Somehow, they have succeeded. ‘John Wick 4’ is placed among the pinnacle of action cinema, consolidating Keanu Reeves as an icon of this kind of cinema and Chad Stahelski as one of the most amazing and influential directors today. And they do it without giving up their keys and without settling, adding detail and richness to what seem like straight-forward revenge thrillers but end up being cannon shots with the essence of auteur cinema.
It is undoubtedly an antidote to the rigidity and complacency that American action movies have, the one that most easily reaches theaters. This is not always the case, of course, and here we have three compelling examples that are also committed to risk and unconventional ways to develop the action thriller. And all of them can be recovered on streaming platforms.
‘Point Blank’ (‘Point Blank’, 1967)
Address: John Borman. Distribution: Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, Keenan Wynn, John Vernon, Carroll O’Connor.
In terms of taking risks within the rules of popular ambition cinema, few have been as fascinating as John Boorman. Only he can take a crime novel by Donald E. Westlake and Lee Marvin as his protagonist to end up making an art and essay criminal thriller from the start, at times confusing but undoubtedly stimulating thanks to his totally free aesthetic.
‘Point Blank’ is an incredible top of suspense cinema that is like very few of its kind. Boorman creates an atmosphere as unique as it is perfect, giving another aroma to a revenge story as powerful and as violent as this one. Between the realization with nerve and the moments of forcefulness, a subtle existentialism sprouts that make it magnum opus of this kind of cinema (and an unusual reference to ‘John Wick’).
See in Movistar+ | Criticism in Espinof
‘Miami Vice’ (‘Miami Vice’, 2006)
Address: Michael Mann. Distribution: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Albert Brooks, Ron Perlman, Bryan Cranston, Oscar Isaac.
Michael Mann’s films could opt for more accessible decisions that guarantee more commercial potential and eliminate confusion for the viewer about what is happening. But they wouldn’t be Mann movies, a perfectionist esthete who believes in the strength of sensations rather than in perfectly telegraphed labyrinthine intrigues. And in few works I take it as far as in ‘Miami Vice’.
A brave exercise in what could have been a much simpler job, in the case of a self-remake of his successful thrilling police television series. A disastrous production does not hide the fact that ‘Miami Vice’ moves in a special way, completely different, with an atmosphere that manages to get you into the feeling of being on the razor’s edge experienced by these infiltrated agents. $100 million+ art and essay that creates a heady and powerful experience in a different way.
View on SkyShowtime | Criticism in Espinof
‘Drive’ (2011)
Address: Nicolas Winding Refn. Distribution: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Albert Brooks, Ron Perlman, Bryan Cranston, Oscar Isaac.
It could almost be argued that the ‘John Wick’ saga has reached (with better choreography in the action) what the Danish Nicolas Winding Refn could have aimed for if he wanted to and would have gotten less lost among his pretty neon screensavers. But there is no doubt that with ‘Drive’ he did one of his masterpieces and one of those action gems that escapes the restrictions of the big studios.
With a Ryan Gosling impeccable in one of the roles that has come to define his career, NWR deconstructs the archetype of the complex anti-hero with an atmosphere that was then groundbreaking, with eighties references but little nostalgia. Little thoughtful traces enhance this infernal journey through the most dangerous streets, whose aesthetics have been key to making things like synthpop/synthwave current phenomena.
Watch on Disney+ | Criticism in Espinof
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