The Continental Grooves Its Way Through a Murky Jaunt In the John Wick Universe: Review
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The post The Continental Grooves Its Way Through a Murky Jaunt In the John Wick Universe: Review appeared first on Consequence.
The Pitch: 2014’s John Wick was a watershed moment for American action filmmaking: Not only did it revitalize Keanu Reeves’ career as an action star, it introduced Hollywood to a tighter, more controlled style of action choreography we’re still seeing aped today.
But part of the appeal of the Wick films, apart from Keanu finding new and sundry ways to shoot people in the face at point-blank range, was its rapidly expanding criminal underworld and the labyrinthine rules that govern it. Central to that is the Continental Hotel, a central location for the Wick flicks and their assassin-fueled economy: A pre-war flatiron building in NYC (the Beaver Building at 1 Wall Street Court is filmed for its exteriors) in which hitmen and top-level gangsters go for refuge and connections.
Though Mr. Wick himself found a graceful exit from the franchise in John Wick: Chapter 4, the powers that be are dedicated to sketching out these other corners of the Wickiverse. In Peacock’s three-part miniseries The Continental: From the World of John Wick, we get the origin story of film series deuteragonist Winston Scott (played by Ian McShane in the films and Colin Woodell as a younger version here) and how he became the impresario of the hotel by the time Keanu Reeves decided that yeah, he was thinking he’s back.
To that end, writer-developers Greg Coolidge, Kirk Ward, and Shawn Simmons send us back to the 1970s, with Winston as a down-on-his-luck (but still stylish, right down to the ascot) hustler who’s thrust back into the orbit of his ne’er-do-well big brother Frankie (Animal Kingdom’s Ben Robson), who steals a mysterious whatsit from the Continental in the show’s dazzling opening minutes.
Kidnapped and dragged back to NYC by the hotel’s current proprietor, the brutish Cormac O’Connor (Mel Gibson, chewing scenery through wild eyes and a salt-and-pepper beard), tasks him with tracking down his estranged brother and getting back what belongs to him. Instead, Winston ends up on a roaring rampage of revenge, a road that will eventually lead him right back to The Continental itself — this time, hopefully, as its owner.
The Continental: From the World of John Wick (Peacock)
Hey, I’m Shooting Here! Where the Wick films mixed classic cinema, Hong Kong bullet operas, and Buster Keaton pictures into its unique bullet-hurricane formula, director Albert Hughes (Menace II Society) uses the prequel’s ’70s backdrop to play host to a whole new set of action and crime film influences in the first episode. The show’s DNA is suffused with ’70s crime flicks like Taxi Driver and The French Connection, not to mention nods to kung fu flicks and blaxploitation. The costumes pop with leather jackets, flared pants, and well-tailored suits, the cars are vintage, and the needle drops are groovy (if so frequent as to be overstuffed at times).
But how does it hold up as an action show? Well, after that initial showdown with Frankie (the closest the show comes to the kinds of ambitious brawls the film series was known for), The Continental slows down into a more traditional ’70s crime show — brothers bridging childhood rifts on the run, characters trying to escape or avenge their horrid pasts — before ramping back up in the closing hour for an ambitious assault on the titular hotel.
For Winston’s no Wick; he’s a schemer, a man with a plan. So naturally, his gambit to take over the Continental will see him teaming up with a ragtag crew of misfits from Frankie’s crew, including his martial-arts master wife Yen (Zhung Kate), brother-sister kung-fu duo Miles (Hubert Point-Du Jour) and Lou (Jessica Allain), gentlemanly sniper Jenkins (Ray McKinnon), and more. They all get their chances to shine in knife fights, kung-fu showdowns, and pneumatic pipe-bomb jamborees, even if the choreography and cinematography don’t match Wick’s mastery of the form. While Wick cinematographer Dan Laustsen soaks Keanu in rich neons and bright pops of color in the films, the series suffers from the same mud-grey look that blights so many streaming originals.
Francis Scott’s Key: But all this merry play admittedly takes a while to get going, with a momentum that noticeably sags in the second episode (notably, the one not directed by Hughes). Juggling this many characters with so many repetitive motivations — everyone’s gotta seek revenge on somebody — means the specifics of certain relationships often get lost in the shuffle.
On top of Winston and his erstwhile crew, we have to check in with Cormac’s fractious relationship with the High Table (the elite council of assassins that rules the world of Wick), a police detective (Mishel Prada) whose connection to the main storyline isn’t truly revealed till late in the game, and the struggle of a young Charon (Ayomide Adegun, embodying a young Lance Reddick) to pick a side in this rapidly-escalating war.
The Continental (Peacock)
Some performances help their respective subplots stand out, at least: Woodell approaches McShane’s particular brand of snarkiness while still feeling green around the gills, while McKinnon’s reedy, polite sharpshooter offers the kind of deadpan we’ve come to associate with the world’s businesslike treatment of mass murder.
For his part, Gibson is having a ball, even if he’s mostly confined to one room after another in The Continental, bug-eyed, wild, and snarling through a thick Noo Yawk accent. He’s a classless man stuck among the High Table’s niceties and The Continental’s baroque aesthetics, which makes his need to be replaced by the cosmopolitan Winston all the clearer.
The rest tend to fall into the background when they’re not kung-fu kicking or shooting shotguns around corners. The sole exceptions, of course, are martial artist Mark Musashi and Ukrainian contortionist Marina Mazepa as a pair of mute, leather-clad twin assassins named Hansel and Gretel, who carry themselves with just the right amount of strangeness (and sharp fighting chops) for a universe as kooky as this one.
The Verdict: As a pure continuation of John Wick lore, The Continental is a worthy watch, one that offers similar bloody mayhem to its predecessors in a new, wide-lapelled outfit. But it’s hard not to feel that the show, with its leaden pacing, convoluted cast of characters, and lack of a nucleus in a powerhouse figure like Reeves, comes up short compared to the film series it desperately wants to evoke.
Peacock pitches this as the rare opportunity to put Wick-like action on TV, but so many other shows are already doing it, and better than this one — Max’s Warrior, Prime’s Reacher, Netflix’s The Witcher, etc. And your mileage may vary on how much Mel Gibson you want on your TV screens, as well-used as he is here. But for a few brief, glimmering moments, The Continental’s pulpy pastiche is heaps of fun, even if you have to wait three and a half hours to truly get there.
Where’s It Playing? The Continental: From the World of John Wick checks in to Peacock starting September 22nd.
Trailer:
The Continental Grooves Its Way Through a Murky Jaunt In the John Wick Universe: Review
Clint Worthington
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