Set to expound on the world of the immensely popular film franchise ‘John Wick,’ ‘The Continental: From the World of John Wick’ is a 3-part mini-series that details the origin story of Winston Scott (played by Ian McShane in the films) and Charon (played by Lance Reddick in the movies). Set in the 1970s, it’s a view of the complex underworld of New York torn and broken by the Vietnam war and punctuated by the wild excess of drugs and disco and the rising anger of the anti-establishment as punk finds its voice. Developed for streaming by Greg Coolidge, Kirk Ward, and Shawn Simmons, they present New York as if it was a retro dystopian hellhole. Saturated colors give it an old-school feel while every street corner is filled with trash, graffiti, and violence.
This is not the slick and glossy world as presented in the films. This is a dark look into the past and the cast of characters that inhabit here are haunted by their own demons that come crashing down together when the world of the high table is turned upside-down by one robbery in the hotel called The Continental.
Winston Scott (played by Colin Woodell) is a charming, quick on his feet grifter, who finds himself taken by force while on a job in London and brought to New York where his brother, Frankie (Ben Robson) has stolen something of great worth from Cormac, the manager of The Continental. Played by Mel Gibson, Cormac is an arrogant, evil force. He’s manipulative and regards himself highly and while he had taken both Winston and Frankie when they were but orphans living in the street and raised them, he has also raised them to be criminals like he is.
Though he’s estranged from his brother, Winston must now find Frankie and try to protect him from the consequences of his actions because Cormac is out for blood. What he stole is not just important to Cormac, it is important to the mysterious High Table as well, the powers that be in the world of John Wick that run the machinations that makes the world move.
What I enjoyed about the three episode mini-series is that ‘The Continental: From the World of John Wick’ is focused less on the inhabitants of the hotel – the assassins like John Wick – and instead on the people on the fringes of this underworld. Gun runners, cops, war veterans, street urchins, and all other kinds of people in the fringes who are trying to make do in this broken world that’s presented to us.
From martial arts trained brother and sister duo of Miles (Hubert Point-Du Jour) and Lou (Jessica Allain) to the investigator KD (Mishel Prada) and her detective lover (Jeremy Bobb), to Frankie’s dangerous Vietnamese soldier wife, Yen (Nhung Kate) – the world of this series is populated by people who are not as successful as the people of the High Table but just as dangerous.
Each story is of characters finding purpose when everything around them is falling apart and society is not out to make things any easier. They are forced into a life of crime and violence and danger while, in the hotel, there are assassins who are trading the comforts of home in gold coins. Amidst all of this, Winston is out to learn the truth about his family (as do a lot of the other characters in the show) and how everything points to breaking down the establishment that is causing all the trouble in the first place.
‘The Continental: From the World of John Wick’ is hard-hitting and relentless. Each episode is the length of a movie (anywhere from 88 minutes to 90+ minutes an episode) and it has its share of quiet, introspective moments from the characters as well as very elaborate fight sequences that is befitting of a show that is adapted from the world of the ‘John Wick’ movies. The fights involve guns and martial arts. There are huge explosions as there are graphic displays of violence involving swords and knives and pick axes. Some of these fight scenes last 20 minutes (reminiscent of the final movie in the ‘John Wick’ franchise) but what keeps it from being too self-indulgent is that these epic fight scenes are moving towards the culmination of a specific character arc. They emphasize the grit and determination of these characters to get exactly the revenge they are seeking against Cormac, The Continental, and the world that it represents.
I’m familiar with Woodell from his work in ‘The Originals’ and it’s great to see him oozing with charm and gravitas. He’s a surprisingly strong and solid lead that is carrying this show forward. Holding their own, Prada, Allain, and Point-Du Jour are also quite arresting in their moments making the show quite easy to watch. The difficulty here is seeing Mel Gibson back in full force.
There’s nothing particularly special or interesting in his portrayal of the evil, one-dimensional monster that is Cormac. The writers give him a medley of delicious lines and antics to play with – a religious man who is okay with praying for victory against his opponents as one example – and Gibson throws these lines out without any charm. It’s as if he’s expecting people to hate him and he is leanign into the image that his off-camera persona has become to fuel the role. There is no nuance to this character because it’s exactly what he has been painted in the media to be – aggressive and hostile, angry, misogynistic, and racist. If this portrayal was meant to capitalize on his off-screen persona, it feels manipulative and unsavory. They could have gotten anyone else, and it would have been better. Luckily for Gibson, he gets to perform beside Ayomide Adegun, who plays the younger Charon. Adegun is full of charm and manages to keep his character unpredictable and interesting that he practically steals every scene from Gibson.
The long running time per episode gives each episode a weight and an importance that helps push the show into prestige territory. It feels big even though the whole thing happens in only very few locations. The fight scenes are huge, but the stakes are very personal. The show manages to feel big and be impressive while not really being about anything huge or world changing, and this is a testament to how well done it is. It’s interesting to look at, it makes you wonder why it has made the aesthetic choices that it has – like why depict 70s New York as a world that’s worse than Christopher Nolan’s Gotham City – and keeps the interesting on-going and then it ends before it outstays its welcome.
Other than Gibson, my only real complaint is the excessive use of popular music of the era that creates a wall of noise that can sometimes overpower a scene. I suppose it is to help root the world in that timeline, but I feel that it was done excessively and served as a distraction rather than an amplification.
But other than that, ‘The Continental: From the World of John Wick’ is a worthwhile watch if you’re looking for something violent and tough and just a little bit familiar.
My Rating:
‘The Continental: From the World of John Wick’ is now streaming on Prime Video, watch it here!
