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signalburst · 1 month

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Shōgun Historical Shallow-Dive: Part 2 - Heir Crash Investigations

What happened to Ochiba no kata and Yaechiyo, the Heir, in history? This was the most requested topic for part two. Get ready for failson psych-outs, drag-king, diss-track action. None of that is a joke.

There is a very simple version of this story, and a very complicated version of this story. I'll try and split the difference, but again, if you're interested, best English-language high level overview of the period that is not horribly out of date.

Again! Not a professional historian, never did my PhD, so my opinion is going to colour this.

The simple version: Ochiba no kata in the Shōgun show is quite a departure from the historical Yodo-dono or Chacha. She did a lot of political manouvreing to try and get her son to regain the pre-eminent position in Japan, but ultimately lost out to Tokugawa's overwhelming political and military strength. Nobody knows if she died or escaped at the end of the siege of Osaka castle in 1615 (15 years after the show), so there are lots of cool folk tales about her.

The more complicated version:

Ochiba is depicted as a sneaky, conniving, scary lady who scratches out fate's eyes. Why? Short version, whilst she was a major magnate and power player during the period of the show and after, she was not a brilliant schemer. She also wasn't crazy malicious - she was trying to keep her son alive. Most of her plans came undone because of incompetence, not being a puppet master who bent men to her will with veiled seduction and threats. That's a later invention. (We'll come back to it at the end).

She was the dictator Koroda's (Oda Nobunaga's) niece, not his daughter. As far as is known, her and Mariko's real life counterpart, Hosokowa Gracia, did not hang out.

The real life Ochiba, Yodo-dono, became a nun after the Taiko (Toyotomi Hideyoshi) died. So... less sultry and cat-like, more pious, still an excellent political operator.

She stayed out of the war between the Regents and Toranaga/Tokugawa, and did send a letter to Toranaga/Tokugawa saying the Heir would remain neutral. This allowed the Eastern forces under Toranaga/Tokugawa to present Ishido/Ishida's mobilisation and war footing as rebellion against the Heir, and the Taiko's wishes.

After Sekigahara, Tokugawa (we're past the book now) claimed that he would be 'as a father' to the Heir - real name, Toyotomi Hideyori. Most of the Heir's former fervent supporters embraced the Tokugawa reign.

He didn't hate the Heir or want to knife him in his sleep. 'It must be emphasised that Ieyasu himself bore Hideyori no personal ill will. Although he had once been enemies with Hideyori's father, Ieyasu was sensible enough to acknowledge Hideyoshi's [the Taiko's] unique genius. He acted kindly towards the late Taiko's child.' (Chaplin, 511).

So how did they end up coming to blows? Ochiba no kata's real-life inspiration, Yodo-dono, was deeply suspicious of Toranaga/Tokugawa. She had her pride - expecting her son to inherit the Realm and all - and she was an excellent political operator in her own right. She wouldn't roll over and let Toranaga/Tokugawa throw all these plans away because of one battle between Regents. She stayed out of it to keep her options open.

Tokugawa was well on his way to implementing his unification of the realm plans, post-Sekigahara. He demanded that she and her son go to Kyoto to show they were good and loyal vassals. Yodo-dono refused on behalf of her, and her son, intuiting (correctly) that the Heir paying homage to Tokugawa would ruin what was left of the family claim. This certainly raised an eyebrow amongst the magnates who'd survived the civil war. To Tokugawa, this woman needed watching, as she was clearly not going to just accept that her son was just another daimyo now.

Once Tokugawa was made Shōgun, he installed one of his lackeys in Osaka castle to keep an eye on Yodo-dono/Ochiba, and the Heir. The lackey reported for a decade that the Heir was essentially 'effeminate' (his words) and a failson.

Tokugawa was fine with this. He was busy building a unified empire. He'd married his granddaughter-in-law to the Heir, and given away most of the Toyotomi (ex-Taiko) lands after the battle to lords that flipped to his side.

