Keanu Reeves has been experiencing a resurgence in the public consciousness lately. From John Wick to Always Be My Maybe and even Toy Story 4, it seems his agent has been hard at work.
He even appeared on the E3 stage, presenting the latest trailer and the release date for the Cyberpunk 2077 (which I’m definitely getting), creating a new meme in the process.
Can you believe this guy is 54 years old? I can’t.
But before ‘breathtaking’, Keanu’s most memorable quote was another singular, exclamatory word:
Whoa.
Whoa.
… which is what this piece is really about. Not the incomparable Mr. Reeves. (Sorry.)
As you can see, I spell the word like so: ‘whoa’. The first time I read the word, it was spelled like this, and that’s now etched into my mind as the one true and right way to do so.
But today I came across an article that spelled it as ‘woah’. And at the risk of being meta (in a stupid way), my first reaction was: “Whoa. Why do people spell it that way?”
(To be clear: it’s not the first time I’ve seen it spelled ‘woah’. But it WAS the first time I stopped to think about it.)
It just looks… wrong to me. It is, without hyperbole, a crime against nature to spell it that way.
I stopped to consider its pronunciation, broken down into phonetic form – wouldn’t that sound like ‘wo-ah’? Which is so obviously wrong that I don’t even need to point it out, do I?
But then, ‘whoa’ broken down in the same way would be ‘wh-o-aye’, and suddenly: incoming existential crisis.
How SHOULD it be spelled then, to fit its pronunciation? The best I could come up with was ‘whoh’, but thinking and typing that out was so painfully unnatural. Look how they (I) massacred my boy.
My bullshit aside, I think this exercise reminded me that first impressions tend to leave the deepest… impression.
(I write for a living, y’all.)
Another example, and another chance to laugh at me: I must’ve skimmed by really fast when I first read the word ‘abysmal’, because for many years, I thought it was spelled ‘absymal’. I even tried to correct a friend once.
So! While what you see at first might irrevocably colour the way you understand something or someone, sometimes it pays to go back and re-think those opinions.
You never really know something or someone until you give it a few months of active consideration, at least.
… except for words. Just double-check those more than none at all, and you should do better than me.
(Note: this post contains spoilers for John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum)
It’s usually the ones you love that hurt you the most.
Alright, that’s an over-dramatic way to begin. Especially since I didn’t hate John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum by any means.
I was, however, disappointed.
(I’m miserable when it comes to movies, aren’t I?)
That said, I can’t bring myself to blame the movie too much for my disappointment, because I think it comes down to my expectations and how I managed them.
And I suppose I should have known the franchise was going towards the ‘violence for fun’ route when the marketing for this film included Keanu Reeves answering fan questions while playing with puppies:
Nothing wrong with Keanu Reeves. Nothing wrong with puppies. Nothing wrong with Keanu Reeves playing with puppies.
But everything’s wrong with having any marketing material have this tone leading up to the movie.
You see, my disappointment stems from this: I brought up the phrase ‘violence for fun’ earlier – and that, as a concept, is totally fine. Mortal Kombat has gone on for as long as it has with that as its main shtick.
The problem is, John Wick wasn’t about that when it started. It was about a man on a mission, doing only what was needed to get to his goal. The means didn’t matter, only the end. The first movie was so breathtaking and refreshing because it didn’t mess around with fun and games.
I’ll offer an example:
He’s been chasing Iosef the whole time, finally gets to the son of a bitch who took everything from him – and he just shoots him in the gut and finishes him off with a head shot. No torture, no sadistic glee, no triumphant monologue. Doesn’t even allow him to finish his last sentence.
That’s what John Wick used to be about.
Instead of ‘violence for fun’, the first movie was ‘violence as art’.
You might argue that this statement doesn’t jive with what I just mentioned about John being all about the results, but this art I speak of had more to do with how the fight scenes were filmed, and not what actually happened during the fights.
During the fights, John just did what he had to to get out of there alive and work towards his goal. It just so happened that the most effective way of going about things involved fancy judo flips and realistically-beautiful (beautifully-realistic?) gun kata.
