John Wick: The Final Draft of Action Films

No one wants to be John Wick.

We love to watch John Wick, see him rise and fall, then fall again, then fall a little bit further. We revel in his abilities, in his style of elimination, in the fear he strikes into his world. But no one, no one wants to be John Wick.

The John Wick franchise has taken cinema by storm. What started as a low to medium budget action film kick started a new franchise that seemingly redefined what modern Hollywood action was capable of. With endless praise from audiences and critics alike John Wick seemingly pleased everyone. And there’s a reason for this, the John Wick Franchise is at its heart a collage painting of influences. A splash page of different inspirations it draws from not just film but a wide variety of media.

John Wick is like a well known recipe: it uses what you’re familiar with, its initial taste comforting like something you would order frequently at your favorite restaurant. But then you notice the texture, the aftertaste, you notice that whilst seemingly familiar, this recipe uses new spices and herbs unfamiliar to you, from different countries and cultures. John wick is a stew pot of influences that it wears on its sleeve, it takes from its predecessors of all mediums and creates its own iconography from past ingredients.

John Wick is Action Distilled, Action Refined.

‘Rules, without them we live among the animals’

John Wick broke the rules of American action films of the early 2010’s, which was populated with quick cuts, rapid camera shakes during action scenes and an over reliance of multi camera perspectives. John Wick side stepped these trends by taking from Hong Kong’s history of action cinema. Specifically in how stunts and cinematography are handled; contrary to the recent western techniques or rapid paced editing and close up shots during action scenes popularized in action franchises like Taken and The Bourne series, John Wick aims to keep the action focused within the shot of one camera. Then within that space the camera is able to effectively track the choreography the stunt actors capture so that everything is visible without zooming in or stopping and getting a separate shot for certain movements.

These cinematic preferences as well as a neon urban aesthetic themes of vengeance and loss, a focused style of fetishized gun violence, urban crime and intense masculinity have been arguably ingrained into John Wick and have shaped is structure and narrative.

And its arguable that because John Wick so openly imitates the art of Hong Kong action cinema its critics and fans likely elevate it above that of more American inspired action cinema of the same period, thus the transnational appeal of Hong Kong action cinema still remains alive to this day in the eyes of perhaps younger viewers less equated with the genre’s rich history. John Wick is transnational with its influences , world building and casting fulfill this style’s quota with the trilogy so far taking place in America, Italy, and Morocco. Though some have claimed that John Wick is simply another action heavy male power fantasy that glorifies violent masculinity, and those who claim this, I have but one thing to sincerely ask:

Have you seen John Wick?

Violent? Of course. Male characters at the forefront? Yes, a fair criticism. But John Wick is no power fantasy, I repeat verbatim; no one wants to be John Wick. John Wick is a man with nothing to his name, by the time of the third entry he is a homeless widower, with nothing more than a bloody suit on his back and a good dog by his side. John Wick has nothing that HE wants. He is feared by the underworld, he can kill any opponent and escape by the skin of his teeth. But he does not live for this, he lives in spite of it.

At the beginning of JW chapter 2, after retrieving his car John reseals his basement vault, his guns, suits and gold, John once again prepares to throw his life as an Assassin away. Later on he stares at a cased suit and a pistol, his response is just to scream, in anger, in sorrow, in fatigue. John Doesn't want this life, there is no glory in his violence, he’s just very good at his day job but like a lot of us, would rather hand in our notice eternally.

There’s a cognitive dissonance with the violence in John Wick: we marvel at the spectral of the stylized kills, the unique bloody spectacle and set pieces that John is forced into (with the Most recent entry Parabellum, having a long sequence where John is kept away from firearms and has to survive using the room around him as a weapon) we appreciate the effort of the stunt team that make these scenes possible and give them such morbid flair. But we don’t want to be there, John has nothing to return to after the credits role, there’s no rest between the violence. There’s just more running. John isn’t a hero, he’s just our guy.

