Has anything as surprisingly awesome as John Wick come out in recent memory? The first film has what sounds like an almost comical premise: A retired hitman’s puppy is killed and his car stolen by Russian mobsters. John Wick must then kill a lot of people (emphasis on “a lot”) in order to take vengeance and get his sweet ride back. It’s simple, adrenaline-packed, expertly paced, and an absolute joy to behold, especially upon the first viewing. John Wick stands out as a pinnacle of the action genre in part due to its incredibly shot scenes. However, it also beats out the competition thanks to its increasingly impressive universe.
The John Wick cinematic universe is one that continues to grow with each entry. Each movie that has been released thus far works on its own to tell a new story for Mr. Wick, but it does so in a way that’s also in service to the universe at large. Even in comparison to larger cinematic universes like the MCU or DCEU, John Wick is more interesting. This overwhelming success in terms of quality is due to a literal all killer, no filler approach. There are a few ways in which John Wick accomplishes this.
The first John Wick was never guaranteed a sequel, but thank goodness it got one. The first movie introduced audiences to John Wick, known as “Baba Yaga,” (The Boogeyman) amongst the assassin world due to his abilities as a killing machine. It’s mentioned that John Wick had to complete an impossible task in order to leave his life as a professional killer behind and live a quiet life with his wife. His retirement is ended unceremoniously with the death of the puppy his wife gave him at the hands of men who break into his home and steal his car, but the first film doesn’t expand too far beyond this revenge plot. It keeps the details of John’s impossible task under wraps and leaves questions unanswered at the film’s end. The second film delivers upon this omission in spades.
The audience learns that the Russian goons John Wick takes down in the first film are only a sliver of the number of assassins within the same world. John is approached by the person who helped him to get out of the assassin underworld the first time and is given a marker with John’s own blood in it. The marker is essentially a blood oath that can be cashed in on within the John Wick universe. This particular marker is the one that John swore to in order to retire, but his retirement was contingent on him not killing anymore. The events of the first film are directly responsible for him now having to fulfill the assassination request this man brings with him. John must assassinate a member of the High Table.
The High Table is like the upper management of the assassin world, and John carries out his task, but ends up becoming a target himself for completing this hit. John finds respite within The Continental, a hotel specifically for assassins within which no blood is allowed to be shed. Think of it as a safe zone of sorts. The man who originally had John carry out the assassination puts a hit out on John Wick to tie up loose ends and hide his involvement which leads to yet another quest for revenge through many beautifully choreographed fight scenes. The difference here is that the entirety of the city’s assassins is now after John as well. John eventually corners his betrayer at The Continental and kills him, violating the sacred no bloodshed rule. He is allowed a head start to run before a worldwide open hit is placed on him as his status as an assassin becomes “excommunicado.”
This leads directly into the third film, where we see the series expand once more to include players in foreign countries. John Wick is pursued by assassins everywhere who appear to be normal people on the street until they attack. John is able to fend off his attackers and escape the city, but we do learn a bit more about John’s reputation amongst his peers. He’s something of a celebrity, with one of his attackers even stating that it’s an honor to fight him.
Audiences also learn details about John’s past as an assassin through the introduction of characters that he reaches out to for help. It’s revealed John had involvement with a ballet house and its Madame, Sofia, who trains assassins. She helps John to find The Elder, the one man who outranks the High Table. The Elder agrees to rescind John’s excommunicado status in exchange for John swearing fealty to the High Table and the completion of another hit. John completes this hit but is betrayed, falling from the roof of The Continental down to the street below. The end of the movie sees John find an unlikely ally telling him he knows how to get revenge. John agrees to help, and the movie ends.
It’s unclear where the story goes from here, but it’s sure to be another step back that allows for an even wider understanding of this universe as a whole. Audiences have reacted to John Wick as much as they have because of the way in which the movies continue to keep people guessing. They’re filled with surprise and their creative approach to action is undeniably fun to watch. The John Wick universe will also continue to expand in unexpected ways, like with the recently announced spinoff centered around one of the ballerina assassins. The intense plot combined with this drip-feed approach to revelations that change everything about what the viewer thinks they know are the combined catalysts that make John Wick the most interesting and promising movie universe ever made.
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