Much like its titular hero, this is a franchise that isn’t ready to bite the bullet anytime soon.

With the first entry released in 2014, Keanu Reeves returns for a fourth time, to do what John Wick does best, dispatch a fair number of baddies and look good doing it.

Despite his fairly pleasant demeanour, John Wick is a man who holds onto beef. So when he decides to take out a valued member of the High Table, it responds swiftly. The current head honcho of the High Table, the Marquis Vincent de Gramont (Bill Skarsgård), decides enough is enough; not only does he upset Winston (Ian McShane), the manager of the New York Continental, he puts a substantial reward on the head of Wick himself, making him once again an attractive target.

But John Wick has been here before, and knows how to look after himself. He also comes up with a plan that he hopes will resolve this issue permanently, but he knows that there’s going to be a lot of dead bodies before he even gets close to that point.

So let’s be blunt, this is simply more of the same within the very restricted world of John Wick. Sadly a lot more, taking into consideration it’s outrageous running time of ten minutes shy of three hours.

It follows the exact same template that was set out with the original, that has been copied with every subsequent sequel, and this is no exception.

The problem is glaringly obvious, its director Chad Stahelski. Having made a name for himself as a stuntman, Stahelski was given the opportunity to make his directorial debut with the first John Wick. Unfortunately for the franchise, he has directed every sequel ever since. On top of that, which is key, he hasn’t directed anything else.

This means that every John Wick film looks and feels exactly the same. It’s a fine line between having a distinctive look and feel and becoming repetitive, and this franchise passed that line some time ago, to the point that it can no longer be seen.

With this fourth entry, it’s reached a point where clearly something has to give, and it has to be Stahelski. His vision for the franchise is woefully stale, reaching an astonishing level of predictability; it's worrying for an action flick when the most dull aspect of the film are the fighting sequences. They are mind-numbingly orchestrated, with no sense of an organic threat whatsoever, that they simply come across as fight routines – which is exactly what you would expect from an ex-stuntman.

It’s no surprise then, that what should be the most dynamic aspects of the film, suffer greatly from the off from fight fatigue. Which is really disappointing, especially as the films win no prizes for their flimsy story lines.

And by now, Reeves is no more than a moving mannequin (which it could be said, is a fair evaluation of his entire acting career to date), as he moves from point A to point B, takes some hits, throws some hits, moves to point C, and repeats.

Under Stahelski, the franchise has been treading water from the start, showing no signs of developing on any front whatsoever.

Which is a shame, as there are a few interesting characters, such as McShane’s Winston, who with his considerable acting chops, gives the franchise some much needed gravitas.

There are a number of spin-off opportunities in the air, such as the upcoming Ballerina, which thankfully isn’t directed by Stahelski, as well as a TV series The Continental: From the World of John Wick, which may help the franchise moving forward if given a fresh perspective.

But if Reeves is to return in a future sequel, Stahelski needs to do what John Wick has done so many times before, and that’s take a bullet for the franchise, and walk away, as its dying for an injection of fresh blood.