B-movie badass! Keanu Reeves kicks serious butt in 'John Wick'

I have been a Keanu Reeves defender in the past and now that I've seen his terrific new action movie John Wick, I am even more confident in my appraisal of his talents.

Is he a great actor? No. But he's a terrific movie star and a very appealing presence in this type of film. What kind of film is John Wick? It's an unabashedly ultraviolent piece of largely mindless pulp -- and I loved nearly every minute of it.

This is the movie I wish The Equalizer had the balls to be, but unfortunately director Antoine Fuqua (or the screenwriters) tacked on a maudlin subplot about a hooker with a heart of gold (improbably played by Chloe Grace Moretz) and spent the first third of the movie trying to be dour.

There are no love interests in John Wick. No tiresome exposition. The villain is funny instead of just some faceless thug and the movie itself has a healthy sense of humor, which has been missing from the action genre a lot these days.

The basic premise is that Reeves' Wick was once the most feared assassin in the criminal underworld but he gave all that up to live happily ever after in domestic bliss with his wife. But she dies of a sudden, unnamed illness and events conspire to drag this killing machine back into his old life.

That's it, that's all. And while this is hardly an original premise, it resonates because it also works as something of a meta commentary on Reeves' career. After resurrecting his image with The Matrix films, Reeves has largely faded back into obscurity. This film finds its ageless star back in fine fighting form with a director who knows how to play to his strengths,

One of many badass action scenes in John Wick

Reeves' Achilles heel, in my opinion, has always been his voice. He has that surfer accent. It works for comedy and when the material doesn't call for him to be especially sophisticated (I'm thinking Speed), it's not a distraction.

In John Wick, he wisely opts for less dialogue and this allows him to be a cool and imposing presence.

The action in this movie is relentless and invigorating -- Wick has a hilarious penchant for shooting people in the head -- and there is something powerful about the movie's lack of pretension.

There are some real laughs here, some due to Keanu's deadpan timing and in other cases just the sheer audacity of its absurdity. This isn't art. It's a little overlong and full of plot holes. There's also that classic cliche of action films where the hero is inexplicably kept alive when it would be incredibly easy to kill them. Still, these are minor quibbles, I had a lot of fun at John Wick. I might even have applauded after one expertly crafted killing spree.

A lot of folks are stunned by the good reviews the movie has received but if you give it a chance you'll understand why it has the makings of a hit. When B-movies are done well they give the A-listers a real run for their money.