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Tag: John Wick: Chapter 4

  • The Art of Payback: Lionsgate Play’s Sharpest Revenge Thrillers

    The Art of Payback: Lionsgate Play’s Sharpest Revenge Thrillers

    How far would you go to get even?

    Revenge thrillers hit differently. They’re savage but still stylish and endlessly addictive. There’s something undeniably satisfying about watching characters claim power, outwit their enemies, and unleash absolute chaos on those who wronged them. Betrayals, kidnappings, all-out wars —nothing is off the table when justice becomes personal.

    So the next time you’re in the mood for adrenaline and drama, queue up these revenge thrillers now streaming on Lionsgate Play.

    Farang 

    Farang

    Former professional boxer and ex-convict Samir Darba (Nassim Lyes) is given a new start with his wife after moving to Thailand. However, his delinquent past catches up to him when a local French mafia hires him. His family suffers from a brutal attack after a botched mission, which sets Samir seeking revenge. Watch him use his boxing skills, mixed with martial arts, as he teaches a lesson to everyone who’s wronged him. 

    Crank

    Crank

    Professional assassin Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) goes on a rampage in Los Angeles to stay alive. One morning, he receives a message saying he’s been injected with poison that will kill him if his heart rate slows down. On a mission to stay alive, he hunts down his employer to find an antidote and seek revenge, while trying to keep his adrenaline pumping. From fighting the police to reckless driving, will Chev make it? 

    John Wick: Chapter 4

    John Wick 4

    No one knows revenge like John Wick (Keanu Reeves). In the fourth chapter of the franchise, John Wick’s bounty is still hefty. He travels from Japan to Paris, seeking revenge and freedom from the High Table. With only one way out, Wick goes on a duel against Caine (Donnie Yen) during sunrise at the scenic Basilica of Sacré-Coeur De Montmartre.

    Cold Pursuit

    Cold Pursuit 1000x1500

    What would you do to avenge your son’s life? Watch Nels Colxman (Liam Neeson) transform from a quiet snowplow driver into a revenge-driven vigilante as he hunts down the men responsible for his son’s death: Viking (Tom Bateman) and his henchmen. From kidnappings to misunderstandings, Colxman’s mission sets off a full-blown gang war. 

    Boy Kills World

    BKW

    A deaf and mute protagonist with an inner voice narrated by H. Jon Benjamin? In Boy Kills World, Boy (Bill Skarsgård) trains to avenge his family’s murder and assassinate Hilda Van Der Koy (Famke Janssen). Set in a dystopian world, the film is a perfect blend of action and dark comedy that keeps you on your toes. 

    Ready your snacks and witness iconic characters plot the biggest schemes, all for some sweet revenge. Catch these action-packed films only on Lionsgate Play via PLDT Home, Smart and Cignal.

  • REVIEW: The Surprising Metaphor Behind ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’

    By this point, I have forgotten most of the plot of the ‘John Wick’ series. Coming into John Wick: Chapter 4, all I knew was that I wanted to see the polished, hard-hitting action choreography we have been given in the first three installments. It’s the brand that has grown from this slick action, neo-noir franchise made popular by Keanu Reeves’ titular character, the assassin John Wick. Within the first ten minutes of the film, all I needed to remember was laid out before me and I knew who John Wick was out to kill and sat back and was ready for the ride.

    What I wasn’t ready for were the figurative parallelisms that ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ took to my own life as a man in my mid-forties who is looking to take things easier as I pass middle age. Down to its most basic, John Wick is the story of a master assassin who is literally killing everyone off so he can get out of the system and retire peacefully from that world. But the trouble that began, way back in the first installment of the series, has made him a liability (and has reminded the organization he used to work for how good he is at his job). It’s a man who just wants out but they won’t let him. Now how does a man in his mid-forties relate to this story? The connection there is in how this world is so hard-wired to ensure that you can never get out of the system. Not without ruffling a few feathers, or in the case of John Wick, killing a boatload of men and then some.

    John Wick Chapter 4 Review 2

    The world of John Wick and the organization he’s after, the High Table, has expanded that we get to see the history of John Wick come into play – old friends have come to give him refuge (to their own detriment) while other people from his past are brought in to bring John Wick down – and all of a sudden this world with all its cool martial arts and gun choreography takes human form. Sides are created and the High Table, represented by Bill Skarsgard as the Marquis, becomes an inhumane representation of the system that will not give John Wick what he wants. For the High Table, there is no mercy. The rules are sacred and John Wick must be destroyed at all costs.

