In 1999, The Matrix caused a sensation in large measure because it had some of the best fighting sequences ever filmed—scenes that featured a remarkable understanding of how to frame, stage, and film hand-to-hand combat in exciting and fresh ways. Its writer-directors, the brothers Wachowski, seemed to be charting a new course as action filmmakers. Alas, every movie they've made in the subsequent 22 years has been dreadful; it's now clear that they put everything they had in The Matrix and subsequently have done almost nothing right.
Their influence shows still in the John Wick series, also starring Keanu Reeves; its directors, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, learned at the feet of the masters and have basically surpassed them. Still, even in such dogs as Jupiter Ascending and Cloud...