Keanu Reeves last outing in 47 Ronin and Man of Tai-Chi was pretty poor to say the least. In Man of Tai-Chi, he barely had any fight time, while 47 Ronin was dull and left much to be desired.

John Wick is a stripped back all out action flick, even to the point of the story being a simple revenge plot. We’re introduced to John covered in blood, lying next to his car about to die, before he’s about to take his last breath he pulls out a phone a watches a recording of him and his wife enjoying time on the beach – a much happier time than his current predicament.

We then cut back a few days to see the events that lead up to this finale. John’s wife just passed away, and after the funeral he receives a gift from his dead wife. As one last loving gesture, she sent him a puppy to him grieve. It’s one of the most cutest puppies you’ll see in cinema, so when it’s killed by a group of Russian gangsters, we feel John’s pain.

The problem is that John isn’t going to take shit from these guys, especially after the bad days he just had. Queue a phonecall to the mob boss to let them know the guy they used to hire to sort out their problems is back on the job, and he wants blood, namely the Russian mob boss’ son on a plate.

John Wick then goes from place to place executing everyone in style. The gun-fu is reminiscent of the action scenes in Equilibrium, with Keanu putting bullets in heads, chests toes and every part of the human body. Mix in some cool judo fight scenes and you can see why everyone wants to stay out of John’s way.

The entire world in John Wick is also completely believable as we see assassins follow codes to prevent utter carnage, while also having places to stay as they carry out business that are deemed off-business-limits. John stays in a hotel where assassins can stay without fear of being killed in their sleep, as well as head to the basement to enjoy the nightclub.

John Wick is fun action flick that shows how great Keanu Reeves can be when he is in his comfort zone. The simple plot, mixed with amazing action scenes and great music bring together a film that originally I deemed sounded stupid (a revenge flick about a guy and his dog isn’t exactly Oldboy).