John Wick

An ex-hitman (Keanu Reeves) comes out of retirement to get revenge on the guy who stole his car and killed his dog; complicating things is the fact that the culprit (Alfie Allen) is the son of his crime-lord former employer (Michael Nykvist). The movie starts out as almost a guilty pleasure, a deadpan, blood-soaked spoof of those underworld shoot-'em-ups where everybody's a player, there's an elaborate culture of professional killers, and both police and innocent bystanders are all but nonexistent. It's like a Quentin Tarantino movie with wardrobe by GQ and sets by Architectural Digest. But the mordant humor of Derek Kolstad's script quickly dries up, the movie starts taking itself seriously, and the pleasure gives way to the guilt. First-timer Chad Stahelski directs like the veteran stunt man he is.