John Wick is a 2014 action film about an ex-hitman who comes out of retirement to track down the gangsters that killed his dog and took everything from him.
Class is in session. 2014 seems so long ago, doesn’t it? Almost five years ago, it was fair to wonder if Keanu Reeves’ remaining career would be carried out in the straight-to-DVD/VOD variety. He had just come off 47 Ronin, a box-office dud in all markets including the one it was aiming the highest for in Japan/Asia. He had no momentum, which is why many scoffed at the trailer for what would follow in John Wick. The thoughts went something like: “A hitman coming out of retirement due in large part to his dog being killed? Seems like a stretch.” And then, it released to critical acclaim, re-igniting the career of Reeves, launching the directorial careers of longtime stuntman (of Reeves, no less)/unit director Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, and giving some of the most memorable action movie moments of not just the decade, but potentially of all time. Fast forward to the future, and we’re on the eve of one of the most anticipated movies of 2019. How?
Character & World-Building: Well, many reasons, but one of them pushes John Wick and its sequel to more than just blank-slated action. Around the 20-minute mark, John Wick begins its trek into an underground mystery world of assassins that sort of live among us, gold coins, coded language, and unspoken rules.
At this mark, we see Iosef Tarasov (Alfie Allen) – fresh off killing Wick’s dog and leaving him for dead – arrive in the company of his father, New York Russian mob boss Viggo Tarasov (the late Michael Nyqvist). Iosef, thinking he’ll get some praise for handling some customary business in Atlantic City, soon finds out that his little “harmless” stunt will awaken one of the best to ever do it.
Viggo goes into depth on just who “The f*****g nobody” John Wick is. “Baba Yaga,” the precision killer people send to kill the Boogeyman. Yes, this scene is really nothing but exposition; however, the way Stahelski, Leitch, and writer Derek Kolstad go about it is nothing short of amazing. In this scene, we find out about Wick being a man of “focus,” “sheer will,” and “determination,” carrying out an impossible task (as well as improbable feats including killing three man with nothing but a pencil) that not only gave security to Viggo and his operation, but allowed Wick to get out of the game, and bury his past for good.
Those aforementioned adjectives aren’t just said, they’re driven home with the strength of a sledgehammer to concrete, spliced in by Stahelski and Leitch during Nyquist’s excellent delivery to show the intensity with which Wick can operate at. As the monologue comes to a close, and Viggo announces to his son that he’s marked for death, the rubble reveals Wick’s tools of death, and from here, he’s back.
What Stahelski, Leitch, and Kolstad do from here is get right to the movie’s first big action sequence, which sees Viggo empty out his task force in a futile effort to put an end to Wick. They’ve teased their audience enough, and now, it’s time to see just how skilled Baba Yaga is. Though slightly rusty, Wick dispatches them with ease. Of course, there’s a bit of clean up needed for all the dead bodies, otherwise known as a dinner reservation paid for with gold currency (12 coins equate to one body/task) that a dedicated cleaning team takes care of. And the first seen exchange with the police (“Hey John…Working again?”) indicates that there’s a larger assassin’s network operating under its own regulations and directives that much of the world knows of and wisely stays away from.
Other scenes may stick out more (i.e. the Red Circle club scene). But, in the span of an important 15-minute stretch, John Wick combines exposition, stylistic flourishes, and contextual action to lay the foundation for its lead character in a detailed mythological world. Lesson over, for now.