister really added nothing as she gets killed immediately after. Eve already wanted revenge for her father, she didn’t need a new motivation that adds no new layers or context. This is definitely a wait for streaming movie. Maybe a discount ticket day.
I watched the John Wick documentary called Wick is Pain which is about how John Wick all came about and it shows how Chad Stahelski, David Leitch and other stunt people got into the industry, it's really good, if your a fan of the John Wick franchise then this is a must see documentary
This was great. The cinematography in these films are always top notch. The scene of Eve jumping over the table and the guy blowing up from the grenade was a neat shot. The flamethrower duel was also fun to watch.
Got from the cinema after watching Ballerina and it's so much damn fun, Ana De Armas is a straight up action star, I hope it does well financially do green lit a sequel!
I thought the flamethrower was cool at first, but then overdone. The part where the show the same shot from 3 different angles is so dumb.
"Wick is Pain" was awesome. So cool seeing the BTS for how all the films were shot. Got me so stoked that I now want to watch all four again, haha
The story was whatever but her killing everyone with grenades and the flamethrower fight both ruled. Fun time at the cinema with my dad.