John Wick: Chapter 4 [4K Ultra HD] 
Director: Chad Stahelski
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård
Release Date: June 13, 2023
A Review By: Kevin Lovell
Film Rating: 9/10
Disc Rating: 8.5/10
Synopsis:
John Wick (Keanu Reeves) uncovers a path to defeating The High Table. But before he can earn his freedom, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe, and forces that turn old friends into foes.
Please Note: Lionsgate Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.
‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ rejoins John as he continues the fight to gain his freedom from the High Table, hunting across the globe for a way out, or at least a list of folks that he can kill to eventually get out. But when a new threat takes an interest in John, he is presented with a way to possibly gain his freedom in single combat, but in order to do so he’ll have to travel even further in order to make amends for past occurrences as well as fight his way through the horde of assassins looking to claim the price on his head.
Directed once again by Chad Stahelski (John Wick: Chapter 2, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum) and written this time around by Shay Hatten (Army of the Dead) and Michael Finch (Predators), Stahelski does a magnificent job back at the helm for ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ guiding along the beautiful and action-packed insanity with heart and a whole lot of style. The film’s cast features various new and returning individuals to the series and includes Keanu Reeves (The Matrix), Donnie Yen (Ip Man), Bill Skarsgård (Barbarian), Laurence Fishburne (Last Flag Flying), Hiroyuki Sanada (Bullet Train), Shamier Anderson (City of Lies), Lance Reddick (Godzilla vs. Kong), Rina Sawayama (TV’s Turn Up Charlie), Scott Adkins (Triple Threat), Clancy Brown (TV’s Dexter: New Blood) and lan McShane (TV’s American Gods) who each provide solid and fitting performances for the most in their respective roles.
‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ is another outstanding, breathtaking and visually remarkable installment in the continually impressive action franchise that yet again manages to reach new heights and levels for the series that result in a nearly three hour adrenaline ride with few opportunities to catch your breath along the way. While many ongoing action franchises have long since begun falling apart by the fourth installment, ‘John Wick’ seems to be one of those rare exceptions where each film is as good as the last and somehow against all odds repeatedly manages to outdo its predecessor when it comes to the action and gorgeously choreographed fight sequences, down to a compelling story about a man that we actually care about and thoroughly enjoy watching, something that’s not always simple to pull off when your main protagonist (so to speak) happens to be a ruthless assassin.
In addition to significantly increasing the action occurring within and naturally the body count along with it, the new film also goes out of its way to find fresh new ways of doing things such as a beautifully crafted new character portrayed by Donnie Yen who stands out as one of the most rewarding new additions yet. Not to mention a simply remarkable action sequence in an abandoned building filmed entirely from above that sees our star moving from one room to another dispatching foes. A scene that’s so expertly crafted it feels like watching a video game demo come to life. One thing is for certain, ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ is another winning installment in this action franchise that more than proves this series hasn’t come anywhere near running out of steam or losing its allure.
Overall, ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ delivers another exciting, action-packed ride that’s as visually stunning as it is thrilling, and once again managing to up the ante across the board while also progressing the story nicely without things becoming the slightest bit repetitive or dull. Just as with its predecessors, ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ easily earns one of my highest possible recommendations. It’s another outstanding entry in this marvelous action franchise that someone manages to once again top the previous three films in nearly every conceivable way, while still finding fresh ways to keep this series from becoming even moderately stale. If you’re a fan of the series but haven’t yet had the pleasure of this one, I would strongly encourage going out of your way to rectify that at your earliest convenience. Dedicated fans who own the previous three films should also have zero regrets if spending the money on a blind purchase.
VIDEO:
The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ features a full 2160p Ultra High Definition presentation with Dolby Vision and HDR-10, presented in its original 2.39:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks magnificent across the board and offers a clean, sharp and immaculately detailed presentation from start to finish with no problems whatsoever to be uncovered throughout. It provides remarkable detail and clarity in everything from characters, facial stubble and clothing to indoor and outdoor backgrounds, along with everything else and looks flawless every step of the way whether it’s a calm daylight scene or a darkly lit, nighttime action sequence. The Dolby Vision addition only helps everything to look that much more gorgeous and it provides a spectacular color palette that’s even more noticeable for a richly colored film such as this, and the spectacular colors are perfectly complemented by deep, rich black levels. Overall, this is an outstanding Ultra High Definition video presentation that should have fans and first time viewers absolutely thrilled.
AUDIO:
The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release features a Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channel compatible) soundtrack. Please note that this review pertains solely to the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio presentation. This multichannel soundtrack is as impressive as the video presentation it accompanies and it serves up a clean, crisp and hard-hitting audio presentation throughout that’s as wild as the film itself. It constantly utilizes all seven available channels in order to send everything from bullets, vehicles and explosions whipping throughout the various speakers to weather elements, crowd chatter and a great deal more, all while never resulting in any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously becoming distorted or negatively affected in the process. Overall, this is a marvelous Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible) soundtrack that hits hard and holds up beautifully from start to finish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ is packed with a great collection of bonus content including numerous Behind the Scenes Featurettes that explore different aspects of bringing the film to life and featuring interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus tons of behind the scenes footage and more. The included Featurettes are ‘Chad and Keanu: Through Wick and Thin’ (running approximately 6 minutes in length), ‘Train Like a Killer’ (running approximately 6 minutes), ‘Making a Killing’ (approximately 6 minutes), ‘The Psychology of a Killer’ (4 minutes), ‘The Blind Leading the Fight’ (9 minutes), ‘Suit Up/ Shoot Up’ (6 minutes), ‘Packing a Punch’ (5 minutes), ‘One Killer Shot’ (3 minutes), ‘Killing at the Speed of Traffic’ (10 minutes), ‘A Shot in the Dark’ (6 minutes), and ‘In Honor of the Dead’ (5 minutes). Also included are ‘2 Theatrical Trailers’ for the movie (approximately 4 minutes combined) and ‘The Continental – First Look’ (3 minutes).
*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray disc included in the 4K UHD Combo Pack and resized. They do not represent the quality of the 4K Ultra HD disc itself and will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on the 4K UHD & Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.
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Film Rating: 9/10
Disc Rating: 8.5/10
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‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ is Now Available to Own on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from Lionsgate
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