As far as Osaka went- Yodo-dono and the Heir - Tokugawa was, characteristically, waiting to see what would happen. He was hoping the whole Toyotomi 'remember how the Heir's dad was Taiko?!' thing would fade with time. Wishful thinking, but maybe the son of his late master would accept the way things were now.

Between 1601-1611, Tokugawa Ieyasu hadn't made up his mind to destroy the Toyotomi. After all, most of his ex-rivals were now scrambling to impress him by contributing the most money to ruinous castle-building programs he ordered, in order to keep them broke and squabbling amongst each other. Maybe Yodo-dono would guide the Heir to do the same?

Ding dong, daddy wants to check on his main political rival's kid! Tokugawa Ieyasu eventually remembered the Heir was still alive, and requested a meeting. Yodo-dono requested three Tokugawa hostages (three of Ieyasu's own sons!) before she'd agree to the meeting. She knew who he was, and she knew now what he was capable of.

Uh oh! In 1611, Tokugawa met the now 18-year-old Heir at a neutral castle and found him strapping, manly, and charismatic. His lackey had been lying to him! It turns out, the lackey keeping watch on Yodo-dono and the Heir had a soft spot for the Taiko, and had been deliberately telling Tokugawa not to worry about his son to try and prevent conflict. But this kid was dangerous. Dangerously awesome. If he impressed Tokugawa, there was a good chance he'd impress other busho and daimyo, drawing them to a faction to oppose the new Tokugawa rule.

Rulers hate him! This little moron used time shut away in a castle to develop into a political threat!

It was at this point Tokugawa made up his mind to destroy Yodo-dono (her son's chief counsellor, and the political force behind a growing anti-Tokugawa movement), as well as the Heir. If you've read any history, a leader cementing power can't let remnants of the old regime hang around to act as a magnet for opposition. Especially if they are impressive and cool - Tokugawa was blown away by the boy's charisma and charm. So Tokugawa needed an excuse to take out the Heir. Any old excuse would do.

The excuse was lame, and arcane. The Heir's dad was famous for a sword hunt. Basically, the Taiko was a peasant who became a general who became a samurai, and wanted to pull the ladder up behind him. No non-samurai would be allowed weapons. No one was allowed class mobility anymore. You were what you were born, suck it, and a big part of that was confiscating weapons to ensure no more uprisings... like the Taiko had been a part of.

But because the Taiko was all about glitz, glamour, and what we'd now call virtue signalling, he was going to melt all of these swords down into a giant Buddha! It was a pious thing, honest! This buddha would be located at a temple called Hoko-ji.

It's 1614, and Yodo-dono has gathered a network of anti-Tokugawa daimyo, busho, and - importantly - samurai. Many samurai had been left masterless (ronin) after Sekigahara. Even those with lords had been transformed overnight from professional warriors to bureaucrats (we'll get to this in a later part). They were restless, out of work, and they flocked to her banner for the chance to get paid for their skills again, and lose the stigma of being masterless. With his ranks swelling, the Heir looked more and more like a viable political contender.

The Toyotomi, under Yodo-dono, with Hideyori as the pretty dashing figurehead, began to throw their weight around. They rebuilt Osaka castle's fortifications, and they forged a bell at Hoko-ji temple funded by the proceeds of Father's Great Sword Hunt. It wasn't any old bell though. It was a diss bell. Read in a certain way, the kanji inscription on the bell could be interpreted as breaking the Tokugawa in two, and 'may the Toyotomi rise... again?'

Tokugawa sent an envoy to Yodo-dono, asking that, given this insult, she and the Heir might consider relocating to another province. Say, a less central, less jewel-in-the-crown-with-an-impregnable-castle province. It'd help make up for the insulting bell, after all. The veiled threat was not very veiled. 'Leave while I give you the chance.'

This drew the battle-lines between those who still held out loyalty to the Taiko's clan (or who just hated the Tokugawa), and the Shōgun's forces. The former flocked to Osaka Castle and dug in.

