‘John Wick: Chapter 4′: Bad guys get killed, Oscar worthy stunts

I have no idea how many bad guys get killed in John Wick: Chapter 4. They die in so many ways at such dizzying speed, it’s impossible to count. No matter how many go down, there’s always another one, two, or 10, around the corner, in a speeding car, or up the steps, be it Osaka or Paris.

I also have no idea why some bullets seem more effective than others, or some martial arts moves render a baddie motionless and others seem to have no more impact than a mosquito bite. I don’t know why the best killers in the world can’t hit John Wick (Keanu Reeves) with any of the gazillion shots they fire at him.

There is virtually no character development in the movie. The few characters who make it to the end are exactly as they started. It’s long — 160+ minutes — and cartoonish, as if the Roadrunner had to deal with 1,000 Wile E. Coyotes.

Yet I enjoyed almost every second. Watching John Wick: Chapter 4 is like playing a video game without the risk of carpal tunnel.

The plot has Wick bringing trouble wherever he goes in an effort to free himself from the clutches of the High Table. A sadistic Marquis (Bill Skarsgard) is now running the show and willing to pay any price to get Wick killed.

Taking the assignment, one by choice and one not, are Caine (Donnie Yen) and Nobody (Shamier Anderson). Caine is blind — shades of Daredevil — but what he can’t see will kill you. The man called Nobody is a bounty hunter with a scene-stealing German shepherd for a partner. In some ways, Wick 4 plays like an old musical, but the big dance numbers are elaborate, beautifully choreographed fight scenes.

There are elements of the Die Hard movies, and even shades of High Noon. It has a casino scene and a metal-toothed villain à la James Bond, and the stunt work and fight ingenuity is Oscar-worthy. Also, the sound effects are great: All the shootings, stabbings, and head-slammings get the just-right “cronk!”

There are familiar faces from previous Wick films — Ian McShane as Winston, Laurence Fishburne as the Bowery King, and the late Lance Reddick as Charon — and former martial arts stunt man Chad Stahelski is back to direct. A nice new addition is Japanese British singer Rina Sawayama as a dutiful daughter who responds like a mama bear ninja when her father (Hiroyuki Sanada) is threatened. When Reeves does speak, he is drier than kindling and his stiff-legged gait makes him seem more zombie than human. But when the bullets start to fly, he moves like Jackie Chan on meth.

The Wick universe is different from our own: It features entranced techno dancers who barely flinch when war breaks out in their night club, while a silver-tongued DJ assembles killers. Most importantly, there’s an endless supply of well-dressed bodies who take a wicking and keep on ticking.

(Rated R. Premieres Friday, March 24, in theaters.)

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEVUtrk8_B4