Young John Wick. That feels like the obvious idea if you were asked to pitch a TV prequel for the film franchise in which widowed hitman Keanu Reeves goes on an endless murder spree after a feckless gangster kills his puppy. How did Wick fare on his first assignment? When did he meet the love of his life? Why does he dress like the world’s most lethal snooker pro? All tantalising questions that could be explored by a youthful Keanu lookalike.
Instead, we have The Continental and its clunky subtitle. This three-parter is built around the imposing New York hotel established in the Wick-verse as a swanky crash pad for assassins, crooks and kingpins. Bad guys get to sleep easy on neutral ground and they all settle their minibar bills with a bespoke underworld currency of chunky doubloons. It is essentially a Marriott for Judas Iscariots.