That was enough for Tokugawa, who laid siege to Osaka Castle. Well, he was very old now, so he let his son - the Shōgun whose dad told him what to do - lead the siege. Assaulting the castle was a logistical nightmare, but luckily for Tokugawa and his fledgling Shōgunate, they outsourced much of the work to the lords who had pledged allegiance to the new regime (read: almost all of them). Keeping these lords poor - say, through funding hugely expensive military endeavours - was one of the ways Tokugawa Ieyasu and heirs exerted control. Ieyasu sat on a hill in a comfy tent while others bled gold (and blood) to build the expensive siege works and start the assault.

There were two sieges. One kinda worked, the second wasn't really a siege, but that's what they're called in the sources 🤷

The first siege was very much carrot-and-the-stick. Archers would loose arrows into the castle, with scrolls wrapped around the shafts, requesting the Toyotomi surrender. Politely. Poetically. It didn't work.

Tokugawa Ieyasu (Toranaga) tried bribing famous commanders inside the castle, including famed hunk-hero and coverboy of the Samurai Warriors games, Sanada Yukimura. He told Tokugawa to go fuck himself. Tokugawa tried bribing another general, who considered it, was discovered, and beheaded in Osaka Castle to encourage the others. 🙃

Yodo-dono started dressing up in samurai armor and walking the walls, in full view of the besieging armies. Her son's forces found this 'both unnerving... and condescending.' She was acting like a general, which pissed the generals off. She was also accidentally undermining her now-adult son, and sapping confidence from those who'd pledged to his banner. Read the room, lady. This doesn't seem to be malicious - this was just her first experience actually wielding power in an armed conflict. 'Although she feigned the image of a warlike Virago, she was in fact a cloistered and rather narrow-minded woman who understood little of what went on outside of her castle. As such, Ieyasu knew that she could be manipulated when the time came.'

What's the best way to manipulate someone? Fire cannon at them!

'And now for my most cunning plan. Blowing her up.'

Tokugawa ordered his son to focus cannon fire on the living quarters of Osaka Castle. Yodo-dono's quarters. Twice a day, every day. They were using cannon seized from Portuguese ships, and the gun-crews are likely to have been using training manuals originally drawn up by our old friend, the English pilot. He was off living his best life in Edo at the time. But he trained accurate gunners - one round shot hit Yodo-dono's quarters and nearly killed her. While she and her ladies were having tea. The gall.

This was enough for her. She ordered her son to make terms with the Tokugawa. This wasn't worth dying for.

'Ugh, stop wrecking all my shit you fucking swine. That teapot was from Muji!' - Yodo-dono, 1615

Siege over! Can we be friends? Well, it's hard to go back from that. Tokugawa Ieyasu offered Hideyori/the Heir (well, really, his mom) two options: either Yodo-dono goes to Edo as a hostage to their family's good behaviour, or they agree to fill in the moat of Osaka Castle, making it less a fortress and more of a nice, big, open-plan house.

Option 2 was agreed, and Ieyasu issued a treaty document sealed with his own blood. The very obvious implication - don't fucking break it.

The Heir and Yodo-dono fucking broke it.

Urged on by his mother, Hideyori began to gather ronin (masterless samurai) back to his banner, re-dig the filled in moats, and gathered 120,000 fighting men to Osaka Castle. I forgot to mention how big this siege was, sorry. It was huge. And wouldn't you know it, many of these fighters were būsho, samurai, and ashigaru who were Christian. They saw the way the wind was blowing, and that the Tokugawa were getting wise to Portuguese intentions towards Japan. This might be their last chance (spoiler: it was).

The second siege (called the Summer Siege) began. From the Heir's side, it was much more ambitious than the first. The boy general, son of the Taiko, wanted to seize Kyoto, declare Tokugawa a traitor to the Emperor, and go on the offensive.

Unfortunately, like Sekigahara, many of the forces gathered in Osaka were there to oppose Tokugawa, rather than fight for one unified purpose. The war councils generally ended with disunity, and Yodo-dono kept interfering, which really, really was starting to wear thin with the Heir's vassals and allies. And the Heir himself. Imagine your mom turning up to work every day after you'd got a big promotion (Leader of the Western Armies). Not only that, your mom is literally coming to work in cosplay. The poor kid.

