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Sep 20, 2023 · TV Show Reviews. Peacock’s John Wick prequel series, The Continental, shoots itself in the foot. Despite its strong action choreography and solid conceit, Peacock’s new John Wick...
- 3 min
- Charles Pulliam-Moore
The Continental is a chain of hotels around the world that serves as a neutral ground for members of the underworld; the hotel workers of the Continental try to handle the hitmen and...
- Mel Gibson, Colin Woodell, Mishel Prada
- TV-MA
- 1
Sep 20, 2023 · Nick Allen September 20, 2023. Tweet. “The Continental: From the World of John Wick” is an easy watch for fans who want just a little more “ John Wick ” in their lives, especially as we await the possible announcement of a fifth Wick movie, and the Ana de Armas-starring spin-off next year, Len Wiseman ’s “Ballerina.”.
Sep 22, 2023 · ‘The Continental’ Review: A World Away From John Wick A prequel series on Peacock is missing Keanu Reeves and many other charms from the films that inspired it. Share full article
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By Tom Jorgensen
Updated: Sep 20, 2023 3:05 pm
Posted: Sep 20, 2023 3:00 pm
There’s a moment in the first episode of The Continental where a character says they need ”guns… lots of guns.” You may recall Keanu Reeves uttering that line in John Wick: Chapter 3 – or making the same request in the first Matrix. It’s just one of many callbacks to Reeves’ filmography sprinkled throughout the John Wick franchise. The Continental’s co-opting of that line for another character as if it’s a “be seeing you”-level Wickism original to the franchise speaks to the level of confidence the Peacock spinoff seems to have in itself.
In a trio of feature-length episodes, The Continental turns back the clock to delve into the relationship between Winston and his estranged brother Frankie (Ben Robson), and the way their lives have been corrupted by the Continental’s circa 1970s manager, Cormac O’Connor (Mel Gibson). Cormac’s coarse demeanor, awful puns, and explosive rage position him as present-day Winston’s exact opposite and indicative of the institutional change he’ll bring to their world of murder, gun-running, and general ne’er-do-wellery. Cormac’s “anti-Winston” persona is just one of many, many analogs to John Wick characters and paradigms that The Continental uses to shortcut worldbuilding on its own terms. If you liked Ruby Rose’s mute enforcer in Chapter 2, congratulations, there are now two mute assassins – and they have funny haircuts! If you liked Laurence Fishburne’s Bowery King, now there’s a Bowery Queen! You loved Chapter 3’s steely Adjudicator? Great! Here’s one with a porcelain mask and a kilt-wearing bodyguard. With this borderline lazy approach to evoking the films, the show starts to feel like John Wick for people who aren’t wearing their glasses.
The Continental significantly miscalculates the scope it needs to tell its David and Goliath story. Even four movies deep, the John Wick films keep most of the action tied to John’s perspective, making room for occasional check-ins with Winston or the villains’ camps to keep the plot moving. The Continental features no less than five focal point characters, which the narrative bounces between with the intention of deepening the bench of those with grievances against the erratic Cormac and providing Winston a crack squad to take him down. But few of these satellite storylines feel truly important or emotionally resonant. Siblings Miles (Hubert Point-Du Jour) and Lou Burton (Jessica Allain) may be dealing with some big trouble in Chinatown from extortive gangsters, but with little relationship to the world of the High Table, their inclusion feels focused on giving the show an excuse to stage disco-soundtracked karate fights. The police investigation into Frankie’s activities from Detective KD Silva (Mishel Prada) brings things to a screeching halt any time we cut away to it, which is confoundingly often. Silva’s zeal for her hunt – and the rules she’ll break to pursue it – feels incredibly insignificant in the face of the High Table influence she’s up against, and the resolution to her storyline doesn’t land at all. There’s a lack of cohesion to how these disparate storylines progress the overall story, with the cause and effect of choices (a Wickiverse staple) becoming less and less important, especially going into the extremely shaky third episode.
Winston
Charon
The Bowery King
Sofia
Aurelio
Other. Tell us in the comments.
The production design is pretty great and deserves credit for successfully evoking the world of the first John Wick film in particular. A grimy, ground-level view of New York City in the throes of post-Vietnam malaise contrasts well with the sumptuous interiors of The Continental, which is well-represented here. Those hoping for John Wick-quality action, though, will be disappointed: There are flashes of the violent creativity Chad Stahelski and Reeves have perfected, but by and large, there’s nothing exceptional in the hand-to-hand combat that breaks out every 15 or 20 minutes. One sloppy car chase is pieced together with cuts to black that aren’t in the visual vocabulary of the films or the rest of the show. It feels aimed at salvaging something that didn’t work on set, but was necessary to get characters from A to B.
In the end, The Continental’s greatest success may be what it could open the doors for should curious audiences demand more. While there are no threads interesting enough here to merit a direct followup, the way in which The Continental manages to feel part and parcel with the world of John Wick invites further exploration of the hotel’s history – and that of its many international counterparts.
To be very clear, a Continental-focused series never needed John Wick, but it did need to fill the vacuum the character’s absence leaves. The Continental has all the right pieces to the puzzle of telling a story set under the High Table, but compounding miscalculations about how best to put them together leaves the three-episode series feeling inco...
Review scoring
mediocre
The Continental evokes the feel of the John Wick films, but a scattershot story, forgettable characters, and inconsistent action hold it back at every turn.
Tom Jorgensen
Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/28/24 Full Review Grimm R The Continental is a great, 3-part series set in the John Wick world that stars Colin Woodell as Winston Scott...
Sep 20, 2023 · Great! Here’s one with a porcelain mask and a kilt-wearing bodyguard. With this borderline lazy approach to evoking the films, the show starts to feel like John Wick for people who aren’t...
