Director Chad Stahlsky started in 2014 a cinematic world that did not dream of reaching all this success, when he presented his first film as a director, "John Wick", and the film achieved great success, turning it into a series of 4 parts, which made the studio producer take advantage of this success, and present a series, set in the same cinematic world entitled "The Continental" and consists of only 3 episodes, which were shown on the "Prime Video" platform in the Middle East.
A story that has lost its compass
Director Stahlsky presented action films different from the trending, due to the method of filming, the design of action scenes, and also the legendary character apparent in the details of this criminal world, and the events of the series begin with the professional killer John Wick has retired from criminal work, married and settled in an honorable life, but this stable world ends when his wife dies suddenly, and a member of a Russian gang attacks him, so John Wick is forced to fight this gang, which entails his entry into many conflicts extending from the first to the fourth part.
During the events of John Wick's films, a hotel called "Continental" appeared, a place that offers criminals accommodation and also protection from other criminals while they are within its walls, run by an aristocratic and intelligent old man named Winston Scott.
Set in the series "Continental" in the seventies of the twentieth century, the story begins with Frankie Scott, the elder brother of Winston, who steals a mint from the Continental Hotel, which he runs at this time Cormac.
Frankie disappears from view, and Cormack is forced to kidnap Winston Scott to pressure his brother, force him to appear, and hand over the machine, but the situation gets out of control when Winston decides to assemble a team of allies, and fight Cormack and his gang on the grounds of the Continental Hotel itself.
In the world of John Wick as well as the Continental series, almost all the characters are professional killers, and therefore they are expected to be evil in the eyes of society and law, but what the viewer discovers is that not all these villains are equal, some have principles that seem closer to ideal, while others like Cormack kill just to kill.
Cormack is played by Mel Gibson, a violent actor who has a long relationship with Frankie and Winston Scott that began as a child, and who were introduced into the underworld himself, making their rebellion an insulting effect for Cormack, so he decides to set New York City on fire for revenge.
The series bears the name "The Continental", a place with a long history that we knew from the John Wick film series, but the television work did not provide what its title suggests, i.e. the story of the hotel itself, but focused on the struggle that Winston Scott entered to avenge his brother after he was killed by Cormack, and as a result of this conflict he turned from a businessman to the manager of the Continental Hotel.
The series also did not base its main characters on films, even in the character Winston Scott, which we see at an older age in films, and relied on marginal matters such as the character's clothes and the way she spoke.
4 and a half hours
The series "Continental" consists of only 3 episodes, each of which is about an hour and a half long, which is a limited number of episodes for a series, but the length of one episode is longer than average, which makes the work different, so it looks as close as possible to a long film that extends for 4 and a half hours.
John Wick's films generally follow the tripartite division of the script, that is, the script is divided into 3 chapters, the beginning chapter is a prelude to events, the second chapter during which the hero identifies his allies and enemies and prepares for battle, and the last chapter is the final battle.
The series "The Continental" adhered to this style but put each section or chapter in an episode, the first chapter / first episode in which we get to know Winston, Frankie, Cormack and the sub-characters, then the second chapter / second episode we watch Winston prepare his team, and in the last episode the battle.
The main difference between John Wick's films and the series is the action scenes, in the movies these scenes continue throughout the chapters of the film in a high-quality and perfect manner, but the matter is different in the series, which makes the rhythm of the episodes conflicting.
The action scenes themselves were good for a TV series in terms of the way they were filmed, designed and performed, but they cannot be compared to the film series, as the action of John Wick is characterized by extreme violence with simplicity.
This style is due to Keanu Reeves' performance, and the way the director designed the character, which cannot be applied to the series. The makers of the Continental series tried to replace John Wick with a large number of actors, and divide the action scenes on them in parallel to increase the excitement, but a large percentage of these scenes came lackluster if we put them in comparison with the films, especially since the protagonist of the series "Winson" cannot fight professionally.
The series "Continental" is suitable to fill the void of nostalgia for viewers who admire the world of John Wick, and compared to other television series may be a good series in itself, but in the balance with the original John Wick films will lose in every field compared, and its makers must remember that Keanu Reeves and Chad Stihlsky have only made 4 films over nine years because of the difficulty of implementing these films with such professionalism.
The 3-episode "Continental" series is the first step towards the extended world of John Wick, it may be a very unsuccessful step, but that does not mean that many are not waiting for the next step, the film "Ballerina" (Ballerina) is supposed to be released next June.