Long story short - Hideyori, the Heir, had no military experience. In a much-mythologised, last-of-its-kind battle between actual samurai - before they hung up their swords and became indentured bureaucrats - the Heir risked it all. His plan to sally forth and fight the armies of the Shōgun failed. They were beaten back by a contingent of 150,000 warriors under the Shōgunate, commanded by Ieyasu's son, Hidetada.

Key commanders were killed during the offensive, the Osaka forces lacked unity and cohesion (Sekigahara called, it wants its overarching lesson back). The Heir retreated back into Osaka Castle, but they didn't have a contingency plan and had few defences and obstacles established. The castle came under massive bombardment and constant infantry assault. The entire castle caught fire.

(Side note: a primary source written by a Dutch trader at the time said that generals loyal to the Heir set the castle on fire themselves, hoping to win favour with the Shōgun. Apparently, Hideyori discovered this and threw them off the ramparts into the flames. We'll probably never know whether that was true, but it's at least plausible.)

The Heir, Toyotomi Hideyori, and his mother, Yodo-dono - niece of Oda Nobunaga, most powerful concubine to the Taiko, most powerful woman in Japan - committed seppuku in the flames.

His body was found. Hers wasn't. You know what happens when this arises in history. There are folk legends that Yodo-dono escaped and lived a happy life in another province, but, hey, we all like a happy ending.

So if the inspiration for Ochiba no kata was a bit of a tone-deaf aristocrat nun who, whilst politically powerful, was not really a sexy, scary woman, how did we end up with Ochiba in the show?

After the Tokugawa defeated the Heir's forces, they had control of everything - eeeverything, including history books, plays, the works. What makes for a better story if you're on the winning side?

A mother was put in a terrible position when her husband, the ruler of the country, died. A group of men promised her husband they would place her son on the throne. One of them lied, stole the throne through force of arms and political savvy, and disinherited the son, despite the mother's best attempts. Her cause failed because she lacked the skills and authority to unify a movement, and her son was an untested youth who, in the end, just didn't have it.

The Heir's mother was an evil, scheming, sexually wanton (!) woman who destabilised the realm and got her son killed. She led them to disaster and without her, Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Heir would have gotten along fine! Her cause failed because she was a malicious harpy.

The Shōgunate chose option 2, and that's mostly the version we get in popular culture. It's hard to undo 260 years worth of character portrayal. Don't get me wrong, she was scheming, she was self-interested, but so was every major player in the period. She used her influence to gather support for her son, tried her best to overcome Toranaga/Tokugawa once she realised what he was, and she failed. To really send the moral message home, the Shōgunate cast her as a wicked woman, making her wickedness the reason she failed, not the complex factors that contributed to the downfall of the Taiko's clan.

So that's the story of Ochiba no kata's real life insiration, and what happened to the Heir - by far the most requested Part 2, and probably a bit depressing for Ochiba fans, unfortunately.

In Part 3, if there's any interest, we could look at the Dictator, the Taiko, and Toranaga and how they unified Japan, or we could look at a really interested question - what the hell happened for the 260 years of Tokugawa rule? How does it live on today (in some pretty dark ways) in the popular imagination? Your call.

#shōgun #shogun #shogun fx #john blackthorne #adaptationsdaily #perioddramasource #yoshii toranaga #akechi mariko #history #history lesson #japan #japanese culture #tokugawa ieyasu #fumi nikaido #lady ochiba #ochiba no kata #hiroyuki sanada

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fandomnerd9602 · 1 year

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Fate Intervenes

Akira x Wick!Reader

For @morbiusmarauder

The Osaka Continental was under siege. You and your father John Wick, in one of the rare instances, were in the same place at the same time. You were just hoping for a moment of peace with your father but of course, there's no peace with being a Wick.

You and John separated during the fight. You stayed with Akira and Shimazu. You shared little looks of concern with Akira as Shimazu hobbled along.

