RETIRED hitman John Wick (Keanu Reeves) rises above the trauma of his wife’s death after Russian gangsters murder his pet puppy and steal his classic car. He seeks revenge in a rousing adrenaline-driven thriller that marks

Reeves’s triumphant return to action-film stardom.

Derek Kolstad’s blood-and-bullet-soaked screenplay offers Reeves endless opportunities to slug, shoot and otherwise dispose of legions of hoods sent to kill him by New York Russian gangland boss Iosef Tarasov (Alfie Allen).

While logic may not be this film’s strong selling point, Reeves’s iconic portrait of an implacable vengeance seeker rarely loses impact under the driving direction of his former stunt double Chad Stahelski and co-director David Leitch.

Well-chosen New York locations add impact to an odyssey that aptly fulfills the comment by Wick’s fellow enforcer Marcus (Willem Dafoe) that: “There’s no rhyme or reason to this life.”

Maybe not, but the visceral violence generated by Wick in seeking justice seems unexpectedly reasonable in the context.

Nobody is likely to claim this as a work of art — like most US mainstream films, it’s a work of commerce designed for profit.

Even so it delivers value for money which, given the current cost of cinema-going, is no mean feat.