John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)

John Wick falls down more stairs in this movie than most people climb in a year, and the runtime keeps pace with him: 169 minutes, with a real sag in the Berlin card game stretch. Bill Skarsgård’s Marquis is a fancy brat who mostly gives orders from nice furniture, so the threat never feels personal. Then the fighting starts and you forget all of it. Donnie Yen walks in as Caine, a blind assassin who somehow sees the room better than everybody in it, and quietly steals the franchise. Hiroyuki Sanada gets an Osaka hotel brawl lit like a neon fever dream. A Paris apartment fight shot straight down from the ceiling, like a top-down video game, is the best action filmmaking of the decade. Keanu barely talks and doesn’t need to. An 8.1 because the action is world class and the story is a parking ticket. $9.94 says you button your jacket the next time someone looks at you funny, just in case.

What works: Donnie Yen’s Caine, the overhead Paris apartment fight and a stair climb that turns into a slapstick nightmare, all shot with real craft.

What doesn’t: At 169 minutes it drags in Berlin, and the Marquis gives orders from fancy furniture instead of ever feeling like a real threat.

Who it’s for: Action fans who measure movies in reloads, and anyone who thought the first three needed more stairs.