Ricky Church on the top five action scenes in the John Wick franchise…
After a few delays in production, mostly due to pandemic related issues these last couple of years, John Wick: Chapter 4 was finally released and has dominated the box office with critics – including our very own Rob Kojder and EJ Moreno – citing it as the best of the franchise. Ever since John Wick was introduced to audiences nearly 10 (!) years ago, Keanu Reeves and director Chad Stahelski have delivered incredible action films infused with plenty of character, heart and story among the blood and carnage John leaves in his wake.
With the franchise having outdone most if not all films in the action genre, including Chapter 4 topping its previous entries with electrifying and stunning sequences, there are several set pieces in each John Wick film that are completely mind-blowing in their choreography, stunts, detail, violence and story. And when I say several I mean *several* as John Wick has action scenes within action scenes within action scenes! As impossible as it might be, let’s narrow down the top five best action scenes in the franchise…
Honourable Mentions
Where to start? As said, there are so many action scenes littered throughout the franchise, each one distinct in its own way, that it’s difficult enough just to pick one honourable mention. So here are a few to call out:
- The Red Circle shootout (John Wick)
- The Gala fight (John Wick: Chapter 2)
- Using a horse to kill assassins (John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum)
- John vs Zero (John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum)
- Shimazu vs Caine (John Wick: Chapter 4)
- Arc de Triomphe fight (John Wick: Chapter 4)
With those honourable mentions out of the way, let’s get into the best action scenes in the John Wick franchise…
5) Ambush in the Roman Catacombs (John Wick: Chapter 2)
This early into the franchise, we already knew how deadly John Wick was as “a man of focus” and so feared throughout the criminal/assassin underworld. Chapter 2 opened the mythology up even more by expanding the underworld globally, introducing the High Table that seemingly governed every aspect of John and his cohort’s secret society. The sequel also explored more of John’s skill with how strategic he can be rather than the brutal shoot-’em-up method he mostly relied on in the first film.
After John reluctantly accepted an assignment in order to fulfill a blood oath, he travelled to Rome and prepared to assassinate a member of the High Table so her brother could take her place. Then came a lengthy montage as John prepped for his mission, buying a new built-in Kevlar suit and a large assortment of devastating weaponry ranging from pistols, assault rifles and shotguns intermixed with John travelling the city’s catacombs and placing the weapons in various hiding spots. Upon taking his exit route back through the catacombs and getting betrayed by the people who forced him into the job, John’s prep time paid off in a very satisfying battle as he led his attackers through the catacombs to the very places he hid his weapons, ensuring his victory by deftly tossing aside a weapon once it was out of ammo only to grab a nearby one to dispatch his foes. It displayed how John’s focus helps him outmatch his enemies with more than brute force, but with cunning and strategy.
4) John and Sofia fight Berrada’s Men (John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum)
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum started with a bang as John was on the run and had to fight his way out of New York City. The third installment features so many action scenes, each one with its own distinct look and feel, and while the climax’s shootout, fist fights and swordplay at the Continental is very exciting and adrenaline inducing, John’s brief partnership with Halle Berry’s Sofia, a former friend and associate, is the high point of the film.
For starters, this is the first time audiences will have seen John team up with any of his colleagues (beyond the distant help Willem Dafoe’s Marcus gave in the first film) and Berry’s Sofia is soon recognized as a force to be reckoned with. John and Sofia had very good chemistry on the battlefield with how they accomplished combo takedowns, anticipated each other’s moves and needs. Not only that, but the usage of Sofia’s two highly trained combat dogs made the sequence a standout as the dogs made quick work of several enemies in brutal ways. It wasn’t just how they attacked people, but how they were incorporated into the fight as Sofia ordered them around and used herself as a jumping pad for one of the dogs to reach enemies above them. It also goes without saying how effective Keanu Reeves is in his stuntwork and gun handling after so many years of training, but Halle Berry also put in a ton of training as seen in behind the scenes videos and her skill nearly matches Reeves’ own.
