“John Wick: Chapter 4” is preposterous.

It’s also preposterously “Ah!mayZing!” cinema.

Essentially, “John Wick 4” is a first-person shooter video game masquerading as a feature film.

A first-person shooter video game is based on gun and other weapon-based combat from a first-person perspective.

“John Wick 4” is also a martial arts film, whereby various forms of self-defense or attack skills that mostly originated in Japan, such as judo, taekwondo, jujutsu karate and kendo, are on display. In one scene, John Wick wields nunchuck, a weapon of two sticks joined by a rope or chain.

John Wick, as well as his adversaries in the movie, have an arsenal of weapons at their disposal that would do Her Majesty’s Secret Service’s James Bond or the Kingsman movie franchises proud.

There’s a panoply of fast cars right out of the “Fast & Furious” series, including an Aprilia’s Tuono 660 motorcycle, late-1960s Oldsmobile 442 muscle car, 1971 Plymouth Barracuda and other vehicles that race around the roundabout at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris as if in some crazy demolition derby, but with guns drawn and firing. It’s a scene right out of “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” (2006). Call it “Paris Drift.” The doors of the Cuda are ripped off, giving Keanu Reeves the opportunity to shoot from the hip as if from a careening stage coach in a western movie.

“John Wick 4” has a lot in common with the Hollywood western. The movie opens with Keanu Reeves astride a horse galloping across a desert region in pursuit of and shooting at three “bad guys.” The “bad guys” are draped in traditional Arabian cloaks, known as the bisht, mishla?, keffiah or dishdasha, so they must be bad guys. Just kiddin.’

The western theme is carried through to the end of “John Wick 4” with a gun duel by John Wick in front of the Basilica of Sacré Coeur in Paris that’s worthy of “High Noon” (1952) and “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966), even to a spaghetti western musical motif inspired by the latter film’s composer Ennio Morricone.

“John Wick 4” is a globe-trotting film, from the deserts of Jordan, to the cities of New York City, Rome and Paris. Scenes in swank five-star hotels, palatial estates, castles, art galleries and high-tech discotheques are swathed in dark hues, bronzed tones and rock-concert style backlighting. “John Wick 4,” as with the previous films in the series, is nothing if not stylish and sleek.

Although I didn’t specifically clock the some 16 action scenes in “John Wick 4,” I would estimate that half of the film’s nearly three-hour length is taken up with hand-to-hand combat, fight choreography, shooting and car chases and crashes.

Dialogue in the film is scant. There are a few philosophical pronouncements at the start of the film. I would guess the actual dialogue in the film takes up about 20 pages of what would be a typical 110-page screenplay.

John Wick is relegated to monosyllabic utterances worthy of contemporary action film stars of old from John Wayne to Clint Eastwood, to Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis.

Keanu Reeves’ acting is also monosyllabic, with angular, cast-down, turn of the head, furrowed brow, intense eyes veiled in long straggly black hair and frown-faced grimace framed by a nearly full-beard. Whereas Reeves was criticized in the past for alleged one emotional note performances, his minimalist acting works well for John Wick and no more so than in “John Wick 4.”

Keanu Reeves is surrounded by a cast of intriguing characters, including Donnie Yen (Caine, a blind martial arts fighter), Bill Skarsgård (Marquis), Rina Sawayama (Akira), Ian McShane (Winston), Hiroyuki Sanada (Shimazu), Shamier Anderson (Tracker), Laurence Fishburne (Bowery King), George Georgiou (The Elder), Clancy Brown (Harbinger), Scott Adkins (Killa), Marko Zaror (Chidi) and the late Lance Reddick (Charon), to whom the film is dedicated.

The plot, having to do with a crime organization called The High Table, and the blowing up of swanky hotels (the stakes are not too high, very Expedia) leaves a lot to the imagination because you have to imagine what in heck screenwriters Shay Hatten (“Day Shift,” 2022; “Army of Thieves,” 2021; “Army of the Dead,” 2021; “John Wick Chapter 3,” 2019) and Michael Finch (“American Assassin,” 2017; “The November Man,” 2014; “Predators,” 2010) based on characters created by Derek Kolstad (screenplay, “Nobody,” 2021; “John Wick: Chapter 3”; “John Wick: Chapter 2,” 2017; “John Wick,” 2014) have in mind.

Not to worry. Director Chad Stahelski (director, “John Wick: Chapter 2,” “John Wick: Chapter 3”; co-director, “John Wick”; stunt double, Keanu Reeves, “The Matrix,” 1999; Brandon Lee, “The Crow,” 1994) is the real deal when it comes to martial arts action thrillers.

