This article contains spoilers for John Wick: Chapter 4.
The villain in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:John Wick Chapter 4’s best fight scene is gravity. As 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Keanu Reeves’ beleaguered assassin makes his way across Paris for a sunrise appointment with a pair of pistols, he finally comes to the mountainous staircase that will lead him up to Sacré-Coeur, the basilica where Wick and Marchese de Gramont will hoist their arms. Before he can get there though, John needs to defeat the dozens of oppo🍸rtunistic assassins lurking along the climb.
While watching the lengthy staircase fight that serves as the action climax of John Wick: Chapter 4, I kept thinking about how effective an action scene can be whe🅺n, in addition to being well choreographed, well performed, and well shot, it is also well told. That is, when it serves to tell the film’s story, and also tells its own complete story. That’s the case in the Sacré-Coeur skirmish. In the film, we know that John needs to get to reach the church by 6:03 am, or he and Ian McShane’s Winston will be executed. We also know that every assassin in the City of Light means to stop him. So, when he arrives at the staircase, it represents the last and greatest challenge standing in the way of John accomplishing his goal.
Action and story are not always this integrated in modern blockbusters. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Marvel’s process for its action scenes typically involves extensive previs work, which means producing rough animated versions of a scene to get a better sense than a storyboard can provide of how the finished film will flow. There's nothing wrong with previs as a filmmaking tool, but this work is often done without consideration for the director's vision for the movie. Filmmaker from talks to direct 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Black Widow because the studio told her that she would mostly need to focus on Natasha's story and wouldn't need to worry about the action scenes. Marvel has even used previs to create rough versions of entire movies during the pre-production process, .
The contained story the film tells in John’s ascent to the top is compelling in itself. Just when he gets near to the peak, a group of goons appear and knock him all the way down. Because we’ve seen John earn his hard won progress up the impossibly tall stairs, we laugh with shock when he gets pushed back all the way down. We get a bit of a rest as John comes to a stop, but then one of the goons comes sliding down the stair-side slope, leaping into action as soon as he reaches the landing. The length of time director Chad Stahelski holds on John tumbling makes it increasingly funny as it drags on and also ups ཧthe stakes. Time was already short for John. ꦡHow can he possibly make it now?
The answer comes in the arrival of Donnie Yen's blind assassin Caine. The old friends have been at cross-purposes throughout the film, with Yen working for the Marchese to save his daughter's life and being appointed as the villain's substitute to duel John in his stead. Now, at the foot of the stairs, they team up to get to the duel on time, kicking ass together and successfully reaching the Sacré-Coeur before sunrise.
When John and Caine face each other in their final duel, it's more meaningful because we've been with them through their fight to get there. We know the victory was hard won.