JOHN WICK (B-)

Bottom Line: Keanu Reeves delivers the butt kicking goods in this stylistically gritty, testosterone-fueled flick.  It’s a relatively excellent adventure made moderately bogus journey due to the overall lack of story and character depth.  But, come to think of it, the Russians piss him off – so…  The motives here are fairly flimsy but set forth a course for destruction that’s so singularly focused you’ll willingly light the fuse, take a step or two back and watch the bare bones, head cracking action unfold.  The acting is solid, the comic book/video game action is fluidly swift and the dialogue is sparse yet shockingly and creatively on point.  At just over 90 minutes, though, the story still feels a little overplayed.  I’d still happily watch Keanu reprise the role should the box office take here warrant a sequel.  It’s more fun than you might expect.  If you’re purposely looking for bloody style over substance, no other movie this year can hold a candle to JOHN WICK.

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Alfie Allen, Dean Winters, Adrianne Palicki, Ian McShane, John Leguizamo, Willem Dafoe and Michael Nyqvist

Directed by: Chad Stahelski

Rated: R

Running time: 96 minutes

Studio description: An ex-hitman comes out of retirement to track down the gangsters that took everything from him. With New York City as his bullet-riddled playground, JOHN WICK (Keanu Reeves) is a fresh and stylized take on the "assassin genre". (C) Lionsgate

Official site: www.johnwickthemovie.com