Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Action films come in various flavors: Some are more story-driven, others less so. John Wick is clearly on the low end of this scale, with no plot to speak of, instead relegating itself to a 100-minute nonstop shoot-out, a movie where taking a breath is as impossible as taking the film seriously. Playing unapologetically to a testosterone-addled, teenaged male demographic, the film is furious and explosive on the one hand, yet flat and characterless on the other. But if pure adrenaline-infused action is what you seek, John Wick may be right up your alley. Just don’t expect it to make any sense.

John Wick is a very dark movie, not only because of its subject matter, but also in terms of its cinematography. It makes for a good challenge to reproduce these dark images adequately on home video, and the Blu-ray does an admirable job. Blacks are incredibly deep in the high-definition transfer, giving the image remarkable visual depth, without ever breaking up in darker areas of the 1.85:1 frame, and without losing all-important shadow detail. Much of the movie takes place in seedy, neon-lit locales and gaudy, pulsating nightclub settings, allowing the Blu-ray format to fully flex its muscles, pumped with rich hues and vibrant colors, while also ensuring natural-looking fleshtones in daylight scenes.

The brutal stylistic choices the filmmakers made in terms of story and visualization are also carried over into the sound department, where viewers are assaulted with a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio track, which is also encoded in the new Dolby Atmos format. The Atmos mix has the benefit that it is not strictly limited to discrete channels but instead creates a magnificent three-dimensional soundfield where even the subtlest spatial placements come through without the traditional channel confines. This presentation truly gives you the sense that you’re immersed in all of the excitement, with ambient sounds, special effects, and the music enveloping you as you watch the film. An incredible frequency response and super-modern bass extension make this audio track scream for vengeance, just like the titular character does.

Lionsgate’s release also offers a few bonus materials, such as a commentary track and a series of featurettes that take a look at the production with behind-the-scenes footage and interview clips.

Blu-Ray
Studio: Lionsgate, 2014
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio Format: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 with Dolby Atmos
Length: 101 mins.
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Chad Stahelski
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Willem Dafoe, Dean Winters