    John Wick Chapter 4 Review 1

    And what cost! ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ is not without its extensive body count. Fantastic fight scenes from multiple locations around the world bloat up the film to a running time of close to three hours but it can truly boast some of the most exciting and thrilling action sequences in cinema today. The only thing that dampens the polished groove of the film is that one of the best fight scenes ever, the one in Japan, happens in the first hour of the film – with the exquisite Donnie Yen, the ever-reliable Hiroyuki Sanada, and the refreshing and arresting Rina Sawayama, in her debut film role – and while the other action pieces that follow are still great, it’s pales in comparison from this first battle. It’s what makes the three hour running time feel exhausting. The best has already come early.

    John Wick Chapter 4 2

    Luckily, Donnie Yen, as a blind assassin, creates a lot of nuance and texture for Keanu Reeves’ John Wick to play off of. Yen doesn’t only have the physicality for all the action stunts required from him in a film like this, but he also has the charisma and the gravitas to add a profound depth to the film by being the antithesis of John Wick. While Wick is holding on to a memory of a loved one who had passed, a wish to be free so he can live a life his own, Yen’s Caine is trapped in life with a daughter whose safety hangs in the balance. It’s why the retired Caine is back in the game and going toe-to-toe with an old friend.

    So, sure, ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ is maybe 30 minutes or even an hour too long. Too many fight scenes (though do we really care? Because they were all quite amazing displays of filmmaking and stunt work) can feel indulgent as this is presented as the final installment of a very profitable series but they don’t rest on their laurels and still provide such an interesting heart at the center of it: the price of our freedom. The ultimate cost that we must pay for being part of this system that only sees us for our utility and not our humanity.

    John Wick Chapter 4 Review 3

    Once the metaphor was so clear to me, I was cheering for John Wick because, like him, I wanted to be free of this unceasing struggle with the system. I should be able to go when I want to. The hundreds of bodies that he had to punch, kick, stab, and shoot to be free were just metaphors of every fiery hoop we go through before we realise we are just cogs in a machine. Maybe I’m seeing more than what is really there. But I understood John Wick’s tiredness. It was time to go but they would not let him go.

    So, he made a big mess just to get out and left us with a great big movie to say farewell with and I’m all the happier for it.

    My Rating:

    5 stars - Don't Look Up review

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    John Wick: Chapter 4 is now showing in cinemas nationwide. Book your seats in advance and buy your tickets here.

  • Film Facts: 5 Things to Know About ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’

    Keanu Reeves returns to the big screen as the legendary Baba Yaga in John Wick: Chapter 4. In the fourth installment of the action movie franchise, John Wick takes his fight against the High Table to new heights as he strives to survive and win his freedom.

    Watch the trailer for John Wick: Chapter 4 below:

    Before we go see the new John Wick movie, here are a few facts about the movie that you might want to know about:

    1. John Wick goes around the world on his mission to take down the High Table.

    In the fourth installment of the John Wick franchise, the rogue assassin discovers that the path to defeating the High Table is by challenging its new leader, Marquis de Gramont, in single combat. Wick’s latest mission takes him across the globe, making allies and facing foes in four countries outside America, namely Japan, Jordan, Germany, and France.

    John Wick Chapter 4 1
    Photo: John Wick: Chapter 4 Trailer

    2. Donnie Yen and Hiroyuki Sanada are joining the cast.

    Making the new film more exciting is the involvement of international action stars Donnie Yen (Ip Man movies) and Hiroyuki Sanada (Bullet Train). Donnie Yen’s character Caine is reportedly an old friend of John Wick’s, but as the trailer may imply, their relationship is quite complex and Caine may be Wick’s most dangerous foe in the new movie.
    Meanwhile, there aren’t many details about Sanada’s character Shimizu, but the actor might have teased that he’s an ally of John Wick in an interview with CinemaBlend: “I worked with Keanu before on 47 Ronin, almost like 10 years ago. So it was a great reunion, and then we have that kind of history in real life, so we could use that kind of atmosphere or chemistry into the movie. So that kind of relationship is in the movie too. So that’s the biggest hint.”