Far and away my favourite action scene of all time
I felt a slight deviation from this formula in the second movie, but I based that more on a weaker motivation driving his actions. It wasn’t as good as the first, but I was still good with it.
This third one however… let me just quickly list the few ways (that I can remember off the top of my head) in which it went off the rails and tipped the scales too much in the fan service, ‘violence for fun’ direction:
1. Zero
This is the Japanese assassin guy played by Mark Dacascos. He jokes around way too much. Even though he’s obviously very proficient at his craft, the fact that every other sentence he utters is some kind of wisecrack just ruins him. Even his dying words were used to make jokes.
Ninjas are very, very serious people, not Deadpool wannabes. Have some pride.
2. Action movie one-liners
Speaking of Zero’s death, it was played for laughs, with John Wick himself providing the punchline:
Zero: “I’ll catch up to you.”
Wick: “… No, you won’t.”
Let me just state that I LOVE stupid action movie one-liners. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Commando is one of my favourite movies exactly because of its stupid one-liners.
COMEDY GOLD I TELLS YA
But, once again, this isn’t what John Wick is supposed to be about. What makes this point even sadder is that his one-liners weren’t even all that funny. *Price is Right sad horn sound*
3. Guest stars from The Raid
In case you didn’t know, the two Indonesianassassins John fights near the end are played by actors from The Raid and The Raid 2. I didn’t watch the second movie, but the first The Raid was an intense AF action movie with some amazing (and brutal!) fight scenes.
Watch it if you haven’t.
They’re popular movies, famous for their fight choreography. Well worth a gander.
Sadly, the fight scene in Parabellum with the two Indonesian assassins was fan service at its worst: at the expense of the integrity of the John Wick character and world. The fight featured two points where John got knocked down and should have been killed. Instead, the two assassins let him stand up in his own time, laughing and joking the whole way.
This was a friendly spar, not a life and death battle. And John didn’t even kill them in the end! What happened to shooting everyone in the head to make sure?
Parabellum is still a really great film. The realistic gun usage and fight scenes are all still peerless, and although I have some minor gripes with the story, there’s nothing I really mind that much.
And despite all my criticisms, I am still looking forward to the next sequel (although I do hope it’s the last one – the story is ripe for ending, and dragging it out further would reek of desperation).
What makes me so sad is that by taking this turn towards fan service and just having fun, the franchise has thrown its heart and soul out the window.
I can have lots of fun with movies – they don’t all have to be some deep, life-changing thing to me. I’ll enjoy a fun Home Alone or Back to the Future romp any time. But John Wick – the first one specifically – inspired me and made me fall in love.
I went into the theater looking for fun, and left with art.
Unfortunately, this third installment took me on the return journey.
Sure, I still play Pokemon Go, and I’m always going to check out the new mainline games as they come out. But the franchise doesn’t hit the spot like it used to in my childhood.
The thing is, back then, it hit the spot so good. So good that I’ll have, at the very least, a mild interest in Pokemon for life.
(Pokemon Gold/Silver is still the best in the series, don’t @ me)
All of which to say: I knew I had to go watch Detective Pikachu as soon as I saw the trailer.
It was almost like a reflex. I didn’t know anything about the actors involved (aside from Ryan Reynolds and Ken Watanabe), and the trailers revealed close to zilch about the story, but I had to watch it anyway.
Reality is often disappointing
Unfortunately, the trailers represent the movie too accurately.
What do I mean by that? Well, the movie has barely any more story than the trailers. I thought that it was stellar trailer work at first – getting people hyped for the movie without spoiling anything – but it turns out… there’s pretty much nothing to spoil.
The plot was a vehicle to show more Pokemon and to set up jokes, nothing more. In that sense, the movie was disappointingly mediocre.
Coming to life
However, being like the trailers isn’t all bad. The movie delivered on its promise to show us a ‘live-action’ world where Pokemon and humans co-exist. They did it so well that I wish that was the whole movie.
A Pokemon ‘documentary’! Tell me I’m not the only one who thinks that would be a great follow-up.
And maybe that’s all this movie is really good for: setting up the ‘Pokemon Live-Action Universe’ (or whatever you want to call it). The story possibilities are virtually endless.
But they definitely could’ve made a stronger first impression.