You exchanged fire with a couple more thugs from the High Table. Akira pulled along her father, "Father we must go"

Shimazu, a man who had been like family to you, clutched his side and shown red on his palm. Akira's eyes locked with yours, pleading.

"We'll get you out of here, sir" you promised as you began the trek down the back way of the Continental.

"Where did he go?" the blind assassin asks the three of you as he blocks the way.

"Caine" you huff, "Shimazu's wounded. Let us pass"

"I can't do that" Caine answers back, "do you know the price of family?"

"They threaten your daughter?" You ask. Akira looks to you and then to Caine in shock.

"Yes." Caine remarks, tapping his sword on the ground. "The one good thing in my life."

"Such is life" you huff. Shizamu takes a stand and readies his sword.

"Let the young ones pass" the older man begs his former friend. "I only speak as a father to another father"

"Please don't do this" Caine's mouth shows a deep frown, one that's bathed in regret as he readies his own sword.

"Sir" you approach Shizamu, "please we'll find another-"

"Protect your family...and mine" Shizamu looks to you, begging you to guide Akira to safety. A little more blood leaks from his wound.

"I am" you answer back before raising your side arm and shooting Caine in the neck. A small dart hits him a split second later.

"They can't hold that against your daughter, Caine." you smirk.

"Be seeing you" Caine smiles as he collapses to the asphalt.

'Be seeing you" you answer back as you grab ahold of Shizamu and limp past the knocked out Caine.

"You keep tranquilizer darts on you?" Akira looks at you concerned.

"Figured they send Caine after my Dad," you admit, "always be prepared for little to no collateral damage"

You load Shizamu into a jeep, Akira jumps in the passenger seat, "I owe you"

"You owe me nothing." you state as you speed out of the Continental. "Gotta get your father some place safe."

"Not that I am not grateful, young Wick" Shizamu winces from the pain, "but that was not exactly honorable."

"I don't think the Marquis de Gramont cares about honor, sir" you answer back as you hold up one of his goon's pins.

"High Table?" Akira readies her own gun

"Some french stooge trying to make a name for himself within the ranks of it." you retort.

"Your father will need your aid." Shizamu speaks up, "both of you" he gestures to you and Akira.

"What do you say, ma'am?" you smile at Akira, "truce?"

"Truce" she smiles back. A small smile made it's way across Shizamu's face.

You'd eventually get Shizamu to the medical attention that he needed. As for you and Akira, the two of you set out to locate Jonathan Wick. The Baba Yaga was going to need all the help he could get.

#john wick chapter 4 #john wick #john wick imagine #john wick x reader #akira x reader #akira imagine #keanu reeves x reader #keanu reeves imagine #keanu reeves #rina sawayama #the continental #assassin #assassin reader #john wick akira #shizamu #hiroyuki sanada #caine #caine john wick #donnie yen

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itsmarjudgelove · 10 months

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Goto Matabei's Armor.

It was said that Goto Matabei (also known as Mototsugu) was born ready to fight. He was a much-respected professional warrior of the Sengoku period who often proudly boasted of the 53 scars on various parts of his body, trophies of the many wars in which he had participated.

Goto Matabei was recognised for his fierce bravery during Hideyoshi's Korean Campaigns, and fought at The Battle Of Sekigahara under Kuroda Nagamasa as a captain in the Eastern forces. Matabei was another of the samurai fighting under Tokugawa colors that day who would later side with Toyotomi Hideyori in Osaka.

He was killed in the Summer Siege of Osaka in 1615. During the Battle of Domyo-ji against the numerically superior troops of Date Masamune, Matabei was badly wounded by a bullet, and unable to stand, committed seppuku on the field.

This suit of Tousei Gussoku armor is said to have been one of many that belonged to Matabei.

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sh0jun · 4 months

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Yukimura Sanada was not only a skilled warrior but also had a notable love for cherry blossoms. He was said to have planted hundreds of cherry trees, contributing to the scenic beauty of Sanada-maru, a fortress he defended during the Siege of Osaka.