3) Sacré-Cœur Staircase (John Wick: Chapter 4)
The latest (and potentially last in the main John Wick series) film is just a series of action scenes within action scenes within action scenes, each one raising the tension and bloodshed. One action scene though was a very emotional one, serving as the denouement of John’s struggle for freedom. John’s battle up the staircase to the Sacré-Cœur came after a grueling trek across Paris, fighting a whole bunch of assassins as the price of his bounty kept going up the more desperate Marquis de Gramont became. Watching him fight to the top of the stairs against a whole new slew of assassins only to get knocked down all 300 steps of them when he was so close to his goal was gut wrenching.
It became all the more emotional as John and Caine teamed up one last time as John’s victory up the stairs also meant the survival of Caine’s daughter, aligning their goals despite the two of them being forced to duel to the death. The choreography was superbly done as John and Caine fought together with Reeves and Donnie Yen performing a number of great moves. The emotional stakes were heightened even more as Shamier Anderson’s Tracker arrived, but even when he had his sights set on John he decided to save John’s life as repayment for John saving his dog earlier that night. Witnessing these three assassins allied, even briefly, to get John to the Sacré-Cœur was the emotional highpoint of John Wick: Chapter 4.
2) One-Take Apartment Fight (John Wick: Chapter 4)
However, just because Chapter 4‘s climactic staircase fight was the most emotional, the best fight in the film (and second best in the franchise) comes from John’s battle through a Parisian apartment building as the stunts, cinematography, set design and more culminated in one of the most memorable set pieces not just in the John Wick franchise but action genre in recent memory.
As John fought through Paris to arrive at the Sacré-Cœur, his journey took him into a derelict apartment building which was soon full of assassins aiming to collect John’s bounty. The scene started as a standard gun fight, but then took a turn as the camera moved up and above John, tracking him throughout the rooms in a continuous one-shot take of the carnage. The amount of time and practice it must have taken Reeves, director Chad Stahelski, the stuntmen and the film’s crew to choreograph and map out every aspect of this battle must have been ridiculous as none of the previous John Wick films had attempted a sequence of this scale.
Going beyond the technical aspects to the apartment fight is how it almost feels like the film transitions to a video game as the camera gives a bird’s eye view of John going from room to room with a ridiculously overpowered gun that pretty much blew up enemies with one hit. Even as the one-take ended, the excitement didn’t stop as John fought more assassins, including the Tracker in a well done fistfight, yet concluded in a surprisingly emotional way as John had the chance to kill Tracker but instead shot the man who was ready to shoot Tracker’s faithful combat dog in what was a full circle moment for John after the catalyst of the first film.
1) Introducing Mr. Wick (John Wick)
“Oh.”
It wasn’t until Viggo Tarasov uttered that word – ‘oh’ – after being told who his son Iosef assaulted and puppy he killed that we got our first hint of who John Wick is to trigger such an alarmed reaction in a powerful underworld figure. Even as Viggo relayed the pencil story and how John’s reputation was “the man you sent to kill the fucking boogeyman”, we weren’t ready for what was about to come.
While not as action-packed, explosive or gory as later scenes in the franchise, the very first fight in John Wick is the best for what it does to the audience as it introduced us to the real John Wick. It gave us only an idea of how brutal both John and the film was going to be with John’s viscous takedowns, gun-fu and style (fighting and literal style as John changed into a slick, fully pressed suit) as he took on a dozen armed men single-handed. To end the scene with a cop coming to the door on a noise complaint, seeing the bodies littered behind John, and merely saying goodnight loudly spoke of John’s dangerous standing. We weren’t watching some underdog vigilante against a more powerful organization or corrupt system like in Death Wish, Peppermint or Shooter. No, we were watching the Terminator from his perspective as a relentless force that would not and could not stop until his objective was complete.
What really sold this action scene though was the fact Keanu Reeves was performing much if not all the stunts himself. Obviously he had martial arts and kung-fu training for The Matrix trilogy, but it’s something else to see that applied in a much more grounded, modern and brutal fashion. The raw emotion Reeves also presented as John just ensured this role would go down as one of, if not now his most, iconic roles.
What were your favourite action scenes in the John Wick franchise? Let us know on our social channels at @flickeringmyth…
Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.
