John Wick: Chapter 4 (Plot, Reviews & Cast)

John Wick: Chapter 4 is a 2023 American action thriller film directed by Chad Stahelski and written by Shay Hatten and Michael Finch.

The sequel to John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) and the fourth installment in the John Wick franchise, the film stars Keanu Reeves as the title character, alongside Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Laurence Fishburne, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Lance Reddick, Rina Sawayama, Scott Adkins, Clancy Brown, and Ian McShane.

In the film, John Wick sets out to get revenge on the High Table and those who left him for dead.

PLOT:

In New York City, John Wick prepares to exact revenge against the High Table while hiding underground with the Bowery King. He travels to Morocco and kills the Elder, the “one who sits above the Table”. In response, the Marquis Vincent de Gramont, a member of the High Table, summons New York Continental hotel manager Winston and his concierge, Charon.

The Marquis explains that the High Table has given him unlimited resources to find and kill John Wick. He chastises Winston for his failure to assassinate John. As punishment, the Marquis strips Winston of his duties as manager, declares him “excommunicado”, destroys the Continental, and executes Charon.

The Marquis then travels to Paris and enlists Caine – a blind, retired High Table assassin – to kill his old friend, John, threatening to murder Caine’s daughter otherwise.

John takes refuge at the Osaka Continental, run by his friend Shimazu Koji. The Marquis’ right-hand man Chidi, backed by High Table assassins and Caine, arrives to investigate the hotel. Shimazu’s daughter Akira, the hotel’s concierge, evacuates the hotel just before the High Table “deconsecrates” it, igniting a melee. John fights through waves of armored assassins, and a showdown with Caine is interrupted by a bounty hunter who calls himself “Mr. Nobody”. He aids in John’s escape after determining the bounty for killing John to be insufficient. Caine allows a wounded Akira to flee after reluctantly killing her father.

John returns to New York and meets with a vengeful Winston at Charon’s gravesite. Winston advises John to invoke an old High Table tradition to challenge the Marquis to a duel. Winning would free John of all obligations to the High Table, but he can only request a duel on behalf of a crime family.

He travels to the Berlin headquarters of the Ruska Roma crime syndicate, with whom he had severed ties,[a] to request readmission. His adoptive sister Katia agrees to his request in exchange for John killing Killa, a High Table member who murdered her father. Although Killa sets up an ambush at his nightclub, John still manages to kill him and regain his status.

Winston relays John’s formal challenge to the Marquis. He requests the New York Continental be rebuilt, with him reinstated as manager, should John win. In Paris, John and the Marquis decide the parameters of their duel – dueling pistols on the following sunrise at Sacré-Cœur – in a meeting moderated by the Harbinger, the Table’s emissary. The Marquis nominates a reluctant Caine to fight in his place; John and Winston will be executed should either fail to appear on time. The Bowery King arrives in Paris to give John a pistol and a new ballistic suit.

The Marquis intends to prevent John from arriving at the duel in time by placing a $26 million bounty on him. John fights off hordes of assassins on his way to Sacré-Cœur, including Mr. Nobody, who negotiates a bounty increase to $40 million.

During their confrontation, John prevents Chidi from killing Mr. Nobody’s dog, causing a stunned Mr. Nobody to abandon his pursuit of John. After Caine and Mr. Nobody assist John in fighting off several assassins—including Chidi, whom Mr. Nobody kills—at a long staircase that leads to Sacré-Cœur, they reach the summit just in time for the duel.

John and Caine inflict serious wounds on each other through two rounds of dueling. The third round comes to a halt when Caine severely wounds John. Demanding the right to administer the coup de grâce, the Marquis eagerly swaps places with Caine. However, John, who had not yet fired his third bullet, shoots and kills an unsuspecting Marquis.

The Harbinger grants Caine and John their freedom from the High Table, and Winston is reinstated. After collapsing on the staircase, John reflects upon his life and marriage before succumbing to his injuries. Sometime later, Winston and the Bowery King bid farewell to John at his tombstone, located next to his late wife Helen’s.

In a post-credits scene, Caine returns to Paris to reunite with his daughter but is approached by the vengeful Akira, who brandishes a weapon.

CASTS:

• Keanu Reeves as John Wick, a professional hitman and assassin who has gained a legendary reputation for his set of skills and is now hunted by the High Table.
• Donnie Yen as Caine, a blind High Table assassin and an old friend of John Wick, who is forced out of retirement to kill John Wick to ensure the safety of his daughter.
• Bill Skarsgård as the Marquis Vincent de Gramont, a powerful member of the High Table whose position is challenged by John Wick.
• Laurence Fishburne as the Bowery King, a former underground crime boss who was left for dead by the High Table and is now sponsoring John Wick.
• Hiroyuki Sanada as Shimazu Koji, the manager of the Osaka Continental Hotel and an old friend of John Wick and Caine.
• Shamier Anderson as Mr. Nobody / The Tracker, a bounty hunter pursuing Wick.
• Lance Reddick as Charon, the concierge at the Continental Hotel in New York.
• Rina Sawayama as Shimazu Akira, Koji’s daughter and concierge of the Osaka Continental.
• Scott Adkins as Killa Harkan, the head of the German Table.
• Clancy Brown as the Harbinger, a high-ranking operative of the High Table.
• Ian McShane as Winston Scott, the manager of the New York Continental Hotel and friend of John Wick.

Reference: Wikipedia