#fun facts #historical facts #non cybrid canon facts #yukimura sanada

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retrosofa · 5 months

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Here's trivia for Cutie Honey episode 14: Ah, The Last Day of School.

Screenwriter: Masaki Tsuji

Art Director: Mataharu Urata

Animation Director: Eiji Uemura

Director: Kazukiyo Shigeno

The episode title could possibly be a reference to When Worlds Collide. In Japan, it's known as "The Last Day of Earth" or 地球最後の日. Thanks to @brickme for the heads up!

In addition to the Elvis and National Geographic posters in Honey and Natsuko’s room, there is another that says “Musik, Mante Banye.” Mante Banye is probably a botched transliteration for “Mantovani,” as in the famed musical conductor and composer, Annunzio Paolo Mantovani.

Thanks to Switchpoint for the heads up!

Danbei mentions Sanada Yukimura, also known as Sanada Nobushige, who was a samurai from the Sengoku period. He’s probably most famous for being the leading general on the defending side of the Siege of Osaka.

As the school begins burning to the ground, Pochi jumps up and yells “Nippon Chinbotsu!” or “Japan Sinks!” This is a reference to the 1973 disaster novel of the same name by Sakyo Komatsu.

In the next scene, Miharu wonders if there’s a revolution or internecine violence happening. The term she uses is uchi geba (内ゲバ) which comes from the Japanese word uchi for “within” and the German word gewalt for “violence.” Miharu is likely referring to the student protests that occurred at Japanese universities during the late 60’s.

This is the only episode in which Honey doesn't kill anyone.

See you next week!

#cutie honey #cutey honey #trivia #go nagai

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redsamuraiii · 2 years

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Takeuchi Yuko in Taiga Drama Sanada Maru by Mantanweb

She played the concubine of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and mother of Toyotomo Hideyori. Both characters died in the Siege of Osaka by Tokugawa Ieyasu.

I love watching her dramas like Scandal Senmon Bengoshi QUEEN and Miss Sherlock, she always dazzle you with her sassiness and intelligence.

But it’s sad to know that the actress is no longer with us as she died in 2020, believed to be of suicide although the real reason remains unknown.

#takeuchi yuko #yuko takeuchi #taiga drama #sanadamaru #sanada maru #sengoku jidai #japan #japanese historical drama #japanese drama #j drama #jdrama #dorama #japanese culture #japanese history #toyotomi hideyoshi #toyotomi hideyori #siege of osaka #tokugawa ieyasu

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stewblog · 1 year

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JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4

In the lead up to its release, I’d heard no small amount of seemingly-hyperbolic praise heaped up on John Wick: Chapter 4 by friends lucky enough to see advanced screenings. Surely, I reasoned, this is merely pre-release hype fed by the thrill that comes with seeing something highly anticipated before everyone else.

I was wrong.

Believe the hype. This really is an incredible feat of moviemaking. John Wick: Chapter 4 is the rarest of sequels. Most film franchises are barely running on fumes by their third film, much less a fourth. Director Chad Stahelski and star Keanu Reeves, however, have delivered a movie with such ferocious style and breathtaking intensity that I walked away wondering if I’d hallucinated half of it.

The John Wick series has been one of consistent escalation. The first film feels almost quaint now with its eponymous protagonist leaving a miles-long trail of bodies through New York City on his sympathetic quest for vengeance. Now fully drawn back into the neon-drenched underworld he so desperately fought to leave, Mr. Wick brings his unparalleled expertise across multiple continents as we are immersed even further into this alternate reality of assassins and shadowy rulers. Chapter 3 never found the right balance of world building and characters, resulting in more than a bit of cinematic wheel-spinning, a problem Chapter 4 solves by shifting the focus from John as a loner against all odds to him navigating a web of relationships old and new in an all-out battle royale for his ultimate emancipation

He’ll just have to go through the toughest, most ruthless opponents he’s ever faced, including a former best friend, to get there. What unfolds is something exhilarating.

