There are only so many movies that I consider effectively “perfect.” Movies so tightly done, with good acting, good editing, every piece has its place, and even knowing the twists you can watch them over and over again.
One for me is “The Usual Suspects”.
Another is John Wick.
OK, it’s not flawless. It’s certainly not terribly “original”. But, and this is a huge but, it delivers exactly what it promises, with excellent pacing, interesting characters that behave exactly how you’d expect people to behave, and utterly fantastic fight scenes.
It’s all in the details. It’s a consummate action movie, down to the droll way that body disposal is ordered as if ordering catering for an event.
The fights are choreographed to a “T”, and not the showy stuff you usually get, epic as that can be, but tight, fast, vicious, claustrophobic, and obeying for the most part physics, people’s ability to track, and the laws of ammo shortages on all sides.
The characters, from the sniper played by Willem DeFoe, to Ms Perkins are all slightly larger than life. And Ms. Perkins is athletic, but against men usually gets by on wits and feminine wiles, which she wields very effectively. The dialog is simultaneously wonderfully over the top, utterly sincere, and understated, blended as needed.
And every piece in the story has its place. Better yet, the logic and tropes of action films are played out to their logical conclusions, and for once, the rules that inconvenience the “good” guy also affect the bad guys as well.
So yes, I’m looking forward to the sequel, fingers crossed.
