Perhaps I put that badly - I know they are different kinds of film, I am talking specifically about the way the action is shot in John Wick not bring anything new or unusual. The impression I got was that it was supposed to be an exemplar of the genre, and that wasn't my impression at all.
It reminded me of the way old kung-fu movies were done, right down to the way the occasional tougher bad guy would go one on one with the hero in a videogame-esque "boss fight", always conveniently when the rest of the baddies were downed or absent. Although that is a standard trope, it was especially blatant, just like how the multitudes of enemies politely came at Wick in packets small enough for him to handle in sequence. And it's all shown from medium to close range in enclosed spaces where cascading those two kinds of scenes is at least visually plausible.
I see how it is a throwback to a more 70s kind of style, but maybe because I am old and grew up with those movies I find it less fresh than formulaic. It was no Unforgiven...
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Better educated sadness than oblivious joy.
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