No one wants to be John wick, less than John Wick

When we think of ‘dark’ films, dark stories, there’s an element we sometimes don’t consider, and element that at first, seems diametrically opposed to dark media: Colour. John Wick has colour sown into its identity, a distinctive colour pallet that once pointed out, will be ingrained into the mind of any viewer. JW has a bright, at times neon colour scheme, largely constituting of cool light blues, harsh bright blood reds, and oranges that are warm and yet violent. John Wick is within the neo noir genre and earns that title well, with dark empty,even lonely shots of urban spaces where the only light is that of a neon sign, in fact John Wick’s visual style is very in line with Cyberpunk cinema. John’s face if often lit up by these colours, at times his face is almost a neon Jekyll and Hied, one side cool blue, the other bloody red. The duality of John Wick.

‘You stabbed the Devil in the back and forced him back into the life he just left’

Winston to Santino D'Antonio, John Wick Chapter 2. A summation of John Wick’s story.

John Wick’s Blade Runner esc. Colour Pallet

John Wick also plays with sound through its entire trilogy, the score and sound effects feel almost diegetic (as in the sound and music we here is within the world of John Wick itself). With its motif of mild synth wave and electric guitars matching the desperation and intensity of John’s heart beat as he limps through the streets of New York, bleeding out with one round left in the chamber.

 Cycling back to John Wick’s influences:

John wick’s structure ins’t that of a film, its like a video game: From the sense of narrative escalation, the set pieces, the cut scene like snippets of world building, hell, the final sequence of Parabellum alone is a multi tiered boss fight filled with harder hitting thugs forcing John to adapt his style of play just like a video game. These moments bring to mind franchises like Uncharted and Max Payne, games that famously took inspiration from classic action cinema and indie comics (sharing John Wick’s space of influence) and now ironically, one of the biggest new action franchises is taking ques from video game culture. Lets break this down a little more:

The final confrontation of Parabellum; taking place in the Continental hotel, feels like a love letter to the final sections of a stylized third person shooter; the upper table soldiers come in with heavy Body Armour, meaning John has to dump even more energy and rounds to take them out, much akin to waves of enemy forces increasing in difficulty as the player progresses through a cover shooting section. There’s even period of rest between raids, with John heading back to Winston’s safe room to resupply and swap out weapon types is probably the most video game like scene in the franchise.

Video games aren’t the only inspiration outside of film: John Wick’s atmospheric dialogue and framing looks like it leap of the page of a comic book. Looking at the imagery its hard not to think of Garth Enis’ Punisher or Grant Morrison’s Invisibles when looking at the feats John accomplishes with and without a gun in his hand. Plus coming back to Parabullum: At one point John Wick literally climbs a glass staircase wielding a Katana, with a long shot of him ascending upwards towards his next boss fight, who is a ninja…

John Wick is Anime.

From the stylized gun fights, to the tragic hero with a dark past as part of a secret syndicate, to the fact everyone speaks to john in platitudes and philosophies, John Wick hits every beat of an adult 90’s anime series that likely aired on Adult Swim in the early 2000’s.

The most anime image

I don’t have to wonder what the sunken Keaunu Reeves Cowboy Bebop film would be like anymore, it already exists. Its called John Wick.

I think one of the biggest contributors of John Wicks influence and success, is the legacy of the team behind it: From Keanu Reeves, to David Leitch and Chad Stahelski, the team behind John Wick all worked under the Wachowski sisters during the production of the Matrix Trilogy. And aside from coming from stunt men backgrounds and understanding the construction and importance of good choreographed and well communicated action, the were being directed by Lana and Lilly Wachowski:

And no one, wears their influences closer to their chests than the Wachowski sisters. Lana and Lilly took everything they were into, everything they loved and made it into a film they would want to love. The Matrix is a love child of Philosophy, Trans culture, Comic books and Anime. From its message of identity, to its comic inspired action and shot composition to the fact that they pitched it by showing executive Joel Silver Ghost in the Shell and saying infamously, that ‘We wanna do that, but for REAL’.

John Wick is ultimately a continuation of the Matrix’s legacy, only on a smaller more intimate scale. Its open fusion of all mediums transcending homage and creating its own imagery, its own legacy. The legacy of a character that no one wants to be.

“ NO ONE WANTS TO BE JOHN WICK”