Director of Photography Dan Laustsen (Oscar nominee, cinematography, ”Nightmare Alley,” 2021; “The Shape of Water,” 2017) gives style and substance to the film with extreme close-ups, inventive camera angles and dazzling lighting contrasts. Editing by Nathan Orloff (“Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” 2021) is at an often blistering pace. Production design by Kevin Kavanaugh (“The Dark Knight Rises,” 2012) is superb.

While the action in “John Wick: Chapter 4” is brutal (and somewhat exhausting for this movie-goer), there is little blood-letting, blood-spurting or severing of body parts. If anything, the movie’s violence is cartoon-like as in a “Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner” Looney Tunes. In this, John Wick gets tossed about like a child’s ragdoll.

Yes, “John Wick: Chapter 4” is preposterous, especially because no human could survive the beatings, pummeling and shootings inflicted upon John Wick, nor many of his opponents, for that matter.

Nonetheless, “John Wick: Chapter 4” is the real deal for fans of the John Wick franchise and for fans of Keanu Reeves. It’s sensational, expert and thrilling film-making.

“John Wick: Chapter 4,”

MPAA Rated R (Restricted: Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. Contains some adult material. Parents are urged to learn more about the film before taking their young children with them.) for pervasive strong violence and some language; Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller; Run Time: 2 hours, 49 minutes. Distributed by Lionsgate.

Credit Readers Anonymous:

Stay to the very end of the “John Wick: Chapter 4” credits (and that’s saying something with the hundreds of computer-generated imagery artists and stunt actors listed) for a scene with Caine (Donnie Yen) and Akira (Rina Sawayama). Something unfolds in her hand. The movie was filmed on location in Wadi Rum Desert, Jordan; Arc de Triomphe, Place Charles de Gaulle, Paris, France; Studio Babelsberg, Potsdam, Germany, and Japan.

Theatrical Movie Domestic Box Office,

March 31 - April 2: “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” opened at No. 1 with $38.5 million in 3,855 theaters, knocking “John Wick: Chapter 4” from No. 1 to No. 2 with $28.2 million in 3,855 theaters, $122.8 million, two weeks, as “His Only Son,” based on the Biblical story about Abraham and his son, opened at No. 3 with $5.5 million in 1,920 theaters.

4. “Scream VI” dropped one place, $5.3 million in 3,016 theaters, $98.2 million, four weeks. 5. “Creed III” dropped one place, $5 million in 2,827 theaters, $148.5 million, five weeks. 6. “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” dropped four places, $4.6 million in 3,451, $53.4 million, three weeks. 7. “A Thousand and One,” opening, $1.8 million. 8. “65” dropped three places, $1.5 million in 2,113 theaters, $30.5 million, four weeks. 9. “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” dropped three places, $1.2 million in 1,440 theaters, $212 million, seven weeks. 10. “Jesus Revolution” dropped two places, $1 million in 1,415 theaters, $50.8 million, six weeks.

98,788.

Movie box office information from Box Office Mojo as of April 2 is subject to change.

Unreel,

April 5:

“Air,”

R: Ben Affleck directs Matt Damon, Jason Bateman, Viola Davis and himself in the bio pic about Nike’s development of the Air Jordan shoe named after basketball legend Michael Jordan.

“The Super Mario Brothers Movie,”

PG: Matthew Fogel directs the animation and the voice talents of Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jack Black, Seth Rogen, Keegan-Michael key and Sebastian Maniscalco in the Adventure Comedy. The Super Mario Brothers travel through the Mushroom Kingdom.

Unreel,

April 7:

“The Pope’s Exorcist,”

R: Julius Avery directs Russell Crowe and Franco Nero in the Horror-Thriller. The screenplay is inspired by the files of Father Gabriele Amorth, Chief Exorcist of the Vatican.

“Paint,”

PG-13: Brit McAdams directs Owen Wilson and Wendi McLendon-Covey in the Comedy-Drama. The fictional story of Carl Nargle, Vermont’s No.1 public television painter, is told.

“On a Wing and a Prayer,”

PG: Sean McNamara directs Dennis Quaid and Heather Graham in the drama. After a pilot dies mid-flight, a father takes control of the airplane.

“Showing Up,”

R: Kelly Reichardt directs Michelle Williams, Hong Chau and Andre 3000 in the Comedy-Drama. An artist plans a new exhibition of her sculpture.

“Boom! Boom!: The World vs. Boris Becker,”

No MPAA rating: Alexs Gibney directs the documentary film about the tennis star.

Movie opening dates from Internet Movie Database as of April 2 are subject to change.

Three Popcorn Boxes out of Five Popcorn Boxes