John Wick Prequel The Continental Misses Kill Shot

Entering The Continental: From The World Of John Wick

This three-part miniseries focuses on the NYC hotel for hitmen-on-a-break, as seen in the John Wick movies. Joshua Muyiwa reviews.

KEANU REEVES as grieving hitman John Wick, on a bloodthirsty rampage after his puppy is killed, was superlative throughout the eponymous franchise’s four films. It was as satisfying as an unlimited Andhra meal — you know exactly what you’re going to get, but you still look forward to every bit of it anyway. And just like a good Andhra meal, the John Wick franchise wasn’t all one-note in terms of flavour and spice either; it wasn’t solely an action film, it had fistfuls of wit and heart, jabs aplenty of style.

Peacock’s spinoff The Continental: From the World of John Wick (streaming on Amazon Prime Video) doesn’t pack the same knockout punch. But it does hook us with similarly striking set-pieces of action and gory violence as the films, between occasionally talk-heavy sequences. In this television prequel, strangely, we aren’t flashbacked into the life of a young John Wick although that feels like the obvious and right thing to do: tell us his origin story. Who wouldn’t want to see a younger version of Keanu Reeves kicking ass? (I volunteer as the casting agent for this difficult but mostly rewarding task of finding the correct cheekbones and the sexy swag to match Reeves’.)

Instead, we’re taken back to the gloomy, gritty and gutted streets of New York City in the 1970s to learn about the beginnings of The Continental. Yes, that’s right, this three-part, four-and-a-half hour mini-series chooses to focus on the hotel for hitmen on a break. In the films, this is the imposing, swanky hotel where the elite assassins and underworld bigwigs get to rest their heads without fear. It is overseen by Winston, the manager, and his right-hand man Charon. Through these three episodes, we see the way that Winston came to have this position, and the backstory of his friendship and bond with Charon — a subtle yet significant detail from the films. (Don’t roll your eyes!)

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The Continental: From The World Of John Wick Doesn't Quite Pack The Same Knockout Punch As Its Source

By Joshua Muyiwa

In order to compensate for its lack of movie stars, The Continental, rather regrettably, casts Mel Gibson as Cormac, the soon-to-be dethroned manager of the hotel. (Wasn’t Mel cancelled way before ‘cancel culture’ was a thing?) Gibson seems to be channelling his real-life experiences of being volatile and vile into this role. This choice (?) brings in an additional rotten edge to this already ruthless character. The ball starts rolling at a New Year’s Eve party when Frankie (Ben Robson) steals an ancient coin-press from the hotel’s safe. Unfortunately for him, the stolen item belongs to The High Table, the shadowy criminal network ruled by a series of sacred codes that “predates the Roman empire”. Since it has been stolen from under Cormac’s nose, he has been given three days by the Adjudicator of The High Table to get it back.

Cormac’s first move? Kidnap Frankie’s brother Winston (Colin Woodell) from London, interrogate him, and basically get him to do the searching while Cormac’s men keep track of his movements. From the posh hotels of London, conning rich men and sleeping with their wives, Winston is forced to trudge through the dirty underbelly of New York looking for his brother. Along the way, he builds associations with his brother’s gun-running ex-war buddies, who operate from a rundown karate school; his brother’s ex-Khmer Rouge wife Yen (Nhung Kate), a brutal assassin who needs glasses. From being chased, Winston decides to band together with this rag-tag team and other underworld associates in the city to do the unthinkable: storm and siege the assassins-only hotel and kill Cormac. From this moment on, it is all flashy fights, flying bullets and some wonderfully weird villains: the most memorable are twins (Marina Mazepa and Mark Musashi) with identical haircuts, who are as funny to look at as they are frightful.

The Continental: From the World of John Wick is a promising start to the forthcoming John Wick franchise expansion plans. (There’s a movie without Keanu in the works.) It doesn’t do everything the film does, but if visually striking violence in opulent settings in your thing, then this will hit the spot. But if you are a true connoisseur of the genre, then The Continental: From the World of John Wick could have a touch more of the funny bone.

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