The John Wick films are widely known for their brutal, gritty fight scenes, stylized lighting, excellent music, and of course, Keanu Reeves. The movies have remained relevant and acclaimed even after the release of the third film in the franchise, John Wick: Chapter 3: Parabellum. The series has developed a strong cult following, with fans praising directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelski for the films’ unique style compared to other Hollywood action movies. Despite their avoidance of many action movie cliches, the death tolls are staggering in each film.

In 2014’s John Wick, the film follows retired assassin John Wick’s quest to avenge the murder of his dog, which was a present from his dead wife. The two sequels pick up John’s story as his initial quest for vengeance sucks him back into the complex assassins’ underworld.

While most of the henchmen and fellow assassins were killed by one of John’s many firearms, he has also been seen to use knives, cars, his bare hands, and anything else he can get his hands on to finish off his enemies. A fan-favorite in particular comes from Parabellum: the library scene. In this scene, John gets cornered in a library by an absolutely huge assassin, Earnest. John eventually disarms him and breaks his neck with a book, shortly after knocking out all of his teeth with it.

In a post on their site, GeekTyrant revealed John’s death toll in each John Wick film. The series debut features 77 on screen deaths at John’s hands, John Wick: Chapter Two skyrockets up to 128 fatalities, and John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum falls back to the mean with 94 killed. While this information shouldn’t be all that surprising given the genre and plot of the movies, it is still a bit shocking to see that the protagonist single-handedly killed 128 people in one movie, 299 total over the franchise so far. And John Wick 4 is still on the way!

The visceral and well-choreographed fight scenes are the main source of praise the films receive, specifically Keanu Reeves’s performance. Reeves has plenty of on-screen fighting experience from his time in The Matrix films, but he went the extra mile with his training and preparation for the ‘Gun Fu’ combat in the John Wick films. In an interview with Screen Rant about the first John Wick, Reeves revealed that while he didn’t do all of his own stunts, he did about 90% of the scenes himself. He also stated that he did a several weeks-long “boot camp” for the film where he trained in pistol shooting, stunt driving, jiu-jitsu, and more. The regimen he completed for the film is very impressive, especially for an actor in his 50s.

The consistency in quality and box office performance of the John Wick films is a testament to the preparation and execution of Keanu Reeves and the other actors for their famed fight scenes. The writers, directors, and production crew have also done a tremendous job of creating a tangible style and feel to their films and keeping it consistent throughout the two sequels. This is a franchise that isn’t going anywhere, and the death toll will only keep rising.

More: Everything We Know About John Wick: Chapter 4

Source: GeekTyrant

  • John Wick 4 Release Date: 2023-03-24