That's kind of the point. The movies were directed by two stunt men who had worked with Keanu Reeves on The Matrix. To me it feels like an American version of a movie like "The Raid"[1], though not quite as grounded.

I think it's praised because the kind of "down to earth" action movies like the first John Wick are pretty rare these days. Superhero movie fights are generally about the spectacle of superhumans shooting various lasers at each other. They are also often entirely CG. This makes John Wick fee more much more "real" by comparison. More Die Hard and less Man of Steel.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raid_(2011_film)

Can't speak for everyone, but for me its a handful of things:

1. The action sequences. While we are mostly past the era of "shaky" cam fight scenes, we still have a lot of bad action choreographing. I'm thinking of "The Dark Knight Rises" style fighting where bad guys with guns kind of just fumble around and wait for Batman to get close and pummel them. John Wick is over the top, but it still feels grounded in reality, as it feels like the characters are fighting in a way in which they realistically could be killed by a single gunshot. That's relatively unique in action movies today.

2. The world building. The series is very good about "show, don't tell". It doesn't come right out and explain everything about the structure of this underground society of assassins and criminals, their codes of conduct, their relationships, etc. It slowly reveals them over the course of the movie, and often not through exposition but simply through the character's living and interacting in the world that's been created. I think most people find this kind of storytelling more satisfying.

3. The simplicity of the story. The premise is absurdly simple. A former assassin is wronged at the lowest point of his life. He decides to get revenge. Literally all 3 movies take place over the course of like a week and the entirety of the plot is just the continuation and fallout of that initial premise. People aren't saving the world. There are no large governments involved, no super-powers, no MacGuffins, no overly convoluted plans. I think that gives the movies a grounded feeling that isn't common in big budget action movies.

For exactly that reason. Sometimes people just want mindless action and fun setpieces, and John Wick movies respect that. Many action movies try and force in some inane plot, or add a romance subplot, or digress from the actual point of the movie: Action and spectacle.

It's not my cup of tea, but I certainly respect it for knowing exactly what it is.

Not only that but the action itself is superb. The way the hand to hand combat and gunplay is choreographed, performed and filmed is miles ahead of many films with much bigger budgets.

Good to know, now I can remove those movies from my to-watch list. I don't mind some action, but it has to serve a purpose in the plot. Action just for the action is just so boring, IMO.

There is a plot to the John Wick movies, it's just not very deep. The plot can largely be summarised as "Wick was an assassin, but gave it up because his wife died, then some Bad People killed his dog. Wick is very upset by that, and will now express that via the medium of choreographed fight scenes". Also, there's a whole assassin sub-culture, which is wonderfully executed, if completely mad.

Overall the plot doesn't really make any sense, but it also doesn't need to, it's just a hook on which to hang some spectacular set pieces.

I haven't seen any of these, but sounds like it has about the same depth as Kill Bill, which I remember also being pretty popular.

Give the first one a try. You might be surprised.

Thanks, I might. Is there much difference in style between the first one and the others?

So I watched John Wick yesterday evening, and unfortunately I didn't like it.

I didn't feel invested in the main character at all, let alone any of the other characters. Was it the camera work, or the editing, or the acting, or the way the story was told? I don't know. In any case as a result I found the whole movie extremely boring.

Someone here mentioned Kill Bill which in a way has a similar story and over-the-top fighting scenes. But I do love Kill Bill (even though I think the fight with the Crazy 88 would have been better if it were not as long). I also found movies like The Transporter or Taken entertaining (which I think are more or less in the same genre as John Wick).

Then what exactly is it that makes me like some of these movies but not John Wick? I'm afraid I don't have the answer to that.

Not much - but the second and third do suffer from “Bigger, Better” syndrome to a certain degree. The first has the most general appeal.

Not really, I actually think the continuity in the series is better than most series these days. I think that how you feel about the first movie will be a pretty good indication of how you feel about the sequels.

I think those movies are praised because no story is better than a bad story. Many recent "action" movies tries to have a story, which most of the time isn't great and just dilutes the action. John Wick doesn't waste time with that and gives you just what you want: action.

A sibling comment compared it to "The Raid", which I think is a fair comparaison. Both series are very action oriented, both have action scenes that are better than other action movies.

You can see it as a rejection of the idea that you need a bit of everything to create a good movie. Those movies are not balanced at all, but by focusing on their strengths instead of their weaknesses, they end up being good.

Keanu Reeves trains to the level where they don’t have to use cuts and shakycam to cover for him. He can actually do the action.

More specifically - they choreograph around what he is capable of completing. It’s clear that age and smoking are catching up with him in the third film.

You're probably right, but also: the three movies take place one right after the other, over the span of what, 2-3 weeks maybe? Kinda makes sense from a plot perspective that Wick might look a bit winded by the third movie.

I think it's mostly praised for the stylish action and shameless violence, not the story.