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A14 PEOPLE & ARTS
Wednesday 22 March 2023
Review: John Wick gets even more stylish in fourth episode

By MARK KENNEDY a building involving what
AP Entertainment Writer is being called a dragon’s
A trip to Paris should be on breath shotgun. Repeat-
everyone’s bucket list, even ing that last bit: dragon’s
John Wick. The Eiffel Tower, breath shotgun.
the Arc de Triomphe, the If there was a bit of a slog
Louvre — what better way through would-be assas-
to refresh your soul, even sins in “John Wick: Chap-
as you kick everyone else’s ter 3 — Parabellum” — you
bucket? know, shoot, stab, repeat
The un-retired assassin does — there is none here. One
indeed dive into the City sequence on a set of out-
of Lights in the inventive door stairs in Paris is almost
and thrilling “John Wick: riotously funny as knives
Chapter 4” a sequel which and guns blast away, while
elevates and expands the the filmmakers add water
franchise. The fourth install- and fire to a nightclub rave
ment is more stylish, more scene that puts clueless
elegant and more bonkers dancers next to axe-throw-
— kind of like Paris itself. ing murderers.
When we last saw Wick, he A shout-out to costume de-
was half dead in the gutter signer Paco Delgado, who
after being shot and tum- has outfitted the baddie
bling several stories off the This image released by Lionsgate shows Keanu Reeves as John Wick in a scene from “John Wick 4.” gunmen in light-colored
Hotel Continental in New Associated Press three-piece suits and com-
York. He was on the black- es are the refuge of men Not so fast, of course. a cool dog, hand-to-hand bat boots, and the execu-
list with a $14 million price who fail.” But he’s a secret Along the way, Wick must combat amid glass display tive baddies in fitted el-
on his head. (Inflation has coward, so feel free to boo somehow handle the blind cases, candles and Chris- egance with extravagant
even hit this franchise: The loudly. martial arts master Caine, tian iconography, gallop- cravat-style ties. One of
bounty swells to $40 million The nine-fingered Wick played by Donnie Yen, ing horses, the screech of the film’s saddest parts is
by the end of part four.) wants to end his nightmare, bringing humor and verve metal swords and a new saying goodbye to Lance
Wick, as always played with naturally, by killing every- to a fighter who is tasked way to hurt someone, in this Reddick, who played Con-
monosyllabic and brooding one. His too-cool frenemy, with either slaying his one- case, a single playing card. tinental Hotel concierge
intensity by Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane’s Winston, time friend or have his We visit Germany, Japan Charon and died on the
leaves his customary trail challenges him to think dif- daughter killed. and end in France, even eve of the movie’s debut.
of death, but there’s a shift ferently: “Have you learned There’s also Killa, a jumbo- going to a disused subway How does this all end? Ac-
here. So often the prey in nothing?” he asks the man sized card shark played platform. tually, on something of a
the previous movies, Wick is who, to be honest, he shot by martial arts star Scott Returning director Chad deflating note. Earlier in the
on the offense in the fourth, in the last movie. “You’ll run Adkins, and The Tracker, Stahelski loves combining film, Wick’s Japan-based
taking his demands direct- out of bullets before they a very talented bounty neon with gloom and now friend Shimazu — played
ly to The High Table, the run out of heads.” hunter played by Shamier has the budget to rent out awesomely by Hiroyuki
group of shadowy crime Returning writer Shay Hat- Anderson. Don’t forget a space in the Louvre. Of the Sanada — had asked a
lords that keep order. ten, along with co-writer swarm of Paris-based am- 14 action sequences — yes, question that eternally
This time, the Table’s sa- Michael Finch, have come ateur bounty-hunters and 14 — a few are truly mind- hangs over this franchise:
distic frontman is a dandy up with a possible solution armored ninjas who seem blowing, like a fight in the “Have you given any
called the Marquis, played for Wick: Win an old-fash- as plentiful as the city’s ba- middle of the traffic circle thought to how this ends?”
with coiled menace by ioned duel with the Mar- guettes. around the Arc de Triom- This chapter ends in death,
Bill Skarsgård, who spouts quis. Win and be free, lose All the touches you expect phe and a drone capturing of course. But that’s also
things like: “Second chanc- and be buried. from a Wick flick are here — a complicated set piece in how it lives.q

Review: Depeche Mode face down the

abyss in ‘Memento Mori’

By CRISTINA JALERU boardist Andy Fletcher who died “Soul with Me” is an incred-
The Associated Press in May 2022 and left them a duo ible ballad where Gahan’s voice
“Memento Mori” by Depeche (Dave Gahan and Martin Gore) changes to an unrecognizable
Mode (Columbia Records) And and a mission statement of their pitch, while “Before We Drown”
then there were only two. music. The 12 tracks are fully De- is an electro sexy tune, while “My
Depeche Mode have always peche, fully intoxicating in sound, Cosmos Is Mine” has a dramatic
been a genre unto itself: a vibe, a artistically evocative and some- tempo to it that works.
sort of feedback loop that is time- times puzzling (like the compelling “Ghost Again” hooks you with its
This cover image released by less yet nostalgic, dark, edgy, a lit- but strange “Caroline’s Monkey”). deep fry bass and “People are
Columbia Records shows “Memento tle too dark sometimes but always The music is staring lovingly into Good” engages the aural with an
Mori” by Depeche Mode. so cool. the abyss and asking it to love it unusual vibrato.
Associated Press Their 15th studio album titled “Me- back; death is always hovering Depeche Mode might be fac-
mento Mori” (Latin for “remember on the periphery of the sound, a ing their own mortality but their
you will die”) feels both like a trib- grunge, industrial, rainy sound also power as musicians stretches into
ute to founding member and key- filled with a strange kindness. infinity.q