Taking a paper-thin premise and delivering it with cold-rolled steel execution, “John Wick” isn’t perfect, but that’s very much part of its pleasures. Keanu Reeves is the title character, a retired assassin inspired to resume his career after, yes, armed thugs kill his dog, thereby unleashing hell in the form of a fearsomely competent man with nothing to lose.
Directed by stunt veteran (and Reeves collaborator) Chad Stahelski, “John Wick” hearkens back to a past and perhaps forgotten style of American action filmmaking. The shots are long, with the actors clearly doing as much of the fighting as they can and the scenes of hand-to-hand combat and shooting battles constructed in large pieces that resemble choreography rather than in a collage of quick-cut footage.