In the same spirit as the “Death Wish” franchise, comes “John Wick”. This is a pretty exciting action movie starring Keanu Reeves (“The Matrix”, “Johnny Mnemonic”). This is also one of the best edited action movies of the modern era.

After his wife dies, retired assassin John Wick is left with a beagle puppy to console himself but when Russian gangsters steal his car and kill the puppy, Wick is forced to return to the criminal underworld as he seeks his vengeance. He will truly stop at nothing to ensure that his vendetta is completed and it really doesn’t matter how many goons the bad guys throw at him.

Keanu Reeves works effectively as John Wick. You feel pretty sad for the guy as he returns to a life of constantly dodging bullets and knives. Reeves is able to throw a little humour in there as well. The dog is absolutely adorable and you really want to see Wick get his revenge. Willem Dafoe (“Spider-Man”, “Platoon”) plays a fellow assassin and he’s okay but he gets very little screen time. Adrianne Palicki (“Legion”) plays Ms. Perkins and she’s alright but nothing special. The villains in the film are pretty generic and that’s a bit of a shame.

“John Wick” has some impressive action sequences and we get to see everything that happens really clearly and that helps set “John Wick” apart from many modern action movies where everything is shown from a dozen different camera angles and the camera shakes as if an earthquake was occurring. My biggest complaint is that the action sequence at the end of the film are not as good as the nightclub one in the middle. If you want to see a slick modern version of a similar set-up to old-school action movies such as “Death Wish” and “Commando” then “John Wick” is a pretty good choice.