JOHN WICK (Rated R)

With stringy long hair and scruffy beard, a lithe and fit Keanu Reeves, nattily dressed in dark suits, looks and acts impressively the part of a ruthless hit man, skilled in dozens of ways of killing and completely without remorse as the titular character in “John Wick.”

As the film opens, there is no indication that John Wick is, in fact, an extremely hard-edged professional assassin who once performed contract killings for Russian mobsters. Five years ago, Wick retired from the business when he found true love.

But for now, he’s mourning the loss of his beloved wife Helen (Bridget Moynahan) to cancer, seen in flashbacks to her dying days in the hospital and to happier times at the beach captured on his cell phone.

Stopping at the local gas station in rural New Jersey, Wick is approached by a few menacing characters who admire his classic 1969 Ford Mustang, with one of them offering to buy the vehicle, an offer that Wick refuses and goes about his business, but not before exchanging a few choice words in Russian to one of the thugs.

Helen’s last gift to Wick, which arrives after her funeral on a bleak rainy day, is a beagle puppy named Daisy that plays an essential role as a lovable companion for the retired assassin, who is oddly enough portrayed as a somewhat empathetic character.

At home, late one night, Wick is ambushed by the Russian thug Iosef (Alfie Allen), with the help of his crew, to steal the Mustang that Wick refused to sell. In the process, Wick is seriously beaten and Daisy is killed, an act so vicious that he is stirred to revenge.

What happens going forward is fairly predictable, but the action is realized with such intensity and originality that “John Wick” is far more brutal and compelling than films of a similar nature, such as the memorable “Death Wish.”

Wick discovers rather quickly that Iosef is not just a garden-variety sociopath, but the son of Viggo Tarasov (Michael Nyqvist), the Russian mob leader for whom Wick once performed contract killings.

That Viggo Tarasov is, in fact, also a vicious sociopath who has mercilessly eliminated his competition to unite warring crime clans under his own umbrella shows that the Iosef did not fall far from the proverbial tree.

However, the petulant, spoiled and unhinged Iosef lacks his father’s instincts to act more rationally and with cautious deliberation.

The senior Tarasov is immediately aware that the beast has been awakened and that big trouble is coming his way.

It doesn’t take much for Wick to return to his old form. Remnants of his past life were buried under cement in his garage. Swinging a sledgehammer, Wick unearths a cache of arms and gold coins that are used as currency in his mysterious underworld.

The hub of the New York underworld is the Continental Hotel, a very stylish establishment that caters only to high-end bad guys. The upscale hotel is a safe house for assassins, where the stern house rule is that murder and other forms of mayhem are forbidden on the property.

Ian McShane has a nice turn as Winston, the hotel proprietor who strictly enforces the rules. The trouble is that Viggo Tarasov has offered a $2 million bounty for the killing of John Wick, an offer that appeals to some of the assassin’s old pals, such as the lethal and beautiful Ms. Perkins (Adrienne Palicki), who just happen to hang out at the Continental.

Reconnecting with old contacts, Wick follows leads that could take him to Iosef. As a result, one of his first stops is the Red Circle, a Russian nightclub where Wick ends up gunning down most of the security staff as he gets very close to his elusive prey.

The nightclub shootout is just the first of many explosive encounters that put Wick closer to his target and eventually to the inevitable showdown with the top Russian mobster.

Violent confrontations occur in parking lots, a church where the corrupt priest hides the mob’s assets, and a Brooklyn warehouse.

“John Wick” benefits from pivotal yet brief roles by accomplished actors such as Willem Dafoe’s Marcus, a crack sniper and former colleague of Wick, who is offered the bounty, and John Leguizamo’s Aurelio, the owner of a chop-shop who warns Iosef of the mistake he made in stealing the Ford Mustang.

Operating from a lean script, Keanu Reeves’s John Wick is a stoic character given to few words, but his message is delivered forcefully by brutal violence.

“John Wick” is a great vehicle for Reeves’ natural style and arguably his best film since action pictures “Speed” and “The Matrix.”

“John Wick,” the high-octane action film, is also lean in its running time, delivering an exciting revenge thriller in an economical yet forceful manner.

Indeed, the brutal violence and killings are off the charts, but “John Wick” is compelling pulp fiction.  

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.