CinemaBlind’s Review – 90%
What started from a stolen car, a dead dog, and numerous headshots has now become a full-blown assassin universe. The Continental: From the World of John Wick is a prequel series to the global hit John Wick film franchise and it tells the origin story of Winston Scott from the main films. Set in the 1970s New York the Peacock mini-series shows us how Winston became the manager of the titular hotel which is a haven for assassins around the world.
While it doesn’t compare to the main John Wick film in any way The Continental has its own charms and action sequences that will surely be loved by the fans. The Continental is fully able to pull off a self-contained story with massive stakes and a brilliant character who will now be a part of the cannon forever.
The Continental does deal with some pacing issues because of 1:30 hour of runtime but it never becomes a full-blown problem which will keep you from enjoying any moment of the series. Created by Greg Coolidge, Kirk Ward, and Shawn Simmons the John Wick prequel series has the same eccentricities, stylish look, great characters, and loads and loads of head-shots that the fans of the films will surely enjoy.
Some fans might be turned off by the lack of action sequences in the middle of the series, while many heads are popping for you to enjoy even in the middle of the story when the action scenes are scarce. But in the beginning, you will find an absolute banger of a gunfight that was choreographed to perfection, and in the final episode, you will get a 57-minute-long action sequence that will surely blow your mind.
The biggest strength of the series is surely its brilliant cast led by Colin Woodell as a young Winston Scott, who plays the role with the same charm and sophistication that the original character was known for. We also get another origin story for Charon played by the late Lance Reddick in the main films and Ayomide Adegun in The Continental.
The Continental also consists of brilliant performances from Mel Gibson’s Cormac, Ben Robson’s Frankie, Mishel Prada’s KD, Hubert Point-Du Jour’s Miles, Jessica Allain’s Lou, Adam Shapiro’s Lemmy, Peter Greene’s young Uncle Charlie, Ray McKinnon’s Jenkins, Marina Mazepa’s Gretel, Mark Musashi’s Hansel (who looks a bit like Lee from Naruto, just in black instead of green), Jeremy Bobb’s Mayhew, and finally Katie McGrath’s masked The Adjudicator.
In conclusion, The Continental is truly going to be an event for all John Wick fans worldwide with its brilliant characters, bloody action sequences, great music, and most of all an origin story for some of your favorite characters from your favorite action film franchise.