At the end of the day, I don’t actually dislike this movie. In fact, I’d still (lightly) encourage people to spend the money to catch it in theaters. But this sentiment is heavily dependent on a lifetime of liking Pokemon, and the goodwill that the franchise has built up over time with me.
Still, as someone who is almost always story-first in my media consumption preferences, even all the good vibes and nostalgia in the world couldn’t save this movie from being a letdown for me.
Seeing Pokemon ‘in real life’ was really cool – let’s hope they do something better with it next time.
Avengers: Endgame is out, and the spoiler ban was lifted on 6 May. All the reviews and Easter egg hunts are done and over with, and now I think it’s time to look at it through more personal lenses.
Apparently many people shed tears watching Endgame. I mean, the Google results for ‘cried during avengers endgame’ speak for themselves:
I wasn’t too different – I didn’t straight up bawl, but my eyes did get watery at a few points, each of them for quite different reasons. Let’s get into them.
(Why am I trying to be clever by saying ‘3.5 times’? Well, you’ll see.)
1. Guardians of the Galaxy, Redux
The first instance… prompted happy tears. War Machine and Nebula’s trip back in time (and through space) to Morag gave us a different POV on Star-Lord’s little trip to get the Power Stone, and the opportunity to relive the beginning of what is probably the happiest corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The GotG are hands down the best part of the MCU for me, and I’m looking forward to a third movie for these goofballs, now with 100% more God of Thunder.
2. Iron Man and Spider-Man meeting again
This was the easy one. I bet everyone cried here.
I went back to watch Spider-Man: Homecoming after Endgame, and it was plain to see that their relationship and how it played out was planned out meticulously from the very beginning. Tony Stark was pretty clear in saying and showing that he was taking a huge bet on Peter Parker back then – it was a leap of faith for him that you could tell he was never 100% sure about. He was always worried for Spidey.
Peter was pretty much his biggest motivation in coming back to the Avengers after initially brushing them off. He had a family and a quiet life away from all of that business. He totally could have chosen to stay away and it would have been fine and completely understandable. But losing Peter was the one wrong he absolutely had to right.
Their relationship, from the overall arc and down to the littlest details like the hug, was very well done. Very neat, very *chef’s kiss*
2.5. The cavalry has arrived
Probably another easy one. When the Dr. Strange sparky circle thingies started appearing and all the various heroes and armies showed up at the final battle, that was just great timing, in terms of the ebb and flow of the fight.
I started tearing at this but caught myself, thinking ‘nah this is just cool, not emotional’ – that’s why it gets just 0.5. But yeah, still pretty sweet.
The ‘Avengers Assemble’ line was pretty much compulsory, but I always felt it to be a clunky line, so its impact is lost on me.
3. Thor is still worthy
This one. This one is the one I feel like only I really felt.
I’ll be the first to admit that I never found much of the Asgard stuff very interesting – I don’t think the Thor movies did a good job of showing why we should give a toss about the place. We only ever saw the ‘highlight’ characters (Thor, Loki, Odin, etc.), and we never got the chance to understand what life is like for the Asgardians. We never had the chance to relate to them, so there was no way we would feel too much for them even as their home world got destroyed.
They did a damn fine job with Thor though. Changing him from a serious, straight man into a joker goofball was a great decision, and they didn’t do it at the expense of the integrity of his character.
Anyway, I think the reason I felt most strongly about this scene was because I relate to it very much. As with everyone else, I’ve had my share of ups and downs; during the valleys, I sometimes wonder if the peaks were all just illusions – whether I deserved any of that happiness.
When you’re at the lowest of the low, getting affirmation that you’re still a person worthy of respect, of love, is the greatest pick-me-up you could hope for.
I’ve felt like Thor before; I’m sure I’ll feel it again. Keeping the faith that I’ll always be worthy as long as my heart doesn’t lose its way is sometimes all that keeps me going. Seeing Thor get affirmation via Mjolnir was the cinematic, fictional representation of that. I understood it.
I felt it.
***
I do, of course, have other thoughts on Endgame, but I doubt they’re too interesting to get into. Suffice to say, I enjoyed it, and I’m now curious about how they intend to continue the MCU.