Chapter 4 is as much a love letter to every twin-fisted action flick Chad Stahelski has ever loved as it is a modern classic of the form. This may be the fourth time in a row that Keanu Reeves has pumped boxes of bullets into endless waves of underworld goons and assassins, but it’s an experience that he and Stahelski have honed to a mirror sheen. Throw in the likes of Hiroyuki Sanada, Scott Adkins, Rina Samayawa, Shamier Anderson and the godlike Donnie Yen and the result is the most relentless action movie since Mad Max: Fury Road. Every time you think the movie has topped itself with inventive ways to beat, slice, stab, bludgeon, whip and otherwise maim both heroes and villains, Stahelski says, “Nah, hang on.” Save for the aforementioned Fury Road, this may well be the ultimate form of an action movie, delivering a perfect blend of Asian-influenced mayhem and Stahelski’s own decades of experience as a Hollywood stuntman.

It’s a visual knock-out, too. The complexity of Wick’s action successfully escalates with each film and Chapter 4 delivers a symphony of destruction to the point where it’s nigh impossible to pick a favorite. The siege of the Osaka Continental featuring what may be the single best use of nunchucks ever in a movie? John’s rampage through a dilapidated apartment building viewed largely from a top-down perspective? A fight in and around traffic at Paris’ Arc de Triomphe that has to be seen to be believed? Any one of these would be considered the high watermark of any action director’s career.

These scenes are electric thanks to the outstanding choreography and a level of visual panache that puts every other recent film of this kind to shame. Any given environment is stunning to look at thanks to phenomenal production design and art direction (as well as Dan Laustsen’s gorgeous cinematography). But what makes these scenes as impactful as they are is something far more fundamental than fancy moves and good photography: Stahelski lets you see what’s going on. You’d think something this basic would be a principle more widely embraced, but getting a Hollywood action movie where the lighting is intentional, the edits are minimal and the camera movement precise and steady is maddeningly rare. The John Wick films at large have embraced this fundamental approach, but Chapter 4 takes it to an echelon above where even its predecessors unquestionably succeeded.

What really makes this one sing is the cast, though. Stahelski has made a habit of putting fantastic character actors throughout this series, but the additions in Chapter 4 are, as with most everything else, a cut above. Even ignoring the fact that I could listen to Clancy Brown read the phone book, the gravitas he brings to a role like The Harbinger cannot be understated. It’s abundantly clear that Bill Skarsgaard was put on this Earth exclusively to play movie villains. And Hiroyuki Sanada reminds us why he’s been a mainstay of Asian cinema since the 1960s. But it’s Donnie Yen who completely steals the show as John Wick’s friend-turned-nemesis Caine. Yen has been a mega-star of Hong Kong cinema for years, but he’s either been woefully underutilized (a la Blade II) or been cast to play second-fiddle (XXX: The Return of Xander Cage) and never given a true chance to fully shine for audiences in the West. Stahelski lets Yen cut loose in a way that is sure to blow the minds of at least a few moviegoers, and that’s on top of him playing a character that feels every bit as sympathetic as Keanu’s.

And speaking of Keanu, I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about his work in these films. Say what you will about the quality of his acting, I dare say no award-winning actor could bring the level of commitment to authenticity and the bottled fury Reeves lets loose across these four films. Keanu Reeves could play Forrest Gump, but Tom Hanks probably couldn’t go toe-to-toe with some of cinema’s greatest martial artists. The amount of pain and abuse John Wick endures is basically superhuman at this point, but Reeves manages to make the impact land and be felt because he believes in this character and the exaggerated world he inhabits.

It feels almost miraculous that this series exists, much less that it has flourished in such a way. In a landscape filled with movies based on pre-existing intellectual property and remakes, we now have four movies bursting with creativity and originality that also serve as love letters to the inspiring source material. If this is the last we see of John Wick, there’s no better way to send him off.

#john wick #keanu reeves #lance reddick #chad stahelski #scott adkins #donnie yen #hiroyuki sanada #action movies

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