John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)

John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)

 

6/10

Starring

Keanu Reeves

Donnie Yen

Bill Skarsgård

Laurence Fishburne

 

Directed by Chad Stahelski

 

As a fan of the franchise, it was nice to see something that felt like the end. It’s not like I wouldn’t line up to see a part 5, but the whole battle with the High Table seemed like it needed closure, and this was okay for me.

The movie is too long. I think a slimmed-down version would have made it perfect. Yes, there’s nothing cooler than seeing Keanu Reeves in a suit dishing out badass moves and showing off his gun-shooting skills against the bad guys. But the movie stretched these scenes out a lot. Whenever these sequences come up, get ready for very elongated shootouts and fight scenes.

That aside, there’s a lot to love about this movie—and a lot to dislike. The introduction of new, complex characters from Wick’s past didn’t work for me, but the added depth to existing characters did. The franchise brought in new world-building rules, which I wasn’t a fan of, but I did appreciate the effort to tie up some loose ends.

In John Wick 4, our lead goes all out to stop the High Table, only to realize there’s a better way to get what he wants than endless shooting and killing. John is no longer running from the Table; instead, he’s decided to go after them. He starts by killing one of the High Table members, which brings the full wrath of the Table down on him. They begin by sending a strong message to John’s allies: Winston, the manager of the New York Continental, is rendered homeless when they destroy his hotel.

Then, they go after another Continental in Osaka, which belongs to one of John’s friends. They also bring in Caine (Donnie Yen), a blind assassin and an old friend of John’s. The Table has something on Caine and uses it to force him to go after John.

Winston eventually finds John and convinces him to stop the cycle of endless violence. Instead, they decide to use the rules of the High Table against them.

The movie is fun and ends in a way that lets us breathe a little before seeing John pick up a gun and go on another killing spree (if that ever happens).

I don’t know what the future plans are for the franchise. There’s been a lot of talk about spin-offs, some focused on female assassins. Personally, I’d appreciate a break from this world. If it’s not John picking up the gun for a new adventure, I don’t think I’d be as engaged in watching another “badass.” I also wonder what new reason they’ll come up with to make the next killer mad enough to keep this going.

This franchise has had its run. This movie isn’t as fun as the others, and there were boring moments creeping in. The character development and world-building felt more convoluted, making me worry that the writer and studio, in their push to keep making money, have stretched the series too far. It should have ended with this third film.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023)

Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023)

4/10

Starring

Zachary Levi

Asher Angel

Jack Dylan Grazer

Rachel Zegler

Adam Brody

Ross Butler

Meagan Good

Lucy Liu

Djimon Hounsou

Helen Mirren

 

Directed by David F. Sandberg

 

This movie is horrible and it sucks. It reminds me more of those Disney Channel or Nickelodeon hero series and TV movies. The plot was all over the place. There seemed to be no focus on one thing. The director completely lost control of the movie, letting too many things happen at the same time.

And who did the casting for this movie?

I haven’t seen worse casting for a trio of baddies in a long time. The actress who plays Anne, Rachel Zegler, was so bad that I dreaded seeing her on screen. I even had to check if this was her first acting gig because she was that poor. Then we had Lucy Liu and Helen Mirren playing Kalypso and Hespera, and neither of them sold their roles to me.

So, we’ve got bad acting from Anne, two other characters who don’t fit their roles, a predictable (like next-level predictability) plot, disjointed events happening all over the place, and the director lazily stitching everything together at the end. With all this mess combined, it was a horrible time at the theater for me.

Weirdly enough, the problem wasn’t Zachary Levi. He was the only reason I could stand watching this movie for as long as I did without throwing in the towel and walking out.

The movie starts with the new family of Shazams struggling to work as a team. Some are getting too high on the fact that they’re heroes (looking at you, Freddy), while others are either too young to grasp responsibility or too much of a teenager to understand sacrifice. We learn that Shazam’s (Billy’s) actions at the end of the first movie had consequences, releasing the three daughters of Atlas.

The sisters get hold of the Wizard’s staff and are ready to reclaim their power by resurrecting their realm. Meanwhile, Freddy, the hardest to manage in the group, falls for a girl, which puts him in harm’s way. The sisters take his powers, and when his family of friends shows up to help, they kidnap Freddy and seal Philadelphia inside a dome.

Now, Billy and his Shazam family must come together to rescue Freddy and stop the sisters.

Given the current state of the DC Universe, I’m not sure if this movie will be part of a soft reboot or if it belongs to the old DCEU.

What I do know is that DC still has a lot of work to do when it comes to their movies. They just can’t seem to produce anything that stands alongside their MCU counterparts.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

 

 

6/10

 Starring          

Paul Rudd

Evangeline Lilly

Jonathan Majors

Kathryn Newton

 

Directed by Peyton Reed

 

Here we go, MCU Phase 5 kicks off with Quantumania. This Ant-Man movie is the thirty-first in the MCU, but it’s definitely not one of their best.

The plot follows how Cassie (Scott Lang’s daughter) reveals to Hank and Janet that she’s been working on a device to contact the Quantum Realm. When Janet tries to shut it off, a portal opens, sucking the entire crew (including Scott and Hope) into the Quantum Realm, where they discover a bustling new world.

We learn that during Janet’s 30 years in the Quantum Realm, she lived a wild life filled with fighting and killing, something she never told the others about. There’s now a new power in charge of the realm: Kang. At one point, Kang and Janet worked together to escape the Quantum Realm, but when Janet discovered his true intentions, she sabotaged his plans. Now, Kang, as the ruler of the realm, wants Janet and her family to help fix his machine so he can leave.

Lately, the last two MCU movies before this one— Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) haven’t been particularly great. Love and Thunder was cool and funny, which, for me, made up for the lack of a truly convincing storyline. But Wakanda Forever was just borderline okay—not what I expected from an MCU movie. It felt like it had so much to say but struggled to flesh it all out. I enjoyed it, but not as much as the first Black Panther movie.

This movie follows in the footsteps of Wakanda Forever by being just okay. It borrows the lack of a strong storyline from Love and Thunder while trying to fill in the gaps with laughs, just like Love and Thunder did.

If that was all that was wrong with this movie, it might’ve still scored a 7 from me. But the real issue is that it tries to say too much, struggles to flesh it out, and ends up feeling disjointed. The plot is all over the place. There are too many things happening at once, and Marvel’s decision to cram everything into this one movie feels like a major mistake.

We’re introduced to a whole new world in the Quantum Realm. We have to deal with the existence of Kang. We’re expected to quickly grasp Janet’s life in the Quantum Realm. And just when you think the movie’s done piling things on, the end credits (there are two) drop even more on you.

The pacing is bad, and the storyline is weak. The only saving graces are the acting and the comedy, which are hallmarks of the Ant-Man movies. For an MCU film, though, this one fails to deliver much beyond the laughs. You’d expect a better story, especially with the introduction of Kang, and a stronger hook for the upcoming Marvel movies.

Compared to what I would’ve expected from the MCU and the introduction of Kang, this movie is a 6/10.