    John Wick Chapter 4 2
    Photo: John Wick: Chapter 4 Trailer

    3. More celebrities to appear in the new John Wick movie.

    Aside from Yen and Sanada who are set to play big roles in the film, viewers can also catch more familiar faces in the upcoming movie. Joining the returning cast members Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, and Ian McShane are stars Bill Skarsgård, known for playing Pennywise in the It movies; Clancy Brown who is known for voicing Mr. Krabs; Wynonna Earp‘s Shamier Anderson; and Japanese-British recording artist Rina Sawayama.

    John Wick Chapter 4 3
    Photo: John Wick: Chapter 4 Trailer

    4. It will be the longest John Wick film.

    The John Wick movies appeal to fans with their long action sequences that are pure adrenaline fuel, and while the first three films already feel packed with these epic fight scenes, fans can expect that the epic movie will offer more thrilling sequences to viewers as it will have the longest runtime in the franchise.

    In an interview with Collider, director Chad Stahelski confirmed that it would be about two and a half hours, adding that they’re pretty confident it would not be too much for the viewers: “Look, I’ve watched this thing now, this version of the cut, close to 100 times, and another 100 by the end of the month at least. And this is the first one that we watch. I don’t get bored at all. It’s my own film. I know it’s weird to say, but I watch it, and I was like, ‘Oh, I’m still in the movie.’ It doesn’t take me out. I don’t ever feel like, ‘Just end this thing already. I can’t watch it again.’ You know what I mean? Other than my other misgivings of choices and scenes, and writing all that stuff, I feel pretty good about it. Keanu [Reeves] and I, and the really tight circle that I have around us, we’ve watched, every week. We have a little group. ‘Let’s just watch it one more time to make sure we’re not talking ourselves into something.’”

    John Wick Chapter 4 4
    Photo: John Wick: Chapter 4 Trailer

    5. John Wick’s world further expands with upcoming spin-offs.

    Aside from the latest installment of the John Wick franchise, his movie universe further expands with two new titles. The first one is The Continental, a prequel series premiering on Peacock, while the other spin-off is the upcoming movie Ballerina. The movie is set between chapters 3 and 4 of the John Wick franchise, and will star Ana de Armas as an assassin who seeks revenge against the people who killed her family.

    John Wick Chapter 4 5
    Photo: No Time to Die Trailer

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    John Wick: Chapter 4 is coming to cinemas this Wednesday, March 22, 2023. Book your seats in advance and buy your tickets here.

  • ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ Early Reactions Tease a “Badass,” “Bloody,” and “Epic” Action Flick this March

    John Wick: Chapter 4 is just around the corner! While fans are already excited to see the fourth installment of the assassin epic on the big screen, movie critics and fans invited to the film’s advance screenings are hyping it up even more with their early reactions!

    The latest sequel from director Chad Stahelski follows Keanu Reeves’ John Wick as he finds a way to take down the High Table after the events that led him to become an Excommunicado. This time, Wick travels across the globe, fighting his toughest foes yet, in a quest that would lead him to the film’s big bad, Marquis de Gramont. Alongside Reeves, Lawrence Fishburne, Lance Reddick, and Ian McShane are also reprising their roles. Joining them are Donnie Yen, Hiroyuki Sanada, Clancy Brown, Scott Adkins, Marko Zaror, and Bill Skarsgård.

    Check out the early reactions to John Wick: Chapter 4 below:

    Are you ready for John Wick: Chapter 4? The movie arrives in Philippine cinemas on March 22. Book your seats in advance and buy your tickets here.

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    Homestream image from the John Wick website.

  • WATCH: ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ Trailer Teases the Baba Yaga’s Brutal Battle for Survival

    The official trailer for the upcoming action flick John Wick: Chapter 4 is here!

    Keanu Reeves is back in action as the feared assassin John Wick, who has found a way to freedom and must defeat all sorts of enemies from around the globe in his mission to take down the High Table. Watch the trailer for John Wick: Chapter 4 below:

    In his latest crusade, John Wick must challenge Bill Skarsgård’s Marquis de Gramont in single combat for him to finally earn his freedom. The trailer also gives us a glimpse of Reeves’ fight scene with Donnie Yen, and of course, John Wick’s brutal scenes as he takes down his enemies with nunchucks, an axe, guns, and more!

    Directed by Chad Stahelski, John Wick: Chapter 4 also stars Laurence Fishburne, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Lance Reddick, Rina Sawayama, Scott Adkins, and Ian McShane. It is set for a US release on March 24, 2023.

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